Part 1
-Love the Spike cover- he looks pissed, and so handsome!!
-The inside cover of the individual issue says:
“Temperatures run high when Buffy and Angel reunite to fight all matter of evil things. Enter Spike- former vampire, former lover, latest prophecy keeper. Needless to say, things get complicated. In order to save humanity from crumbling in on itself, Buffy must elicit the help of those closest to her and take the fight home.”
This was an oopskie on the part of the editors, and when we first heard of it we obsessed for a long time whether that meant that Spike was human again. Scott Allie told us the fans that no, it did not, they made a mistake. In my issues it’s corrected by part 3: “Enter Spike- vampire with a soul, former lover, latest prophecy keeper.”
-“Hey! Balls!” Funny, but gross. Well, at least our villain has a sense of humor…sometimes.
-Where did Angel come from? Looks like a portal, but I’m not sure it was ever explained sufficiently by the writers.
-Angel is flying…like Buffy. An awful lot of flying going on in season 8.
-Love the “Oceanic” Lost reference.
-Reward- that’s what Angel tells Buffy.
-He has to unite her enemies.
-How does Spike know it’s Angel? I’ve said it before, this bugs me. I hope we hear more of the whole story in season 9.
-“I got more powerful, not remotely mature.” Ain’t that the truth!
-“It can’t be Buffy if she doesn’t bonk the bad guy, right?” Ouch! Spike is a bit angry in this issue, although it does subside.
-Buffy & Spike are suddenly alone. And he’s got her attention. No more snarking.
-Awesome to see the Master!
Part 2
-I love the Bug Ship!
-I adore the Spuffy interaction- makes me laugh!
-“Can you think of a single creature…” Poor Spike!
-“You’re my dark place, Spike” and the kiss is hot!! Where does her fantasy start?
-I love the Dawn/Xander talk- reminds me of Dawn’s “you can have what we want. What do you want Xander?” from Retreat.
-“I speak Fyarl”- nice callback, but explains nothing! Aargh, I wanna know more!
-“The Queen is dead, long live the Queen.” I have to admit that I did not understand this for a long time, my American ignorance is showing LOL. “The King is dead. Long live the King. (French: Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi![1], Spanish: El rey ha muerto, viva el rey) is a traditional proclamation made following the accession of a new monarch in various countries, such as the United Kingdom.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_King_is_dead._Long_live_the_King. So, the old universe/world (ours, Buffy’s) is dying, the new Queen is the new universe created by Buffy & Angel.
-“Spike’s totally touching my butt” LOL!
-We’ve seen the Kitty Twilight figure before- No Future For You, part 1, which is fascinating when you think of it, since the title of that arc refers to the Sex Pistols’ song “God Save the Queen”.
Part 3
-The new universe needs the seed: why?
-The Master was “restored” when Twilight chose Angel.
-“really challenged by the major plot points”- oh, aren’t we all!
-Dawn’s just injured. When the cover of part 3 was released, we had already known that someone close to Buffy would die, so we all speculated that it was Dawn. While some fans were happy about that, others of us worried at how it would affect Buffy. Of course we see here that it was a ruse, the kind of thing writers do a lot!
-Buffy & Angel are alike- their good intentions sometimes (often?) go awry.
-Will Xander be the betrayer? He’s certainly set up to be here.
Part 4
-Love Jeanty’s alternate cover- with Giles and the crossbow.
-Gross 1st panel with that Slayer being torn apart- reminds me of Anya.
-“I’m fairly certain I never mentioned…” – I love Spangel humor, but this is intense so it seems out of place.
-“Angel gets the girl”- but not in the way it sounds.
-Some of the demons are on their side.
-“You attacked mother”
-The vagina monster, oy vey.
-Eww, are the Slayers melting? Why doesn’t it affect Faith?
-Eww, Angel kills the Master.
-Eww, Warren.
-And Giles’ death…there are just no words.
🙁
Part 5
-The Jeanty cover was another tease, because when it was released for preview, it didn't have Dawn in the picture at first. So we were left to wonder if it was Dawn who died, again it goes with the cover of part 3. And it was confusing, because Jeanty's cover ended up having nothing to do with who died in season 8, but who the major players were. And since Spike didn't come into the picture until the last arc (unfortunately), it makes sense that he wasn't on that cover.
-Is that the fakest smile you’ve ever seen?! Reminds me of Sookie Stackhouse, and how she plasters that smile on.
-The girl deliberately trips her-a disgruntled Slayer or witch.
-Everything is Buffy’s fault.
🙁
-“Willow dumped me”. I’m not a huge Kennedy fan, and she annoyed me even more in the comics than in season 7 (she was OK in s7, at least she wasn’t whiny look the other Potentials), but this does make me sad, for both of them.
-Did Kennedy just like Willow because of the power? Wow, I never considered that.
-“The world has lost it’s heart.” I was thinking about how this reminds me of Pylea, a world without music or humor.
-Simone’s back! Buffy & Andrew should have never let her go.
-Jeanty did a perfect job drawing Buffy crying!
-Giles left everything to Faith, wow. His apartment reminds me of Melaka Fray’s apartment, with all the books. Faith needs it more- like Willow’s incantation, “Take me to the Slayer who needs me the most”. “Me…I’m all about forgiveness”. Faith has grown so much, I love seeing that and can’t wait to see her with Angel in season 9.
-Love Spike’s speech to Buffy! And he’s kind of taking over Angel’s role from BtVS s 1 & 2- keeping his ear to the ground, warning Buffy.
-Watching Buffy fight other Slayers…really sad.
-Willow with the book of Saga Vasuki- is she going to try to contact her?
-Is the fairy still alive and what does she want?
-Simone’s got Buffy’s photo on the wall.
-And who is the guy in the glasses? We fans discussed whether we thought it was Ripper, Harth (Melaka’s brother), or someone new. Scott Allie (or Joss, can’t remember) confirmed that it was someone new, so I wonder if it will be this new kind of vampire slayer they’re talking about. However, Ripper is kind of new when you think about it.
😉
-"Let’s go to work"- interesting that she uses Angel’s line.
---------- Post added at 07:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:09 PM ----------
Willow turned Angel into a frog and I lol'd.
Me too!
Love that Spike calls Buffy his hero.
Me too. It really makes me wonder how different season 8 and Buffy's actions in it would have been if he had been around.
The letter from Joss at the end of the TPB is pretty cool and makes me really look forward to season 9.
Yes! And doing the re-read, I feel much better prepared for it. I have a lot more understanding about the plot than I did the first time around, and caught a lot of stuff I hadn't before. And I've enjoyed discussing it with you!
🙂
