"Oh, hi Buffy. Hi nude Asian girl." - Andrew to Buffy/Satsu
"Hell has been kind to you, old friend! And Wesley! I heard you're without mass! Good for you, always keep your enemies guessing!" - Groosalugg to Wesley
BUFFY SEASON 8
Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Four pages into "Wolves at the Gate, Part 1," (a.k.a. Issue #12) we find Buffy in bed in with Satsu, both of them naked. And yes, it's exactly what it looks like. Buffy has entered Willow territory. Which in this case makes her the WORST BOSS EVER. Especially since she spent all of the previous issue insisting to Satsu that she should NOT be in love with her, and that such feelings could only end badly. But if we've learned anything about Buffy over the years, it's that she fully embraces her role as a master of mixed messages and the queen of failing to consider how her actions might adversely affect others, emotionally or physically.
Having said that, it certainly made for a most shocking splash page, no? And in true Whedon fashion, a hilarious turn of events as well. No sooner does Buffy finish telling Satsu that she should exercise discretion, Xander bursts into the room, then his new squeeze (slayerette Renee), then a groggy Andrew. Then Dawn peeks in through the window. Then Willow crashes through the ceiling, finally offering Buffy a needed diversion ...
At this point, the Scoobies get their asses handed to them by a cadre of transmogrifying vampires, who basically swoop in, morph back and forth from vamps to wolves to panthers to bees to fog, as needed, and eventually get what they came looking for -- the Scythe. This of course worries the gang. Because anybody who would want something as specific and powerful as the Scythe can't possibly mean to do anything good with it.
After a few moments of thought, it occurs to the Scoobies that they know of at least one other vampire who can change shape in the same way that these vamps did. Grudgingly, Xander hops into a helicopter with Renee, apologizing in advance for his behavior, cross the pond into mainland Europe, and arrive at the castle home of Xander's old master ... Dracula.
This was the first of a 4-part arc being written by Drew Goddard -- writer of Cloverfield, as well as many of the awesome Lost episodes (e.g. "The Man from Tallahassee") from this season and last, and a dozen or so pivotal Buffy (e.g. "Conversations with Dead People") and Angel (e.g. "Why We Fight") episodes. He really seems to understand the nuances of these characters, and so far, I'd say he's doing a great job.
ANGEL SEASON 6
Issue #4 of "After the Fall" starts with a very short flashback of the series finale battle that clearly has Angel a bit confused. Perhaps he's still suffering residual Illyria time jump effect? Anyway, in the present, he forgets he's not a vampire, and jumps off a building to save some humans from a zombie, and breaks his legs in the process. Wesley takes him back to the office for some voodoo healing, while Angel reads something that looks like the Necronomicon from the Evil Dead movies. We learn that for months, Wesley has been healing his wounds and casting glamors to make everybody in Hell perceive him to still be a vampire. Angel believes that making him human was Wolfram & Hart's way of defeating him -- taking away his power when he needs it most -- and that keeping up the illusion is the only way to beat them.
A pair of colorful females arrive, and escort the two of them to Silver Lake, a happy haven of sorts, lorded over by none other than the Jolly Green Demon himself, Lorne, who is much loved in this little corner of Hell. Meanwhile, back at Bikini Central, Spike has received less attractive visitors -- demon henchmen who have come to give Illyria an artifact called a Hagun Shaft, which each of the lords possess, and which is to be used to kill Angel painfully in the event that he manages to defeat all of their champions. Illyria herself hears none of this, however, because she's busy gnashing her teeth while locked inside a vault. Not sure why.
At Silver Lake, Lorne warns Angel that the other lords don't plan to fight fair, and gives him a glimpse of the champions he'll be fighting, which include a T-Rex and a "She-Skip". To help level things out a bit, in flies Groosalugg on a black pegasus, throws his arm around Angel, and starts talking weapons. Left alone, Lorne and Wesley discuss the fact that Wolfram & Hart don't have nearly as much control over the Hell situation as they'd like. Then Wesley suddenly disappears. Unbeknownst to them, Vampire Gunn and his Fang Posse have blown up the Wolfram & Hart building, which has apparently severed Wesley's tie to Hell.
