I think I hate N4H...

E

Edmund Blackadder

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...well not really but I think he is to blame.

That damned canon watch thread!!!!

Anyway, I am considering getting season 8 Comics but not quite sold. I need someone to push me over the edge. I am reading very conflicted comments.

I want a good excuse and I know someone here will come up with a better one than the lame 'because its a season 8 of Buffy'.

I am currently in a bidding war on ebay for the first 18 comics and I have been outbid at £13.50($25) IF someone can give me a GOOD reason before 36 hours from now, I would be willing to go to £25(inc p&p)($45) which I am informed is the reasonable cost of this series from ebay UK.
 
Tranquillity
Tranquillity
Blackadder karma!
nerd4hire
nerd4hire
Well now...there's a thread title that's going to get my attention. ;)
To see Michelle Trachtenberg as a centaur?

Buffy in bed with a girl? Twice?

To find out who Twilight is for yourself instead of reading spoilers.

To find out which comic Rose and Ten appear in?

Ok, I got nothing. I like the comics, I think they're well writen and involed. I look forward to getting mine every month just to see what happens next. It makes me excited to know that this is from Joss, and it's not some writer getting their fanfic published.

And really, anything has to be better than Queen of the Slayers.
 
Lyri said:
To see Michelle Trachtenberg as a centaur?

Buffy in bed with a girl? Twice?

To find out who Twilight is for yourself instead of reading spoilers.

To find out which comic Rose and Ten appear in?

Ok, I got nothing. I like the comics, I think they're well writen and involed. I look forward to getting mine every month just to see what happens next. It makes me excited to know that this is from Joss, and it's not some writer getting their fanfic published.

And really, anything has to be better than Queen of the Slayers.
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Okay, now I'm also curious. But is there anyway to get at least some of them that doesn't involve credit cards? Cos I don't have one and I refuse to get one. Ebay and amazon and all those sites only accept credit/debit cards, right? Does anyone know?
(And, if I had to buy five, which ones should I get?)

(I was thinking about opening a thread for this, but I guess it's very much related so I figured there was no need for a new one. Please tell me if I'm wrong)
 
If you go into any good comic store, they should have the first two Trade Paper Backs. The 'Long Way Home' TPB consists of 'The Long Way Home' arc, and 'The Chain', while the other one has the 'No Future For You' arc. I think they are around £10 - £15, or $20 - $25.
 
L
Lindsey McDonald
Even any large bookshop will normally have it, if they have an anime/magna/comic paperback section.
Well, let me put it this way...

Can the comics even come remotely close to curing our withdrawal from the show? Absolutely not.
Are a lot of the storylines and actions of the characters tremendously out of character? Yes.
Can they be ridiculous at times? Again, yes.
Are they enjoyable? Absolutely.

Basically, it's not the storylines that are drawing me into the season 8 comics. In fact, if they had been written by anyone else, I probably wouldn't like them. It's the writing that keeps me hooked. It has the same witty dialogue and realistic, interesting characters we've grown to know and love, even if their actions do come across as a bit out of character at times...okay, "a bit" is a definite understatement, but I digress. So basically, yeah, the comics are more than worth getting.

Also, if you're one of those people that doesn't like what the characters are up to and doesn't want to consider the comics canon, even if you just think of it as a different story entirely, they're still very enjoyable.
 
Lyri
Lyri
well said
Crazy Flakes said:
Are a lot of the storylines and actions of the characters tremendously out of character? Yes.

It has the same witty dialogue and realistic, interesting characters we've grown to know and love, even if their actions do come across as a bit out of character at times...okay, "a bit" is a definite understatement,
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Well ultimately you're telling me I can spend £25 on a book(because although its many comics long there isn't as much detail in a comic as a book so numerous comics would make up a book - I would even argue the season would be as long as a book) that has characters unlike the show, in fact 'tremendously' out of character, it won't fill the void of missing Buffy and its completely ridiculous?

Thats not even £25 and it ends there, thats £25 so far?

I think I would have preferred N4H to argue the case because this has moved me further away from wanting it.

I'm not about to waste money of this sort on something that isn't Buffy when that is what I want.
 
