Read All the Comics!: Buffy: Season 8

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight 12-30

Things improve with the next arc, written by Drew Goddard. It’s entirely possible that I liked this more because I wasn’t as tired when I read it. I’m somewhat tempted to start recording my state of sleepiness as I go through my collection - I wouldn’t be surprised to see some correlation between my wakefulness and ratings.

Anyway. Goddard brings a focus and coherence to this story that’s lacking in the rest. A vampire clan steals Buffy’s scythe. Their unconventional powers lead the Scoobies to temporarily enlist Dracula to their cause. The vampires plan to use the scythe to depower all the Slayers. Big fight ensues. The vampires kill Renee, Xander’s new girlfriend. Giant Dawn fights Mecha Dawn. Good guys win, Buffy gets her scythe back. Dracula returns to his castle. Xander grieves. Buffy sleeps with Satsu, a lesbian Slayer who’s in love with her. IRL internet explodes. In character? Out of character? All I can say is that it felt far more natural than Dany’s turn in the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones. (It just aired last night.)

I found these issues a lot more entertaining. I laughed a lot more at the funny bits, and Renee’s death was a lot more affecting than I expected for what was essentially a throwaway character.

Heh.

Not surprised Dracula's got a problem with Asians...

Mecha Dawn's got Dawn's personality down pat.

Then Joss Whedon crosses Buffy over with his characters from Fray, in a muddled mess that involves future Dark Willow. Meh. At least Dawn turning into a centaur generated some chuckles.

A bunch of single issue stories follow before the gang seek out Oz, now hiding out in the Tibetan mountains. The plot demands that the Slayer gang voluntarily give up their powers and magic, leading to their capture by Twilight. Whatever. If I didn’t love these characters so much, I’d have quit buying this comic around issue twenty. Between his lackluster effort with these comic and the wretched Dr Horrible, where I finally got sick of his penchant for killing characters for nothing more than shock value, I’d completely lost faith in the formerly unassailable Whedon. (His work on the Avengers movie won him some points, but then came the accusations from his ex-wife, and now I don’t know what to think.)

Georges Jeanty continues to disappoint. I had no idea that this was Dawn until way later into the issue. Was it supposed to look like her?