Next issue, I'm guessing we'll see the outcome of Angel's Big Fight. Then in issues 6 to 8, it's the moment we've all been waiting for -- "First Night" -- the story of what happened during the big series finale battle. Spinning off the heels of that this summer will be a miniseries called "Spike: After the Fall", also created by Lynch and Urru, which will document how William the Bloody went from "First Night" to becoming a co-lord with Illyria. So warm up your wallets!
"Go ahead. Church me. Plenty more where I came from." - Buffy to Twilight
"Great. Fountain of blood is gone. When Fred Sonja is done, I want you to take that thing and get out." - Spike to Angel
BUFFY SEASON 8
Issue # 11, "A Beautiful Sunset" is another story written by Whedon himself. We finally get confirmation of whose "true love kiss" woke Buffy out of that sleeping spell back in issue #4. And the winner is ... Satsu, the Asian slayerette who is currently the strongest of the Scrappy Doo pack. If you were paying attention, of course, you already knew this; there was a whole cinnamon lip gloss detail that kind of gave it away. But as Buffy takes her out for some one-on-one training, she confronts Satsu on the matter, and tries to impress upon her that historically, falling in love with Buffy is a lethal proposition. As if to prove this, while on rounds, they are attacked by this season's Big Bad himself, Twilight.
Twilight fights well, lifts heavy things, flies, lifts and throws heavy things while flying, and all in all seems to have a Superman level of power. He knocks Satsu out, then toys with Buffy for a while, both physically and mentally. You definitely get the impression that if he wanted to kill Buffy, he could. But as he later points out, "That's been done. To little effect." His plan instead is to demoralize her, "to strip her of her greatest armor ... her moral certainty," by convincing her that creating so many new slayers has not improved the world, and is more likely hurting it. It's a concern that Buffy already has -- that for every good slayer they train, the rogue ones create even more problems -- so his words end up having exactly the effect he'd hope for, nudging Buffy into a nihilistic funk.
ANGEL SEASON 6
In issue # 3 of "Angel: After the Fall", we pick up where we left off, with Angel getting attacked by Illyria. We also learn that life in Hell Angeles is proving peculiar not only for the humans, but for the various supernatural inhabitants as well, because the sun and moon are always out at the same time. And for a Primordial demon like Illyria, this has resulted in some time slippage, similar to what happened in the "Time Bomb" episode from Season 5. After some brawling, Illyria gets the upper hand on Angel, then starts fighting with his dragon. Meanwhile, Angel and Spike talk, then Connor shows up, and we find out that Spike has actually been doing the same thing as Angel -- saving humans and keeping them safe.
After coming to the realization that he's been duped by somebody into thinking that Spike and Illyria were his enemies, Angel brings Wesley along to pay a visit to the council of demon bosses who have carved out control of the various sections of Los Angeles. Including Burges, the demon whose son Angel killed in the first issue. Angel throws down the glove, challenging all of the bosses to a fight for control of their territories, and ends up agreeing to fight the champions of their choice in two days time. Which is a bold enough choice in and of itself. But it's made all the more bold by the voice-over revelation revealed to us in the final panel -- ANGEL ISN'T A VAMPIRE ANY MORE. Huh what?
"It's too dangerous! We can ski down these crazy Alps in the morning, but till then, television's Tina Fey ... we must find a way to keep warm." - Willow to Tina Fey
"I didn't rise from prisoner to prisoner with benefits to protector back to prisoner with benefits to Lord, just to have you come and muck it up." - Spike to Angel
BUFFY SEASON 8
Issue #10 is an extra long stand-alone story penned by Whedon himself, titled "Anywhere But Here". The focus has shifted away from Faith and Giles, and back to the core players. Buffy and Willow are off on a mission to enlist the aid of a powerful demon against the threat of Twilight, while Xander and Dawn have some quiet time back at the castle. The overall theme, as reiterated over and over by Sephrilian -- a big wormy-looking Tichajt demon with huge teeth, arms, and four faces, who exists in some kind of warped time/space bubble -- is that humans are big fat liars who hide things even from the ones they're most close to. And the Scooby Gang is no exception.