I hope this answer isn't out of place, but... do you have a local library where you can check the catalog? A LOT of libraries now have graphic novel selections. If you are in a smaller town, I guess it's unlikely you can find anything, but I know I've found some of S8 available to borrow here in Austin, Texas. Oh, and don't libraries take requests? I can't remember.

Heck, I'd be willing to lend my own comics to you and split shipping just out of a love for S8. The shift in medium has wholly cemented my devotion to the world of Buffy. Although the shipping cost might come close to the cost of the comics...

Also, the opinion of how well inked characters match their live action counterparts is one I'd suggest you form on your own. I really like the storylines, sense of mystery and growth of the characters in S8 (I know I'm one of the few). Of course, I think my willingness to believe we've had a seamless transition from S7 to S8 may stem from the fact that I've been a comics reader since I was a kid. One thing that I can objectively point out as a unique characteristic of S8 is the inner monologue: you can't avoid having characters think in little bubbles about their heads when writing a comic book. I think those provide some interesting insights never before revealed about Buffy and the Scoobies.
 
I wouldn't say the characters are "tremendously out of character" so much as "moved on from where they were at the end of season 7. The comic series starts a year and a half after "Chosen", and a lot of things have changed.

If you're looking to go back to good old Sunnydale High or Scoobies staking vamps in the cemtery, you won't find it here. That stuff will always be there, to watch over and over again... but Season 8 takes it to the next level.

These comics are all written by Joss and his inner circle of Buffyverse writers, and there's nothing "fanfic" about them. This is the story JW wants to tell, with no restrictions for special effects budgets or what you're allowed to show on prime-time network TV.

Joss Whedon is my master now. I trust the Whedon. He has never let me down, and he hasn't let me down with season 8 either. (As long as he never kills Willow. If he kills Will I will have to go wake up the Gimp.)
 
If you get the comics you have a whole other forum open to you. This means that you will have new topics to debate about, something that hasn't been done here 25,000 times already. There will be new arguements, new oppetunities for you to display to the entire board how superior your intellect is compared to us poor plebs😉 😛 You will again have the ability to speculate about what is going to happen next, what should have happened and what we hope will happen. You will have a collection of comics that, in a few years time (if they remain canon) should fetch you a pretty penny.

Mostly you will have your fandom back, your Thursday night back. The comic is a rollercoaster ride, there are things we agree with and things we don't but at it's core it is the show we love, the show that has brought us all to these boards. Basically, the comic is Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You've come this far with her, you need to see how it ends.
 
R
Relic
You should be a saleswoman if your not allready. that was good, Kean.
itsxpaperdoll said:
(And, if I had to buy five, which ones should I get?)
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Why why why why would you want to do that ?! I don't know what you heard but I'm not for sale... Nooo that doesn't mean I'm free service !!!

*On my way out...* :nibble6: (God do I love this cat...)

Seriously, I think you should all get the comic books. It's hard to adapt from TV show to comics for sure, but it's worth it. And yes sometimes things are a little - how do I put it ? - surprising, but imagine you had stopped watching Buffy after season 4 and people told you "So now Buffy has a little sister, and then Buffy died but it's okay, she came back. But when she came back she was not totally human so she slept with Spike. After that Anya slept with Spike. And then Tara died so Willow tried to destroy the world. Oh and Joyce died too. Oh and I forgot to tell you that a Buffy-bot got created, it looked just like Buffy and was really useful to the Gang. Ooh, and Giles committed murder. And then Buffy welcomed Potential Slayers in her house and they all fought against the First Evil and then they threw Buffy out of her house and Faith became the big leader but that didn't turn out okay... etc. etc."

You see what I mean ? From the outside, 'Buffy' could always appear as a stupid show with no follow-through... I know it made me not wanna watch it for a really good while. Well it's the same with the comics. From the outside, you can only see independant facts, out of context, that make you think 'Buffy' comics are ridiculous. In fact, when you've read them, you can see it's well brought, as well brought as it was on the TV show.

