Week 7: 8.21-8.22 "Harmonic Divergence" + "Swell"

[VisionGirl]

Harmonic Divergence

Television writer Jane Espenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica) returns to Buffy the Vampire Slayer in Season Eight. Espenson is the first of five acclaimed writers that tackle this groundbreaking story arc--where Buffy fans are introduced to a new world where vampires are in and Slayers are out.
Cue Harmony, the bubblegum cheerleader from Sunnydale High whose ambitions include blood sucking and stardom

Source: Dark Horse

Swell

Vampires are the hottest thing around -- forget hipsters; being a bloodsucking fiend is where’s it’s at! Slayers must take the good fight underground if they’re to avoid any bad press from the general public.

When Kennedy is sent to Japan to evaluate Satsu’s efforts as team leader, they are taken by surprise by some fierce furry creatures who want to do nothing more than destroy Buffy (surprise!), while Twilight remains the captain of the anti-Slayer ship.

Steven S. DeKnight (Angel, Smallville, Dollhouse) teams with series artist Georges Jeanty in “Swell.”

Source: Dark Horse

---------- Post added at 10:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:15 AM ----------

Alright, so I'm the one that suggested our re-read schedule, and I have no idea why I didn't put all 5 P&P stories + the 2 short stories in one week. Really, we're going to discuss these for 2 weeks? Kill me now! Sorry guys, that was my bad. In retrospect, there are other arcs I wish I would've taken more time for. OK, so I do like Safe and I don't mind the issue P&P, but we'll get to them next week.

In short, the Harmony issues are my least favorite of the entire series (& yes, that includes

Spoiler

the Twilight reveal and the space-frakking

). First of all I think the vampire public reveal is a rip-off of the same theme in True Blood (which premiered the fall before this issue was published). I'm not saying it was a purposeful idea steal, but it made it incredibly un-original.

Secondly, Harmony is simply not a character favorite of mine. The only time I liked her at all was in season 5 of ATS. Being Angel's secretary, especially with Spike present, was probably the best storyline for her.

Anyway, I don't want to come across as 100% negative, so here are my thoughts:
-"this perky pair" Really?
-It's Andy Dick, LOL!
-What's C.A.A.?
-The Slayer PSA is real; I know some of us were debating whether it was really televised or not.
-Love the background shot of Willow, Xander & centaur-Dawn on p 19. LOL
-Clem & Harmony? Huh?
-"Best villians since the Nazis". Disturbing.

Now on to Swell:
- "the other lesbian slyaer" LOL- what, there are only 2 worldwide?!
-I have to admit for love for the Vampy Cat- cute but extremely gross.
- "My hand! My beautiful fourth hand!" Probably my favorite quote from these 2 issues.
- Now here comes the misogyny & sexual prejudice: "Self-righteous little ovaries", "Girl lickers", "Eat their @#!ing ovaries!".
-What are the creatures in charge of distributing the Vampy Cats? At first I thought they were vampires, but they're clearly not.
-Guts spilling out, extremely graphic & gross.
-"Twilight commands it!" OK, so it wasn't hard to guess that Twilight was behind this.
-The Slayers have a submarine!! I think that's so cool, good for Satsu!
- "Your eval's so getting a smiley face". I really like the Kennedy/Satusu interaction in this issue. It makes me dislike Kennedy a little bit. Maybe it's not so much that I dislike Kennedy, I dislike her with Willow. Remember my annoyance of her in TOYL with her irritating jealousy of Buffy & her big mouth about it? I simply don't think she & Willow "fit". I actually wouldn't mind seeing her & Satsu together.

So I just discovered that Harmony guest-blogged on an MTV splash page. Check out her blog here: http://splashpage.mtv.com/2009/01/0...ets-in-character-for-harmony-bites/#more-7937

This cracked me up:

"Tune in this week to "Harmony Bites," premiering exclusively on MTV. No one knows for sure what that "M" stands for, but, at least for this week…

It's ME!"

Because we all know that we have no freaking idea with the M in MTV stands for anymore. Remember when they used to show -gasp!- music videos?!

 

[VisionGirl]

[MENTION=7613]sosa lola[/MENTION]- I was doing some searching for past discussions on Harmonic Divergence and found this comment of yours on Whedonesque:

This issue? AWESOME! I'm so glad we're getting to the main storyline of the season. I can't wait to read more.
Sosa Lola | January 10, 19:06 CET

Was your tongue firmly planted in your cheek? 😉 And seriously- I'm not stalking you! 🙂

 

[sosa lola]

LOL! I do love Harmonic Divergence for political reasons. 🙂 And I love Swell, because I think Kennedy and Satsu are very good together -not necessarily as lovers but as friends. So my comment was 100% true. 😀

I don't like that the whole Vampires Out and Loved by Public is glossed over in S8, though, but they said they'd deal with it in S9. So, that's good.

 

[PassionBecoming]

Harmonic Divergence

-The chick with the pommies looks like Harmony, but also like Alicia Silverstone.
-So, the whole "vamps can't be photographed" lore is definitely dead after this.
-This one is going slow for me. I get the whole spin, but soooo not realistic. Not to mention, is Harmony really smart enough to build herself an empire based on vampire fame?
-Segue to the slayer-in-a-gang was a bit rough. And how do they find these new slayers if they don't come forward? Ugh, the TV commercials are REAL?! Stupid, stupid, stupid.
-Bahahaha. Love the background of Dawn trying to make friends with the horse.
-Clem is with Harmony? Oh, boy, I need to finish my re-watch of BtVS and watch of AtS.
-They are comparing the slayers to Nazis. Wow. I do realize that people in general are stupid, but really, are they THAT stupid??

This one didn't do much for me. Eh.

---------- Post added at 03:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:42 PM ----------

-The Slayer PSA is real; I know some of us were debating whether it was really televised or not.
-Love the background shot of Willow, Xander & centaur-Dawn on p 19. LOL
-Clem & Harmony? Huh?
-"Best villians since the Nazis". Disturbing.

Pretty much my exact thoughts on these points!

 

[PassionBecoming]

Swell

-Wow, Satsu has a serious attitude problem. Why the down on Buffy? She's the one who wanted to stay in Japan.
-Had to laugh when Kennedy says it's her job to be a brat. Understatement of the century, maybe??
-Why are the demons in the comics always so much bigger than the humans? That rarely happened on the show.
-Ok, maybe it's because I'm not a lesbian, but the way the writer's have these girls-as-lesbians talk seems so...un-natural. I know many gay people, both men and women, and never would they ever talk like these to are.
-Vampy cat? Creepy!
-Um, did Satsu just urp up a vampy cat? Ew? And how would ingesting one make it able to read minds...
-Kennedy and Satsu were just able to hop on the ship while it's in the middle of the ocean, eh? Interesting.
-"Eat their ovaries?" WHAT?!
-Oh, Twilight. Apparently he hates women now. And uses stuffed animals for weapons...

This arc is still treading on the too unreal side of things for my taste. Subs and missiles? Right. I do like the general overtone of Kennedy trying to snap Satsu out of it. Puts more of a human touch on this craziness.

 

[wickedtiger86]

Harmonic Divergence.

Probably my least fave of the series, if I had to have a least fave.
Although, "Let us speak of the Vampyres!"
And I do like to see Clem. Even if he is with Harmony and OF COURSE he has a tattoo of a little cartoon duck! Why wouldn't he?

Swell

"Vampy Cat! Grrr! Argh!"
I may have nightmares now about a horde of vamp kitties screaming about eating my ovaries! They'd be half out of luck with me though . . .since I only have the one. Haha! Take that little vampy kitties of DOOM!