Our discussion this week includes Retreat Parts 1-4 + Short stories "Always Darkest" and "Harmony Comes To The Nation" from MySpace Dark Horse Presents! (contained within the Retreat TPB).
Retreat Part 1
Team Buffy has become all about sneaky in a world where Slayers are now feared and hated, and vampires would rank at the top of a popularity poll. All hands are on deck as Scotland's brand-newest Slayer headquarters comes under attack; but, when things get more than a little fried, Buffy has to punt. There are yaks.
Series artist Georges Jeanty, writer Jane Espenson, and executive producer Joss Whedon present Buffy on the defensive in "Retreat."
* Jane Espenson, acclaimed television writer (Buffy, Battlestar Galactica), returns to Season Eight, bringing more radical revelations and more . . . familiar faces.
Slayers are out. Vampires are in. Mysterious big bad Twilight has just become a bigger bad -- he can zero in on Team Buffy and her army of Slayers by tracking their use of magic. But Buffy and her allies have taken their submarine -- yes, Buffy picked up one of those . . . they're a necessary piece of equip -- straight to the only person she knows with an inside track on suppressing magic: the werewolf Oz.
In the yak-filled mountains of Tibet, Oz has found his peace and formed a new life. The butter tea flows freely at the reunion, where -- among other fun reunion-y things -- Buffy learns that suppressing her demon side could be the biggest risk of all . . .
Oh, hello there, gentle viewers . . . This month we revisit Team Buffy and her army of Slayers at Oz's temple in the mountains of Tibet. Among the yaks, the Slayers and Wiccan troops attempt to suppress dangerous Magicks through meditation and hard labor. Buffy embraces this new lifestyle, but not everyone is convinced that leaving Magicks behind will solve any problems: among them, a resistant Willow, a doubtful Andrew, and a concerned Giles.
For Buffy, the world has not been so peaceful . . . so honest . . . so full of feeling . . . in a long time -- too bad it's not going to stay that way!
Oz’s temple in the Tibetan mountains is no longer a safe retreat for Buffy and her troops. Discovered by Twilight’s magical agent, Amy, and bereft of their own magic, the army is preparing for a human war with guns, grenades, missiles . . . and MANPADS -- it’s not a laughing matter. People are about to die.
But even without her own magic, Buffy is still a Slayer -- the Slayer -- and she has to lead the way to victory. Or at least . . . live to fight another day.
Harmony Comes to the Nation is an e-comic, featuring Harmony on a talk show, talking about her new reality show Harmony Bites and her idea of cleansing the world of Magic.
Oops guys, I'm sorry- Retreat has 5 parts, and I can't edit my OP!
Retreat part 5
The war between Twilight's minions and Buffy's army rages in the Tibetan mountains. Bereft of their magic, the girls -- Wiccans and Slayers -- face an epic battle in which they have no hope of victory. Buffy has already done the retreat thing once, plus also put herself and her army into hiding . . . What can she do now that there is no magic to help them escape from another losing battle?
Series artist Georges Jeanty, acclaimed television writer Jane Espenson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Battlestar Galactica), and Executive Producer Joss Whedon conclude Season Eight's biggest story yet!
---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:04 PM ----------
Here are my thoughts:
Season 8
RETREAT I love this TPB. Since there's little action in parts 2 and 3, it focuses on character & relationships. Espensen does a great job with that. Then, the battle scenes in parts 4 & 5 are exciting and suspenseful with lots of twists.
Part 1-love cover, if only Warren wasn't on it!
- Funny dialogue:
"Flying witches with Slayer sidecars"
"Reverse mermaid"
"ridonkolous # of bones"
"When you start using bones in your decorating, you've got too many bones"
"I bet you won't find this too humerus"
"Use the bones!"
-We are as Gods!
-Love the Giles/Buffy moment. This is the very first time in the entire season that they've been together.
-"Hey whatever. I can't debate battle ethics in a battle". Not a good moment for Buffy. Unfortunately, she usually does stick to her ethics but in Willow's case, she overdepends on her. Also her guilt is making her be non-critical toward & about Willow.
-Re: Buffy/Giles conversation in the sub: Buffy is blaming herself for Willow's present & future darkness and death. As I just said, I think this affects her judgement WRT Willow & her actions.
-I love the appearance of Oz- I'm not at all disappointed in the way they did that. Perfect. Quintessential Oz.
Part 2
-Love this cover! Xander & Dawn drinking tea on a sub, surrounded by yaks. Kind of sums up the "larger than life" feel of the season.
