Week 7: Season 8 #31-35

[Buffy Summers]

This week we are discussing Buffy Season 8, volume 7 (issues #31-35).

"Turbulence"
Writer: Joss Whedon Penciller: Georges Jeanty
Buffy admits her attraction to Xander and reveals she's inexplicably inherited superpowers that can defeat the Goddesses.

"Twilight, Part I"
Writer: Brad Meltzer Penciller: Georges Jeanty
Buffy and Xander test the limits of her new superpowers; Willow suspects they originate from the dead Slayers.

"Twilight, Part II"
Writer: Brad Meltzer Penciller: Georges Jeanty
Buffy discovers that Twilight is in fact her ex-boyfriend, Angel. Giles begins to explain the prophecy.

"Twilight, Part III"
Writer: Brad Meltzer Penciller: Georges Jeanty
Giles explains that the Slayer and the vampire are a part of a prophecy about the formation of a new dimension. Meanwhile, Buffy and Angel find themselves having sex and awaking in just such a place.

"Twilight, Part IV"
Writer: Brad Meltzer Penciller: Georges Jeanty
Buffy and Angel choose to return to Earth to assist their friends as the old universe is invaded by extra-dimensional demons.

Source: Wikipedia

 

[vellavu]

Turbulence is awesome! I really love it. The dialogues between Buffy and Xander are funny and touching at the same time.

"I'm Buffy and I approve this kissage."

Twilight, Part I is more or less good. The jokes are spot-on.

The rest are kinda lame.

 

[sosa lola]

Turbulence was a perfect, perfect issue! Character voices are spot on and you can hear them saying the lines when you read the pages.

The scene between Buffy and the unnamed solider was really touching and I'd love to see SMG act out the scene.

Now the highlight of the scene! The Buffy/Xander conversation! It's funny and touching and beautiful and I love S8Xander so much, no wonder Buffy fell for him.

 

[Priceless]

Turbulence - Very enjoyable episode with the emphasis on character development. Xander comes off so much better than Buffy. She was so needy and Xan was mature and so sweet about it. I think because we are reading them so quickly, it seems like Satsu's side of the bed isn't even cold before Buffy is jumping on Xander

 

[sosa lola]

I think because we are reading them so quickly, it seems like Satsu's side of the bed isn't even cold before Buffy is jumping on Xander

But Buffy was already dreaming about kissing Xander before she slept with Satsu. Her crush has been going for a while.

 

[Priceless]

But Buffy was already dreaming about kissing Xander before she slept with Satsu. Her crush has been going for a while.

True. I am just not so sure about this version of Buffy in S8, she comes across as so needy and 'anyone will do' mentality, which we've never seen from her before. She hated herself for using Spike, yet here she is using Satsu and trying it on with Xander, who she's knocked back for the 7 previous seasons - no one is more friend zoned that Xander. Iit just feels to me that the writers are using a shippers tick list:
Gay - tick
Xander - tick
Angel - tick

Plus Dawn. Xander is her sisters boyfriend! That is pretty damn low, and as Xander says, she should keep her feelings to herself. Xander is the adult in this scenario and I like that.

 

[Priceless]

Twilight - To quote Andrew 'It's ruining everything for me'.

The best thing throughout Twilight is Willow searching for Faith. Seeing all the dead slayers was very moving. Everything else was just ridiculous. Except Spike showing up at the end. Spike is often ridiculous, but here he is, making the most sense of anyone

 

[vellavu]

Twilight - To quote Andrew 'It's ruining everything for me'.

The best thing throughout Twilight is Willow searching for Faith. Seeing all the dead slayers was very moving. Everything else was just ridiculous. Except Spike showing up at the end. Spike is often ridiculous, but here he is, making the most sense of anyone

To be fair, the superman references and Amy's reaction are hilarious.

The Twilight storyline is nonsensical but not boring, which means that it's fixable. S9 and part of S10's plots are so boring that they are beyond saving. You can fix crazy stuff, but not boring ones.

 

[Priceless]

To be fair, the superman references and Amy's reaction are hilarious.

The Twilight storyline is nonsensical but not boring, which means that it's fixable. S9 and part of S10's plots are so boring that they are beyond saving. You can fix crazy stuff, but not boring ones.

What bothers me is that it goes on for so long. If the cut S8 short and ended it earlier maybe I could be more forgiving, but it seemed to drag on and on.

Yes there are some funny moments between Will and Amy which are good and I loved Faith punching Andrew, that was a great moment.

I really enjoyed S9 on first reading, the stories were smaller, if that's the right word, which appealed to me. I haven't read it in ages so I might change my opinion during the re-read.
 
I should say that I changed my mind on S8, I used to hate it, but now I see there are some good moments, even if the stories are nonsense

 

[Buffy Summers]

I like Twilight referencing Giles as Buffy's trust, and Faith as Buffy's guilt. Didn't like Buffy's "suddenly I'm into Xander because now I can't have him" thing. Did like Willow not being all jealous of Xander and Dawn though.