Willow learns that Buffy and the Slayerettes robbed a Swiss bank to acquire the funds they currently use to keep the world safe from demons, which Willow considers the "first domino" in the New Initiative War. Buffy learns that Willow had sex with a mermaid. Xander learns that Dawn did not actually have sex with her thricewise ex-boyfriend, but rather with his roommate -- a broody, cigarette-smoking, guitar-playing "bad boy" -- and that this is why she was giant-ized. We see a future glimpse of Buffy beaten and bruised, and are told that somebody close to her will betray her.
And then touchingly, we hear Willow's agonized explanation of why she never brings her girlfriend Kennedy around. On some level, she holds Buffy responsible for the death of Tara. If not for bringing Buffy back to life, her world would not have gotten so chaotic, and Tara would still be alive. Willow seems afraid to ever have to make a bad decision like that again, and her solution -- for better or worse -- seems to be to keep those parts of her life separate.
On a lighter note, we see several chuckle-worthy fantasy sequences. Buffy on the beach with Daniel Craig. Willow at a ski lodge with "Television's Tina Fey". And Buffy in a period piece fantasy with both "Little Women Christian Bale" and "Reign of Fire Christian Bale" at the same time. And even these sequences are poignant, because they show us that Buffy and Willow are more inclined to share semi-embarrassing fantasies such as these with each other than they are to discuss the very serious issues that stand between them as friends.
In the end, the worm demon proves uncooperative, and Buffy and Willow make quick work of it. Then they walk they own separate ways. Which is a sharp contrast to the issue's opening scene -- Buffy clinging to Willow as they fly through the air. Clearly, the truth has NOT set them free, and we are left thinking that the divide between them will only grow wider in the coming days.
ANGEL SEASON 6
In issue #2 of "Angel: After the Fall", Angel has to deal with the consequences of having just killed the son of Demon Lord Burge at the tail end of the first issue. Namely, he has to find his son, and warn him that the demon's father might come gunning for him. What he finds is that Connor is more than capable of taking care of himself, as they both deal with the violent power vacuum created by Vampire Gunn's killing of a demon lord (also in the first issue) -- demons falling all over each other to vie for the top spot, putting humans at risk in the process.
As for Gunn, he seems to have a revenge bone to pick with his former employer. He's holding it against Angel for leaving him on his own at the Big Showdown, which resulted in him being dragged off by vampires and turned into one. Yet he seems to think that even as a vampire without a soul, he is more of a Good Guy than Angel who has one, and has some plan we don't know about yet to take all the demons down. In the meantime, he takes out his frustrations on Betta George -- a giant floating telepathic fish (a character introduced in Lynch's "Spike: Asylum" series).
With Electric Gwen's help, Angel visits the site of the demon lord killing, and after glancing at some writing on the wall, decides he knows who did the deed. He pays a visit to the Demon Lord of Beverly Hills, who is none other than Spike, pool-side, surrounded by a bevy of busty bikini-clad women who seem to hang on his every word. As you would expect, the two Buffy exes duke it out. And as you might also expect, Angel kicks Spike's ass ... right up until the moment that Super Blue Illyria (formerly Fred) shows up to defend Spike, referring to him as her "pet".
Just another day in Hell.
Some of you have expressed an interest in discussing the new "Buffy Season 8" and "Angel Season 6" comics being produced these days. And while these aren't actually TV shows, they are comic books based on TV shows, with canonical storylines direct from the mind of Joss Whedon himself, essentially being marketed as "where the show would have gone if it wasn't cancelled". And these comics just plain rock. So I've decided to start recapping them, and see what happens.
But first, we have to get caught up. What follows is a synopsis of Buffy #1-9 and Angel #1, so beware of spoilers if you haven't read that far yet!
