By request...
Issue 8.13 was... interesting. I can certainly agree that some parts
of it are pure crack!fiction - but then again, so was the episode 5.01
'Buffy vs Dracula' in the first place. There's also some solid
characterisation and plot development, and one of the scariest threats
to our heroes that we've yet to see. Scott Allie even makes some
thoughtful and interesting comments on his letters page. And Renee's
changing expressions all through the comic are simply adorable...
"I agree with you that what's happening in this comic has plenty of
moral ambiguity to it. Buffy's struggle is as much a battle of free
will as right and wrong. Is the Slayer army a cult? Does she exhibit
some of the same arrogance as the Watcher Council? I think it's pretty
easy to argue yes to both questions."
"The book has more to do with Buffy's strength of character than her
physical strength, and both get explored and defined only through the
events of the story."
- Scott Allie, Editor, Dark Horse Comics
However, before going into the main review, let's come to a screeching
halt. Let's look at the one line in this comic that hit me right
between the eyes. About halfway through, we get this:
DRACULA: These powers you speak of-- they're part of the ancient
magics. I risked my very soul to attain them. I am their worldly
guardian.
Dracula has a soul? Like Angel and Spike? Now, it's possible that this
was a slip of the pen by Drew Goddard, and will be retconned out of
existence in a later issue. Or it could be that Dracula is talking
about an evil, demonic soul, not a human one. But taking him at face
value... he has a soul.
Thinking about it, it's not so unbelievable: Angel has his soul
because he was cursed by gypsies in Romania, and Dracula lives in
Romania and has special powers which Spike describes as "showy gypsy
stuff". There's a connection. Maybe Dracula has the same curse Angel
has, so consummating his relationship with Xander would be
dangerous...
Of course, you can argue that Dracula still seems pretty evil. He
kills peasants and hunts small Albanian boys, and his views on race
are somewhat unenlightened. On the other hand, presumably the human
Vlad Dracul had a soul, and the killings and maimings and impalements
he inflicted on his victims far outstrip anything the average vampire
gets up to. This vampire Dracula certainly seems capable of fairly
subtle emotions, including affection.
He also needs to shave, which creates an immediate canon conflict with
Angel:After the Fall 6.05. Still, according to my 'vampire hair growth
theory', we can assume that Dracula was full-bearded as a human and
has to shave to appear smooth-chinned. He also either uses a glamour
to seem younger, or dyes his hair black...
The idea of a past-it, has-been vampire slumped in decadence is an
interesting one. It's been suggested there's a deliberate parallel
being drawn with Buffy. Yes, she's in her prime; but both of them are
isolated and feel alone. Furthermore, both of them feel forced to put
up a facade to the world and appear to be something they aren't for
the benefit of the people around them.
Whether Xander is under Dracula's thrall is open to debate. I think
there are a few moments where he does seem to be - like when he tells
Renee "Watch your tone, Moor" - but he snaps out of that really
quickly. My judgement is that he's still got his free will as long as
he's on his guard, but if he relaxes too much he can fall under the
'fluence. For that matter, there are definite times when he seems to
be deliberately playing Dracula himself; calling him 'Master' seems to
be a deliberate ploy.
The slashy undertones, especially in the "you've lost weight"
conversation, are very funny. Renee's reaction to them ("Oh, for the
love of God...") is even funnier. I do get the impression that there's
a genuine friendship between them.
As for how that happened, well... this is the crack!fic bit. To be
fair, I think Drew is well aware of that, and approaches the issue
head-on by letting Andrew try to justify it while the Slayers he's
addressing express all the incredulity and doubt that we readers are
feeling. ("Wait-- what?") The message seems to be, "Yes, I know this
is out of left field, just go with it, okay? Then we can move on."
Although I'm generally not an Andrew fan, I did think this scene was
funny - the outfit, the big board, the audience reactions. Also, some
facts to take note of:
1) Xander and Dracula exchanged letters? Say what? Seriously, somebody
needs to write a fic in the form of these letters to tell us what they
said. I do like the shout-out to the original Dracula novel.