Of course, it's harder to see how well-brought it is because we've just "missed" one year and a half in our characters lifes, so it's a little more difficult to see how logical their progression is. For all those years we kept watching the show, and for us, the end is "Chosen", and it should continue on Chosen way right after that, but it's not like that. So yeah, it takes time adapting to the characters' change, to the story regression (Buffy's mood, Buffy's relationships with the other characters...) but let's all remind that it's totally normal and realistic : in life, you just don't get a happy ending after which everything's just peeerfect, tensions can reappear, problem can come again and again and again...

I think it's exciting 'Buffy' is back. I love it. I think you can too. Please try it. =)
 
Five said:
Seriously, I think you should all get the comic books. It's hard to adapt from TV show to comics for sure, but it's worth it. And yes sometimes things are a little - how do I put it ? - surprising, but imagine you had stopped watching Buffy after season 4 and people told you "So now Buffy has a little sister, and then Buffy died but it's okay, she came back. But when she came back she was not totally human so she slept with Spike. After that Anya slept with Spike. And then Tara died so Willow tried to destroy the world. Oh and Joyce died too. Oh and I forgot to tell you that a Buffy-bot got created, it looked just like Buffy and was really useful to the Gang. Ooh, and Giles committed murder. And then Buffy welcomed Potential Slayers in her house and they all fought against the First Evil and then they threw Buffy out of her house and Faith became the big leader but that didn't turn out okay... etc. etc."

You see what I mean ? From the outside, 'Buffy' could always appear as a stupid show with no follow-through...
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Which is all well and good, but the thing is, the people who are giving these comments are not 'from the outside', they are fans giving opinion to fans.

I am sure that to say the above people would give back story as they have done with the comics BUT they still say things are out of character.

All the stuff you mention about the show would be discussed at length as have the comics. Its hard to ignore them, but when you have trusted people saying something is out of character but have lived through the show and can rationalise the events, you have some kind of discrepency.

Character progression is one thing to to change a character so they are unrecognisable in a short period of time is not the best way to go.

I am still undecided. I have 24 hours to make a choice.
 
itsxpaperdoll said:
Okay, now I'm also curious. But is there anyway to get at least some of them that doesn't involve credit cards? Cos I don't have one and I refuse to get one. Ebay and amazon and all those sites only accept credit/debit cards, right? Does anyone know?
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You definitely don't need a cred card for ebay. I don't have one either, and I'm spending way too much on ebay, as is. 😉

I've bought lots of stuff from German (and, in one case, Austrian) sellers without needing anything but a bank account to transfer from. 🙂 When you buy across country borders, it tends to get a bit more complicated though - many sellers accept only PayPal on international sales (and I don't know how PayPal works, don't have an account there).
 
I'm not going to try to convince you, because I can't possibly know what it is that you're looking for, but I will give you my two cents on the whole Out of Character issue.

Now, I buy the comics in Trade Paperback form, so I'm seeing things in a much more arc based way. I found that it worked out pretty much like the show. The Long Way Home was pretty much like a pilot episode. You could see where it was going, but the characters weren't entirely settled, and there was a whole barrage of new stuff. It was a very different dynamic to the show, and although there were sections that felt very right, it did leave me with a feeling that something was just that little bit off. To be honest, that's really only to be expected.

No Future for You was closer to finding the Buffy vibe. Faith's voice was pretty much there, and most of the other characters had settled down. That's probably because you've begun to understand what's been going on between Chosen and here.

Wolves at the Gate, however, was just Buffy, pure and simple. Xander was being written as Xander again, there was the constant humour throughout, and the situations and plot just felt right. I get the feeling that it's found its feet now, and I really did finish it with the feeling that I'd had new Buffy, not just some fanfic. If it stays at this standard, I'd be more than happy to keep buying.
 
When I read the thread title I was like "HELL NO!"

XD I really like N4H....
 
Honestly I think you just need to read em, and you can't really listen to the opinions of whether its out of character or not.. because obviously there is a lot of debate about it, so who knows what side you'd fall on. Why don't you just illegally download them for free (eek sorry to all the purists/ppl who don't like torrents)
 
I would say read it, they are enjoyable. Though it does have a total different feel from the tv show.
 
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