-"I know Buffy too well"
-"the young woman and the womanly man"- I find the depiction of Andrew's personality and sexuality in this season alternately amusing and frustrating. On the one hand, he's become an important member of the team, of the family, and his sexuality is beside that fact. On the other hand, there are constant references to his effeminate qualities and underlying attraction to men . Sometimes I wish Joss & the writers would come out and say it, allow him to come out of the closet, embrace it, and God forbid even have a relationship! If he's gay, great! But if he's just an effeminate heterosexual man, is that insulting to insinuate he's gay? But in retrospect, there's so much going on in season 8, maybe it's not the time. We see increasing depth to Andrew, so I hope they continue that in season 9.
-Butter tea, heh.
-I love the New Moon Rising flashback with Oz and Tara. Also, it's so much easier to depict werewolves in comics than on screen!
- "It's a pretty big spike"- ROFL!! I find it interesting that outside of Buffy's dreamscape in TLWH this is the first reference to Spike, both in this joke and in the included "Always Darkest" webcomic. But it leads me to wonder, if it was Spike as a double agent rather than Riley,
would he have been able to tell that Twilight was Angel?
-Bon, the original religion of Tibet. After searching, I found this is true! http://www.religionfacts.com/a-z-religion-index/bon.htmhttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/tibet/understand/bon.html
-"Don't be a lake, be a river. Have a life."
- I love the Oz/Willow interaction- but sad, too.
- Dawn touches Xander a lot in this TPB. "I've got you" + touching- p. 44. More touching- p. 21. P. 36. In fact, in most panels, they're standing together.
-"Hey! That's like Slayers! The demon part is the part that you are and the old human part is the weak, rejected part that gets tossed aside"¦" Wow!
-"I don't like this. If we're against magic, it seems so wrong"¦" -he's not wrong!
-"This battle doesn't end with Buffy laying down her sword. It ends with her turning that sword against herself." At this point I get the feeling that Twilight hates Buffy.
but we know that's not true in retrospect
Part 3
-Andrew is back as the Storyteller! He wasn't completely wrong about Twilight having a spy in their midst, although he was closer to the truth with his original theory about the dog.
-Lots of nice interaction takes place here: Buffy & Faith, Buffy & Xander, Buffy & Willow. It seems that without her powers Buffy finally feels the connection she's been missing. Ironic.
-Unfortunately with the revealing of Dander, Buffy & Dawn seem further apart than ever. Honestly, I have to admit that I don't' feel sorry for Buffy. She could've been with Xander a long time ago had she wanted it. I like the way Dawn & Xander have developed this season, very naturally, from a long-time friendship. The two of them have always understood each other.
-Who I do feel for is Willow: seeing Oz & his baby makes her realize that she wants a normal life, but at the same time she is incredibly distraught over her loss of powers.
-Although the Bon religion is real, I don't think the 3 goddesses are. At least I can't find any online reference to them other than in this comic.
-Is anybody else mad at Bay that she kept this info from them, even from Oz?
-Giles: "Will that work? Going from pulling back to"¦full-throttle forward?" Buffy: "It does when I punch someone." That's our bad-ass Slayer!
Part 5
-The contrast between Buffy & Twilight really struck me:
General: "We gotta get our boys the hell out of here." Twilight: "Wait. I'd like to watch this." General: "Are you serious? It's a rout!" and later, Twilight: ""¦a losing battle. Sometimes we fight them, it's unavoidable." General: "But we're letting our men die!" Twilight: "They're mortal. They have to die sometime."
Vs
Buffy: "You know what? Let's collect their injured too. The soldiers. Protect everything that bleeds, okay? I'll lead the way"
The soldiers are dispensable to Twilight, really everyone is. Not so with Buffy. Buffy is in the thick of the fight while Twilight stands back & lets others do the fighting for him.
-I knew my Riley couldn't be against Buffy!!
-When Buffy hugs Xander & ignores Dawn? Ouch!
Harmony Comes to the Nation
-I actually liked this one which may surprise you guys since I really dislike the Harmony-centered stories. Maybe it's the inclusion of Stephen Colbert, who I love LOL. Do they need to get his consent to use his image in the comic? I don't know how that works. I just like how he takes her to task in general.
Always Darkest
Overall, the Spangel in me enjoys this immensely!! The Nathan Fillion fan in me does, too. Caleb's POV seems to resemble Twilight's.