2) Anya is mentioned, and the fact that Xander grieved for her is
acknowledged. That should hopefully please a few people.
3) Dracula really is living in Transylvania.
4) One Slayer asks "Buffy just allowed him to go hang out with
Dracula?" - which is an interesting assumption regarding the amount of
authority the other Slayers ascribe to Buffy. I doubt that Xander
himself would think he needed her permission to go anywhere. Like I
said last time, it seems that a heirarchy of authority is building up
around Buffy almost despite her wishes.
5) Notice the Slayer carrying a huge bale of hay in the background in
one panel?
6) What, exactly, is "guy time" in this context?
7) One of the pictures shows a girl with purple hair and a tuft
sticking up at the front. Surely that's not Simone, is it? Isn't she
supposed to be in armed rebellion against Buffy's authority? It's
probably a coincidence.
The next scene at Slayer Central does more to showcase Buffy's
authority - not to mention her charisma and cult-leader status among
some Slayers. Aiko is (was) clearly an extremely competent and capable
Slayer, but she's also apparently a Buffy fangirl overwhelmed to be
finally talking to her idol face to face. And then there's Buffy's
treatment of Satsu - which to my eyes is pretty out of order. I don't
think I'm alone either - Willow seems pretty pissed off at Buffy's
curtness, and concerned for Satsu. The other Slayers seem to be
looking quite shocked as well. Satsu is raising a genuine concern and
coming up with a good suggestion, and Buffy not only refuses to
consider it, but slaps her down for daring to show initiative.
It could be argued that this is proof that the Slayer organisation is
exactly the sort of disciplined, heirarchical organisation some people
were claiming it was last month. That's possible, but I'm not entirely
convinced. The so-far-nameless black woman with long hair in the
purple sweater is willing to stand up to Buffy ("My point, ma'am, is
that..."), and apparently showed independent initiative by telling
Aiko to stay on the line because Buffy would want to speak to her in
person... she's not a subdued underling. The general attitude in the
control room reflects this - we see lots of girls (including Leah)
talking and looking at screens and reading papers and arguing and
being proactive: this is a hive of activity with people taking the
initiative, not a row of minions waiting to hear and obey Buffy's
wishes. She's definitely in command, yes, but it still to me reflects
the Scooby Gang writ large. Discussion and argument is fine until
there's an impending apocalypse, when Buffy will take control and
expect everyone to do as she says. As shown here.
So if Buffy doesn't normally expect instant obedience, why does she
want it from Satsu here? I suspect personal reasons lie behind her
extreme reaction. Perhaps she's afraid Satsu is trying to use their
sleeping together as a way to increase her status in the organisation,
and she's rejecting that. Or, more charitably, she's afraid the other
Slayers will think so, and she's trying to make a point to them that
she's not going to give Satsu any special treatment. There's also the
classic Buffy trait of pushing away people who try to get close to
her, and focussing on the mission at the expense of personal
relationships. Maybe she regrets her experiment and wants to forget it
ever happened, although there's no real evidence for that either way.
Turning back to Dracula, Xander and Renee, there's already been some
controversy about the Dark Master (Bator)'s racism (the references to
'Moors', 'Orientals' and 'filthy yellow swine'.) In the original book,
Dracula was certainly a believer in the racial superiority of
Transylvanians over all the lesser races who tried and failed to
conquer them. Frankly, to me his attitudes seem pretty much like a
(slightly exaggerated) version of the sort of views that were
considered perfectly acceptable a hundred years ago, anod they're
intended to show how out-of-date and out-of-touch Dracula has become.
(Plus, of course, to help us remember that he's not a good guy).
Question: is Dracula calling Renee a 'Moor' as just an old-fashioned
word for a black person, or is this proof that her ethnic origin is
actually from the Maghreb region?
So as well as black helicopters, the Slayer organisation also has C-5A
Galaxy transport aircraft at its disposal. For the record, those
things cost in the region of $160 million each... that's an awful lot
of diamonds to steal. And I still want to know who's piloting the
things. Unfortunately, because they go by covert means instead of a
commercial flight, we don't learn if Satsu has a Japanese passport.
