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Is Buffy Season 8 worth reading?

My biggest problem with Buffy S8 is the pacing. The story is just too long to be told on a monthly basis. Otherwise, I'm loving it.
 
It's the first time since S5 that Dawn's character has been remotely interesting. Her transormations have been hysterical, and I loved some of Xander's bits during her equine phase.
 
My biggest problem with Buffy S8 is the pacing. The story is just too long to be told on a monthly basis. Otherwise, I'm loving it.
Same here, but as I said I think it will work a million times better reading it all when its done and dusted (before Season 9 that is :))
The last arc Predators & Prey (#21-25) felt like a total waste of time. A collection of one-shots, with almost nothing happening in any of them.
But again, the next arc looks like in it should be interesting, and finally get a move on. Which is kinda like the TV seasons did; starting a bit slow and then really kicking in with the arc plots and Big Bad action about two thirds in

WAAAAAAAAAAY better then the Angel books!!! WAY better!
If you're a fan of Angel I don't really get how you can say this. Aftermath is terrible, but if we're talking about After The Fall, it shits all over Season 8. Writer Brian Lynch is friggin fantastic
 
Lynch is great, but the art on Angel has been a big let-down. For the most part, the characters are unrecognizable as the actors who played them (Kate Lochley is especially bad), and the exceptions to this are usually clearly photo-referenced.
 
IMO, the key strengths of Angel: After the Fall were action and story, while Buffy is good for writing and character (the drawing was also better). I found myself getting bored with A:AtF toward the end, I couldn't get myself to care about anything that was happening, but decided to keep reading until the arc finished. From the sound of it, I skipped out at the right time.

Buffy's had a few dull issues as well, but I've never stopped caring about the people involved.
 
Yes the art in ATF isn't 100% amazing. Some were taken aback by main artist Franco Urru's style in the first 5 issues, but I was used to his work with his previous Spike: Asylum and Spike: Shadow Puppets, so I didn't have a problem.
Nick Runge's art for the Wesley story in #6 is uber awesome though, and so was a shame when he couldn't keep the pace up when he took over #9-11. A lot of it wasn't bad, but there were a few dodgy panels to be fair. Stephen Mooney's art for #12-14 isn't too bad, but has a odd look to it somehow, but not bad at all IMO.
Then when Franco Urru returned for the final run of #15-17... wow. He just improved 500%, the battle scenes in #15 & 16 are simply excellent I think.

But overall as Rowan Sjet says, the main thing was always the story, and it could have been drawn with stick men and I'd have still stuck with it.



And plus not only is Brian Lynch a great writer, he's a super nice guy too. Regulary posts on SlayAlive.com and is always more than happy to answer questions and get involved in discussions and the like
 
IMO, the key strengths of Angel: After the Fall were action and story, while Buffy is good for writing and character (the drawing was also better). I found myself getting bored with A:AtF toward the end, I couldn't get myself to care about anything that was happening, but decided to keep reading until the arc finished. From the sound of it, I skipped out at the right time.

Buffy's had a few dull issues as well, but I've never stopped caring about the people involved.

I think I agree with this assessment. I've only read the first three hardcover collections of Angel: AtF, with one more to go, and I'm sort of itching for it to be over with. Don't get me wrong, I've been enjoying it, for the most part, but it feels like we've spent enough time in hell, so I'm looking forward to the end of it. Of course, according to Ethros, Aftermath is a disappointing follow-up, but I guess I'll see for myself soon enough.

Personally, I'm also very interested in the upcoming Drusilla-centric issues, co-written by Juliet Landau herself! Hopefully, it'll be some good stuff.

Ethros said:
Nick Runge's art for the Wesley story in #6 is uber awesome though, and so was a shame when he couldn't keep the pace up when he took over #9-11. A lot of it wasn't bad, but there were a few dodgy panels to be fair.

Indeed. I loved Runge's art for Wesley's First Night story, and was excited to hear he'd be taking over for issues 9-11, but it unfortunately wasn't as strong. I guess that's to be somewhat expected, though, given the difference between drawing a few pages worth for one issue and drawing an entire issue three months in a row.

In general, I've definitely preferred the art for Buffy Season 8.

In any case, I've been more-or-less satisfied in both series, and I look forward to further installments of each.
 
I enjoyed Angel almost as much as Buffy but it was also really dense. If I didn't read like 10 issues in one sitting I got confused about who was what and where and what their loyalties were and what was going on. The Angel art was never that great unfortunately but the Buffy art was always good.
 
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