-"What in the slashy heck?" LOL, one of my favorite quotes.
-Love the wedding scene. OK, starting in the back left I see: Sweet, a mummy, Clem, some tentacled monster (don't' know who that is), the Judge, Elvis (LOL), Dark Willow & Willw, some short demon on the left, Xander, Warren. Then in the back right I have no idea who the one-eyed monsters are nor the boxers. There's the Gentlemen and the Vampy Cats. At first I thought the woman next to Buffy was Amy, but now I'm certain it's Tara ("I still blame you for your death"- actually, it's Willow that blames Buffy). Who are the green lady demons on the right?
I was distracted by the bones because I kept thinking about this picture I'd seen. It's a church decorated in the bones of plague victims. I'm assuming it's the inspiration for this place in the comic. http://www.pragueholiday.cz/images/kutna-hora/kutna-hora-kostnice2.jpg
Definitely had too much bones. For reals.
Giles/Buffy hug made me teary.
Bug submarine plops in his yard . . .Oz says "huh." Love that guy!
Retreat - Part 2
Good to see that all the characters automatically focus on the word Spike when it's in a sentence. Much like I do. 🙂
Furry puppy cow?
Baby has Giles' glasses. Giles says "oh dear."
Retreat - Part 3
Yes! Always love Andrew with a camcorder!
"Ah. Faith and Buffy finally connecting. It's nice."
I love how tiny Andrew drew Jonathan!
Kissage!!
Retreat - Part 4
Craziness is going on.
Who doesn't love a trio of wrathful goddesses?
Retreat - Part 5
This Warren/Amy spat is HILARIOUS!
And the Buff's got super powers. Woot!
I really kinda like this arc overall. Love all the character development. The only thing that I'd have liked to have seen is some moments between Xander and Dawn, just the two of them, that leads up to them getting together.
Though I don't really get what Oz sees in his woman. She kinda irritates me. And I'm even a pacifist. She STILL irritates me!
And [MENTION=10354]VisionGirl[/MENTION] I totally paid super attention to Xander and Dawn in the panels since you said they were together a lot, which I had missed before, so thanks for point that out. It's pretty cool.
Oh and I forgot to mention anything about Always Darkest. I couldn't get the other link to take me to the right comic, but that's ok. Always Darkest actually made me crack up a little at all the off-screen smoochy noises and panting. No I get why
Buffy tells Spike that she liked it better when Angel and Spike were kissing.
The two of them make it into her dreams an awful lot. Not that I'm complaining. AT ALL. 😀
Yes me too. She never even thought to mention anything about the goddesses to Oz?! And never considered the reprecussions?
And [MENTION=10354]VisionGirl[/MENTION] I totally paid super attention to Xander and Dawn in the panels since you said they were together a lot, which I had missed before, so thanks for point that out. It's pretty cool.
-OZ IS ON THE COVER?? SQUEEE!!!!
-Willow can turn people into animals? I dislike that she has SO much power now. Eh.
-Giles and Faith got away from a whole lot of demons...
-"Ee-may, oo-tay." heehee
-Love the "We are as gods" montage. Pretty sure Warren is lying.
-Yup, I was right. 🙂
-Awww, I LOVE the Buffy and Giles hug!!
-Where do demons get tanks?? Or learn to drive them...
-Slayer army is going to be LOT smaller after this. Well, you would think.
-"Huh." Oh, Oz, how I missed you!!
-Buffy will be noisy when she dies? (Again?) I'm guessing he means she'll go out with a fight?
-That looks nothing like Oz, but I love that he's with someone!! Cute baby!!
-Ew at Oz and the rabbitt.
-TARA!!
-Giles: "Hello, baby." Hahahaha.
-Why does Willow think she doesn't have a life or a future? Hmm.
-I don't think Oz has talked this much during the entire series.
-Twilight is really bent on Buffy destroying herself. Sheesh.
Not too much to comment on in this issue. It's nice to see that Oz has a nice, peaceful life.
---------- Post added at 08:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 AM ----------
Retreat: Part III
-The cover art is beautiful. Willow and Buffy look like themselves, and I love Giles watching them in the background. It seems to Scoobie-like.
-OH, Andrew. Hahaha.
-Oh, goodness! Willow milking a yak! Love it!!
-So, if a slayer's strength fades with magic, is it a good idea to be suppressing it?? Twilight is probably going to find them even if they aren't using magic, and then they won't be able to fight.
-Faith and Buffy bonding (with a kitteh, too) is nice to see. They need to build up some trust there.