Willow's conversation with Satsu is a (controversial) highlight of the
comic. Given her look of concern earlier, I'm pretty sure Willow has
sought out Satsu deliberately. Her words seem to be friendly advice
and sympathy to comfort Satsu, or at least stop her getting hurt
worse; but I think she's also trying to defend and justify Buffy's
actions. It's interesting that Willow buys into the "Buffy is the
general" idea, that she's special and unique. Of course, that's not a
new thing for Willow ("You're the Slayer, Buffy. Your stuff is pretty
crucial" - 'Primeval' "Xander has the luxury of not saying it, but
you're the Slayer. You have to say stuff like that." - 'Same Time,
Same Place'). What's even more interesting is that Willow sees herself
as one of the girls - "She's not like us" - rather than being, oh,
say, the most powerful witch in the Western hemisphere and the one who
cast the spell turning everyone into a Slayer in the first place...
I had to look up what HGOGA stands for in the Urban Dictionary. ('Hot
Girl-On-Girl Action', if you were wondering.) I still don't know if
it's pronounced "aitch-gee-oh-gee-ay" or "huh-go-gah". It's
interesting that Willow is happy to use jokey euphemisms and
circumlocutions for "lesbian" but is totally thrown when Satsu bluntly
uses the term 'dyke'. (Which, when I was going through my political
formative years, was one of those words you're only allowed to use if
you are one. Don't know if that's still true.) More confirmation that
despite her respectful outer appearance, Satsu is pretty down-to-earth
and forthright when she wants to be.
The end of this conversation is one time when I do wish we could hear
the actresses speaking the dialogue. Is Willow being pushy and
inappropriate, or is she being mischevious and cute? Without tone of
voice it's hard to tell. However her facial expression does seem
conspiratorial, and while Satsu looks shocked, it does look to me like
shocked-laughter rather than shocked-and-offended. And she's leaning
in towards Willow in the next panel. I'm thinking giggly girly
conversation, not uncomfortable prying. Remember, this is the Willow
who pressed Buffy for "Details!" about her first night with Parker,
and enjoyed her "vicarious smoochies" with Buffy and Riley.
I'm pleased to see it confirmed in canon that Willow has often thought
about having sex with Buffy, and slightly disappointed to see it
confirmed that she doesn't have first-hand knowledge of the
experience. :-)
Okay, serious question. Can anybody remember any episodes of the TV
show where Sarah Michelle Gellar made a "high pitched squeal" like the
one Willow describes? Just for research purposes...
I do wonder if there's a part of Willow that's a bit jealous, so she's
making it clear to Satsu that she's got nine years' intimate knowledge
of Buffy. Also, since I think about these things way too much, I'm
wondering if Willow has ever heard Buffy have sex. The reverse is
certainly true, since Buffy had the bedroom just the other side of an
internal partition wall from Willow and Tara in season 6 and Willow
and Kennedy in season 7, but Buffy would surely never have brought
Spike up to her own room in season 6. Maybe when they were roommates
in season 4 Willow would pretend to be asleep when Buffy got back from
a late-night patrol feeling hungry and horny? (There's a plot-bunny
there, if a plot-bunny for a PWP isn't a contradiction in terms. A
porn-bunny?)
The death of Aiko is pretty brutal, and makes it clear that these are
serious opponents. The fact that the Scythe can apparently be used to
reverse the Slayer spell and turn her back to a normal girl is also a
nasty idea. I wonder if it's a permanent effect or temporary?
Incidentally, the Japanese word Kumiko shouts when she casts the spell
is ??? (pronounced 'nigero') which means 'Run away!' That could be
random, or a Monty Python reference, or she could be ordering the
Slayer empowerment mojo to go away.
Politically, I'm wondering if the moral is that we should never relax.
Women have received a fair measure of equality and empowerment today
as compared to 30 years ago; but it's still possible for a reactionary
social movement to come to power and sweep all those changes away,
unless we're vigilant...
Stephen
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