Buffy season nine discussion thread

The return of Dark Willow in Angel and Faith.

 

Really the third return of Dark Willow, since we of course saw Dark Willow in last season's crossover with Fray in the future. This was pretty much teased on the covers.

 

Finished Angel and Faith #14...this entire arc was simply stellar. I guess this could be considered almost like a sweeps episode, so much happens. Willow now is on her magic quest, Angel is near completion of his insane (I still think so) plan to resurrect Giles, and the Nadira arc is getting interesting now she has found out that Faith and Angel are actually working together and Faith has been lying to her all this time. I hope the quality continues because the book was lagging for a while. We seem to be kick started into the next phase of Gage's plot.

 

Scott Allie has been named Dark Horse Editor In Chief in a decision that surprises no one?

Also today is the two part Male Slayer story line that Jane Espensen is writing.

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=41466

Anyone still with me or have we given up?

 

^ Partially yeah. Partly due to lack of interest, this season is going nowhere fast. And also due to my local comic store. It pretty much never has anything I want in stock, I went today hoping to get the new Buffy- didn't have it. And to catch up the last issues of Spike and A&F, of which only A&F they had. I know I could ask the staff but the main guy is the most miserable man ever, and I've overheard him on more than one occasion slagging off BTVS, and there's always a slight smirk on him whenever I buy one of the comics, so I've decided really I'm just not gonna spend my money there anymore.
Thus it means going to the comic stores further away, which I'll only do once in a while and buy a few at a time.



But anyway, yeah I can't say the plots this Season are jazzing me, compared to say the days of early Season 8/Angel:ATF for example.
With 25 issues we're almost three fifths into it now, and I can't say tonnes of great stuff has happened so far.

 

I agree with regards to the stagnant plots. I think that is why this thread has been tailing off and disinterest has crept in. I've been toying around with dropping Buffy of all books, Angel and Faith has finally gotten interesting and kicked back into gear. I'm guessing this Male Slayer plot would be a sweeps story line if it were tv

 

Well, I read Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine Freefall #14 and I thought it was kind of meh to be honest. I don't see what all the hub bub about this new character is. Espensen did an okay job introducing him to us...this whole issue felt like set up for the second parter, and that is exactly what it was. It will be interesting to see where this goes and how it fits into the season's uber-arc.

 

I think the entire season is meh. The Buffy title is bad, and Angel & Faith is even worse. The latest issue of A&F was awful, the latest issue of Buffy was incredibly dull. Everyting is predictable, the writing is shallow, there is no depth, humor or poignancy. They have removed almost every interesting/major character from Buffy's book, while A&F thrives on a bunch of gratuitous guest star appearances with bad characterizations. The Dark Willow bit in the latest issue was particularly badly written.

 

I have wondered just how much involvement Joss has actually had with the plotting of the season this year. I believe he stated at SDCC or prior that he sat down with Scott Allie and wrote out a "season treatment" on plots and characters that he wanted to touch on and follow through with from last season. We've been teased by a bit of that, but too much of this season has felt like glorified filler and we've not had enough greatness like we did last year. I know he wanted to go back to "grounded" stories but this has been borderline boring. This Male Slayer story arc seems like it is supposed to be one of the big minor arcs this year but it was meh. You guys know me, I'm always trying to pick out the positive stuff...but I am really struggling here right now.

 

You know that Freefall was just the name of the first arc (#1-4) not the name of the season as a whole?



Oh yeah, that's another thing I wanted to mention about A&F #14, throughout that whole build up of that arc it bit was billed as "the return of Dark Willow", ooh the return of Dark Willow!
And then... she was "Dark" for about what? 10 seconds? Then she was fine. And we did see in the Fray future Willow was still around and dark there, so was there any hint towards that destiny?...... no.

Lame.

 

Apparently, all she needed to be brought back from darkness was to be bitten by Angel's Awesome Orgasmic Fangs. Or something.

And then they all held hands and sang Kumbaya.

 

Yes, I'm aware that Freefall was the name of the first arc, but it's still listed on the solicits as being Freefall so thus my continued use of it.

I wasn't expecting anything big to happen from Dark Willow, as I pointed out it was actually the third time she's returned, first time in present day of course since the original incident and it was foreshadowed beforehand. Frankly I have major problems with both the main books, but I'm still enjoying Angel and Faith more. There is more fun happening there and Issacs art is worth getting the book alone.

 

At least from Buffy #17 we'll be getting an appearance from Illyria
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=41579
"Ripped from the middle of a zompire battle, Buffy finds herself face to face with Illyria and a mystical council in LA. She's been unwillingly recruited to take down a former enemy while her friends in San Francisco are left in a Buffy-less lurch with dire consequences..."

Should be interesting


Page also includes solits for Willow #3, A&F #18 and the final big Season 8 hardcover collection

 

Hanging on by a thread. The story in Buffy hasn't been that good, but Angel and Faith is picking up. At one time, I was excited that there was going to be a whole line of Buffy S9 books (Buffy, A&F, minis for Drusilla, Spike and Willow), but now the ony mini I'm even vaguely interested in is the Willow book and I'm even thinking of dropping Buffy.

 

Joss has been (and will remain) too busy with "bigger fish" (Avengers) to deal with Buffy-verse issues.

 

Not really true. Joss wrote the first issue of season nine, and co-wrote the second issue. It is true that he hasn't probably been hands on as he was last season, that doesn't mean that he hasn't still be working with him while working with Marvel Studios. We know the man has a lot on his plate and he's kind of always been this way.

 

He didn't co-write the second issue, he only wrote the first one, and apparently he was closely involved with the writing of the "pregnancy"/abortion arc, though he isn't credited as a writer so I'm guessing he was just telling Andrew what he wanted it to be like. It seems that his involvement in the Buffy title now consists of Chambliss talking to him about the upcoming issues - Chambliss has said he's been talking to Joss about the ending arc of the season - but I don't know if he's involved in Angel & Faith, the Spike mini or the Willow mini.

 

You still reinforce my point though. Joss still has had time to work on this, which is what Ian Keldon claimed he didn't. He might not be fully as hands on as he was with season eight but he's still very much involved despite his Marvel Studios work, you're right about the second issue, not sure why I thought he co-wrote it.

Gage gave an interview in the summer time where he stated that Joss was involved at the start and gave notes from "Ripper". This is the same interview where Gage reveals he wasn't a fan and didn't see any episodes of "Buffy" or "Angel" when he got the job. As to Joss' current involvement with "Angel and Faith" I'm not sure. It would seem his involvement was simply at the inception of the book.

 

Angel and Faith #15: This was simply fantastic. The issue is divided up into two parts, the first has Whistler and Angel having a conversation. They rehash their previous history as it is their "anniversary" of their original meeting which we flash back to (and which we know about from the series). They address the Twilight plan. What is most interesting about this is that we get an origin for Whistler. He was Merlin in the BuffyVerse among other things. Once again Angel offers to help "fix" him but he refuses and punches a whole through Angel's stomach telling him he'd better not see him again.

Part two tells the story of Pearl and Nash, less interesting but still entertaining. I didn't like the art in this issue. Things are continuing to roll along rather nicely in this book compared to Buffy right now.

 

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Nine #15: The conclusion of the Billy the Slayer story line I assume, was another meh issue. I don't have any emotional attachment to this character at all one way or another, I suspect that it is probably the writing. Something about it has been off the entire season. The writing this season in general has been average at best. The art was pretty good. I'm borderline on the verge of dropping this.

Willow Wonderland #1: This on the other hand, I found was fantastic. I love the cartoony style artwork and the writing and characterization was strong. This seems like it is going to be a strong ride.