How would you describe Season 9 overall?
Well there are essentially two Season 9's; Buffy and Angel & Faith. The Buffy comic I would describe as looking at the fallout from the end of magic and how that affects the scoobies and the wider world. The Angel & Faith comic is about Angel trying to deal with his overwhelming guilt about what he did as Twilight, and trying to make amends by bringing Giles back.
How would you rate it alongside every other season of BtVS?
Angel &Faith Season 9 is one of the best comics in the Buffyverse. It's got a cohesive story, it's very focused on Angel and Faith and on exploring them as people and that works really well. It's also really well written by Christos Gage, who did so well he was moved over to the Buffy title after this.
Buffy Season 9, perhaps reflecting the theme of a broken world without magic, is far less cohesive. It jumps from character to character, separating them instead of bringing them together. Willow, Buffy and Spike go off and do their own thing for a while, which is ok, but I'd rather see them together. The best arc (in both titles imo) is Dawn fading away. It's beautifully done, and very moving. Apart from that arc, it's an okay season, pretty average I would say.
What new characters did you like this season?
What characters (old or new) did you love or dislike this season?
The only new character I can think of is Billy the Vampire Slayer, who I really dislike. I like the Slayer story because it's about women being strong, I understand Billy is also an 'outsider' as such, and he can be powerful too, but lets not call him a Slayer!
Loved the old characters, especially Faith and Angel working together, they compliment each other really well. In the Buffy comic Willow and Xander both blame Buffy for the end of magic, and that annoys me because she didn't have another choice imo.
Just thought, there are new characters, Giles' aunts and Eldre Koh, but they didn't really cause much of an impact.