BUFFY SEASON 8
Issues #1-4 complete a plot arc, "The Long Way Home", and set up the new "season" for us. At the end of Season 7, we saw the destruction of the Hellmouth and the unlocking of a legion of new Slayers all over the world. Around 1800 new Slayers, to be more precise. Command Central for the Scoobies these days is a castle in Scotland, from which a one-eyed Commander Xander, a sometimes dark-eyed Witch Willow, and Head Slayer Buffy all attempt to train 500 or so rookie Slayerettes, while at the same time spearheading missions to keep the world safe from vampires and other assorted Big Bads. Also milling around on the castle grounds is a gigantic 50-Foot Dawn. We're not entirely sure why. Possibly something to do with having sex with the wrong magical boy (a "thricewise")?
Meanwhile, the Military Powers That Be, led by General Voll, are not happy with all the new Slayers, whom they consider to be a new and very dangerous terrorist element. In the process of trying to track the Scooby Army down, they free crazy Witch Amy (who Willow once turned into a mouse) and skinless ex-Troika member Warren (who Willow flayed in retaliation for the death of Tara) from a virtual grave in the crater that was once the Hellmouth. Needless to say, these two are NOT Scooby-friendly, and much of this first big arc deals with them attempting to exact their revenge with sleeping spells and scalpels and a zombie army. The gang takes them down, of course, and in the process, learns about Voll and the new Initiative-type organization that has it in for them.
Issue #5 is a touching one-shot called "The Chain" that deals with the life and death of a nameless Slayer who is recruited by the cause and serves as a Buffy decoy, drawing out a dangerous demon who ultimately kills her, then gets killed himself by the other Slayers.
Issues #6-9 make up another major plot arc, "No Future For You", which is centered around everybody's favorite Bad Slayer -- Faith. We learn that Faith's place in the order of things these days is as a kind of "cleaner". She does the dirty Slayer jobs that nobody else is willing to. Like staking a house full of children who have been turned into vamps by their mother. Giles recruits her for a special mission -- the assassination of a Rogue Slayer, Lady Genevieve, an English aristocrat. Faith goes undercover as Hope, an aristocrat herself, and unintentionally becomes a friend and confidante to "Gigi", who as it turns out plans to kill the "Queen Slayer", Buffy Summers. But Gigi is being mislead by her watcher, a warlock named Roden. Buffy gets teleported in, Faith saves her, Faith and Gigi fight, Gigi dies, Faith and Roden fight, Giles kills Roden, and Giles becomes Faith's watcher again. At the end of the arc, we learn that Roden was part of "Twilight" -- the true Big Bad of the season that is also behind General Voll and his New Intiative.
ANGEL SEASON 6
In issue #1 of "Angel: After the Fall", we learn what happened after the big showdown at the end of Season 5 ... sort of. We've jumped ahead a few months, which means that Joss plans to feed us details of the showdown and its immediate aftermath bit by bit. But we do know a few things. For one, Angel still lives (you know what I mean), thanks to the help of a dragon who was also working for Wolfram & Hart and decided to go rogue. Los Angeles is now in Hell, being ruled by assorted demon warlords. Angel's son Connor and two of Angel's ex-love interests -- Electric Gwen and Werewolf Nina -- are running a kind of sanctuary for humans and good demons. Wesley is now a kind of ghost, contractually bound to work for The Senior Partners but helping Angel when he can. And in a hugely ironic move, Gunn the diehard vampire hater is now a vampire himself. No sign yet of Fred/Illyria, Spike, or Lorne, but I'm sure they can't be far behind.
WHAT I THINK ...
All in all, I'm really loving both of these titles. Joss's plot direction is clear, the storylines are satisfyingly twisty, and the clever dialogue always makes me smile. Brian K. Vaughn has done some great writing for the Faith story, and I'd highly recommend both his "Y: The Last Man" series and his run on "Runaways" (which Joss took over from him). And Brian Lynch was a great choice of writer for Angel -- if you haven't already, buy the "Spike: Asylum" trade paperback, on the basis of which Joss hand-picked him for this job. I'm eagerly waiting for "Spike: Shadow Puppets" to come out, so I can read that one too. FYI ... Joss will be penning the next two issues of Buffy, to be followed by a 4-issue arc written by Drew Goddard, who's written for Buffy, Angel, Alias, and Lost. So I'm expecting great things for the future!