-"I investigate farther. I investigate more." Andrew is making me giggle.
-Yak. I do love a good pun.
-I also love Buffy and Xander friendship moments. That was sweet. And because I watched it a short time ago, I think of Buffy's "I want the fire back" line from OMWF. She might be getting it.
-"But without the poison, what am I?" Reminiscent of her and Buffy's conversation in "Wrecked". Been down this path, dearie. Get it together.
-Can Buffy have a future? This has been discussed over and over throughout the series, and I think of "Helpless". Even if her powers are gone, she's seen everything and knows everything. The beasties know who she is. Could she just be a regular girl after all this?
-UMMMM - IS THAT XANDER AND DAWN?!?!?! AISUTG983735TEGHJA;SDFH?!?!?!?!?!?!
-Damn cats. 🙂
I like this issue - it really referenced back to earlier times in the Scoobies' lives. I feel like they are growing back together, too. But really, Xander and Dawn? ISH!! Not a huge age difference or anything, but I keep picturing them playing The Game of Life with Anya, when Dawn gets ice cream all over her lips. Icky.
Andrew tries so hard. At least he's attempting to be productive. 🙂
Loved Oz and Willow's conversation. They were always awesome together, and it's nice to see they are in friendship, as well.
[MENTION=11103]PassionBecoming[/MENTION] said:
But really, Xander and Dawn? ISH!! Not a huge age difference or anything, but I keep picturing them playing The Game of Life with Anya, when Dawn gets ice cream all over her lips. Icky.
So funny- I literally JUST saw that last night before falling asleep! Were you not spoiled about this? If not, so cool that you were able to make it this far without being spoiled, it was a pretty big development. Xander & Dawn really grew on me, & I think for most people (but not all certainly). It grew very organically this season I thought.
So funny- I literally JUST saw that last night before falling asleep! Were you not spoiled about this? If not, so cool that you were able to make it this far without being spoiled, it was a pretty big development. Xander & Dawn really grew on me, & I think for most people (but not all certainly). It grew very organically this season I thought.
-LOVE the panels on the first page, with all the leaders preparing the girls for battle. Reminds me of the feeling "Graduation Day" and "The Gift" gave me.
-Ahhh, so Willow is still addicted to her magics. Back to rehab for you, sister. (OR, maybe Willow won't get her powers back at all at the end of this, and that's how Buffy "killed" Dark Willow. I doubt that's what will happen, but that's where my mind went with it.)
-Xander gets to be army guy again. Where did they get all those weapons on such short notice?? And he's saying to leave the MANPEDS for the huskier girls as Dawn is lifting one...
-"More yak hair!!" Ewwwww....
-So, Monroe came to help, which is all fine and good ,but I thought when a human turned into a wolf they couldn't really control themselves consciously? What's to keep them from eating the Slayerettes?
-"I need your big secret weapon." hahaha
-Ooo, hostile Buffy. Though I don't know how I would act around my best guy friend if he was macking on my younger sister.
-Wrathful goddesses? That doesn't sounds so good...
-They don't looks so good, either. Yipes!
The whole Scoobies-fighting-an-actual-war is just bleh for me. I've always liked that Buffy shunned guns, so this just seems really contrary to everything they've preached. (I get that they had to it like that, but still.) Loved that Xander and Dawn got to take charge and be true leaders! I feel bad for Oz and Bay - here, they were living their peaceful, happy life until Buffy & Co., landed a submarine on their front lawn. I feel like Buffy has fallen so far away from really caring about people; she's just doing a job instead. Maybe there were no better choices, but I feel she's been borderline reckless lately.
-LOVE the cover: Buffy, THE Slayer, with a stake. Wonderful.
-Hmmm, bad move to call the goddesses, eh?
-Bay and Oz together with their son and dog - meh. 🙁
-RILEY!!
-Warren and Amy's bickering is pretty annoying. I think it's supposed to be funny, but it isn't coming off quite right to me. I like Twilight walking away from them in disgust, though. Heehee.
"Protect anything that bleeds, ok?" There's the old hero Buffy!
-Ok, I'm confused. Buffy got dropped and knocked unconscious, it snowed, when she woke up the army had taken the slayerettes prisoner, then all of a sudden she's floating? Huh?
Not a bad issue, but not the best. I LOVED seeing Riley again - but where is the missus?? Twilight doesn't care if his people die. Ruthless. How are they going to re-contain the goddesses?? What a mess!
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