I still just don't feel like Twilight acts like Angel, and that's my problem with the whole thing. He acts like Doctor Doom lol

The Buffy/Angel boinking stuff is just ridiculous and annoying.

 

[wickedtiger86]

Turbulence:

I wasn't as bothered by the Xander/Buffy stuff as I was the first time. I think because in the Storyteller type one it was shown that she was into Xander before she saw Dawn kissing him. But as Xander said . . . she probably should have just kept quiet, once she saw what was happening with Dawn.


Twlight: Part 1

Goonies Never Say Die! Might be my favorite reference thus far.

This issue did what Buffy does so well. Started out funny and went into why do I have to feel this sad? I do feel bad for all the slayers that Buffy is getting her power from.


Twilight: Part 2

So. I just watched season two. Giles' reaction in that panel, when he cowers as he recognizes Angel's voice. . . that got to me a little.

I mean, I can kind of get what Angel's saying here, about trying to lessen the collateral damage with what he did. But it's still really, really not the best way he could have gone about it.


Twilight: Part 3

It's interesting to me, this stuff about how human's won't matter at all once Buffy and Angel are done becoming whatever they are becoming. It's so much the opposite of what Buffy and Angel have stood for. But it's not really surprising that there would be such a backlash for making all of the slayers. That does throw everything out of whack. Probably.


Twilight: Part 4

Ok. So. If they were taken over by Twilight and couldn't control themselves at all, and everything . . . how come once they were in the new world they could just, all of a sudden, make their own decisions? Like hey, let's leave this place? My brain is fuzzy on how a lot of this goes down so maybe that will be answered in the next couple comics.

Also. Spike!

 

[InsectDirigible]

Turbulence: Man, Buffy in this one. I think "What about me?" was supposed to come off as relatable and vulnerable, but it just seemed whiny to me. She did have that earlier dream, but at no other time - IIRC - did she think/say/do anything until she was jealous. I personally don't think she would have, either. Her coming out with this was really inexplicable to me.
I think I disagree with Xander a lot in general otherwise, but I his response to her here was spot-on. He told her she didn't actually mean it, that she'd kept him on a list of sorts whether she intended to or not, and that it was incredibly selfish to be coming to him with that confession only just after she'd seen him and Dawn kissing. Her consideration of other people's emotions gets dubious pretty often and it was refreshing to see it addressed succinctly.

Twilight: The superpower stuff with Xander and Buffy was great fun.
I liked the premise of the vampire/Slayer prophecy/new dimension thing as a basic idea, but disliked what they did with it. I felt it played out badly, and that the actual execution of the Buffy and Angel/Twilight scenes was just tacky. It also seemed to invalidate any of her other relationships pretty much completely - that she was absolutely destined to be so completely with and apart of Angel like that. Felt pretty crammed in there at the end.

 

[Guy]

I just want to point something out:

I know that the identity of Twilight was spoiled months before schedule, for the fans who read season 8 as it was released, but I had a very different experience - I watched the show for the first time in 2013, and I read season 8 over a couple of weeks in 2014. I was spoiled for some stuff (Giles' death, Warren's return, etc...), but I was NOT spoiled about Twilight's identity, miraculously, and let me tell you - the reveal of Twilight's identity was MIND-BLOWING. I had theories about Twilight being Spike, and Caleb, and Giles, and others, and I even considered Angel as a possibility at some points, but when I got to this arc I was pretty firm about my "Twilight is Caleb" theory... And when Twilight was revealed to be Angel, I was just so blown away that I immediately became INCREDIBLY invested in the story. I mean, it's just such a BALLSY twist! Angel?! Angel is Twilght?! The second most important hero of the Buffyverse (I mean, he IS the protagonist of an entire spin-off show, after all) is revealed to be the Big Bad of the season?! HOW?! TELL ME MORE!!!

And the explanation came so slowly, which made it even more gripping! (although it was probably maddening to fans who had to wait a whole month after every issue)

It was all just so emotionally gripping, as gripping as the Angelus arc of season 2, and I could NOT put the comic-book down from that moment until I finished season 8. The subsequent issues had lots and lots of complicated, over-the-top twists and developments, but I was always on board with the story, because this reveal was just so powerful. The story never lost me like it lost other readers, not even during the space-frak, because it just had such a powerful momentum after that huge reveal. It really felt like all bets were off. I read the rest of season 8 like this:

I think that the fans who were spoiled for this reveal lost a LOT of this story's entertainment value, because ALL of issue #33 is built around the shock of that reveal, and issue #33 was the issue that was meant to "hook" the reader for the final stretch of the season. Without that huge shock value ("Twilight is Angel?!"), it would have been very hard to be invested in the crazy developments of the subsequent issues.