Stephen Tempest <stephen@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Issue 8.13 was... interesting. I can certainly agree that some parts
> of it are pure crack!fiction -
Not a bad term.
When we were talking about #12, I predicted that the more attention was
paid to Dracula's thrall over Xander, the less I'd like this story.
Well, #13 is clearly not an issue to back down from a challenge.
Consequently the Xander-Dracula parts bothered me more than a little on
first reading. But after venting my feelings (in another forum) about
this issue, I calmed down and realized that what *really* bothered me was
that #13 makes Goddard's story "Antique" canon. That's the story where
Xander's butt-monkeydom was cranked up to appallingly extreme heights for
the sake of one tiny little bit of characterization for a half-serious
MOTW from season 5. I still don't really care for it. But that's mostly
just in "Antiquity." In 8.13, Goddard restricts himself to just referring
to previous, off-screen butt-monkeydom, which is not so bad. In fact, he
gets a few good laughs out of it. I'm not saying I *love* the whole
Xander-Dracula thing now, but I'm willing to play along with it.
Another thing that really seriously bothered me on first reading was the
fear that some significant part of Andrew's story will turn out to be
true. More on that below.
> And Renee's
> changing expressions all through the comic are simply adorable...
I especially like her angry frowns.
> 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.
The face-value explanation seems improbable to me, not least because it's
dropped in here as a casual aside rather than a stunning relevation. But
I'm not saying it's *impossible* that Joss and Drew really mean to say
that Dracula has a soul, and introduced it in this offhand way just to
torment us....
But my interpretation is that Dracula was just being dramatic, and his
"soul" comment was not meant to be literally true. Perhaps he meant that
he risked his essence, ie, his master-vampire status. There's also the
theory that Dracula gained these magics before he became a vampire, when
he still had a human soul to risk. And the slip-of-the-pen theory cannot
be lightly discarded.
> 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...
I'm sure he uses a glamour, whatever else he may also do. (The very end
of "Antique" could be read as the moment when a depressed Dracula lets the
glamour slip.)
BTW, I imagine Butterfield as having Peter Lorre's voice. Is everyone
with me there?
> 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.
That's my opinion too. The thrall Dracula cast on Xander in BvD could
have left traces that are normally dormant, but can revive when Xander is
in the Dark Prince's the presence and lets his guard slip. These
lingering traces could also explain any contact with, or affection for,
Dracula that Xander might have felt between BvD and "Antique," or between
"Antique" and season 8. Whether that would render their friend****p less
genuine is a judgement call (but my call would be "yes").
> 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."
This whole scene filled me with dread that Goddard (and Whedon?!) were
going to make Andrew's whole story the truth. I guess we'll have to wait
and see what happens. But let the record show that Andrew's whole story
about Xander and Dracula's friend****p directly contradicts what we see at
the end of BvD, when Xander emerges from his thrall *hating* Dracula.
"Hit it off," indeed. If Andrew's story is true, the only way such
continued butt-monkeydom could make sense is if there's lingering thrall
causing it. So, comic, you're on notice.
> 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.
Again, IF this really happened, I would like to ascribe it to those
lingering thrall-traces mentioned above.
> 2) Anya is mentioned, and the fact that Xander grieved for her is
> acknowledged. That should hopefully please a few people.
This is something I'm glad was acknowledged, but a less humorous and/or
crack-addled acknowledgement would have been even better.
> 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.
As mariposas said, while Xander might not have needed Buffy's permission,
she still had power to not let him work at Castle Slayer unless he severed
all ties with Dracula. But you're right that the new Slayers may assume a
more hierarchical orders-and-obedience relation****p between Buffy and
Xander regardless of what's actually happening.
> 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.
Either that or a(nother) slip of the pen.
> 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.
I'd buy that. Or, in slight variation, she might be afraid that Satsu
will in the future come to assume she has gained special status and is
trying to block that possibility before it even starts. But even if her
motivation is reasonable, she's clearly being harsher on Satsu than
necessary. And that might cause problems of its own in the future. Over
the past eight seasons, I have come to the conclusion that Buffy is not
always perfect in her handling of personal relation****ps.
> There's also the
> classic Buffy trait of pu****ng away people who try to get close to
> her, and focussing on the mission at the expense of personal
> relation****ps. Maybe she regrets her experiment and wants to forget it
> ever happened, although there's no real evidence for that either way.
No evidence, but I doubt that last part
> 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.
That's my theory. These comments serve to remind us that Dracula is a
creature of ... not *his* time, but Bram Stoker's time.
> Question: is Dracula calling Renee a 'Moor' as just an old-fa****oned
> word for a black person, or is this proof that her ethnic origin is
> actually from the Maghreb region?
Ummm, if I had to bet, my money would be on the former.
> So as well as black helicopters, the Slayer organisation also has C-5A
> Galaxy trans****t 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.
Maybe you could get one on overstock.com for just $90 million or so....
It could be leased, though that would be a security risk. And I like
Philipp's theory that Willow magicked an old Cessna into the trans****t we
see; compared to the Slayer spell, that might not be difficult at all.
> 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.
That's the way it struck me too. I really didn't see anything wrong with
this scene. Even asking what Buffy was like in bed didn't bother me.
IMO being curious about Buffy's performance doesn't necessarily mean that
Willow is secretly in love with her best friend, nor does it cheapen their
friend****p. I definitely imagined a mischievous but cute delivery from
Willow here, and a shocked-laughter reaction from Satsu. Willow might
even have meant the question as a way to break any tension that had built
up. Asking it front of all those other Slayers struck me as a little
wrong, but maybe Willow was confident that no one else could hear them
over the background noise of jet engines and dozens of Slayer
conversations.
> 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".
"Huh-go-gah" sounds an awful lot like "hubba-hubba" to me.
> 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 tem****ary?
> 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.
It took me a few minutes to figure out what this scene reminded me of: the
one kid losing his superpowers early in Joss's Astoni****ng X-Men.
> 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...
Or how about this: What magic giveth, magic can take away.
I wonder, assuming Buffy manages to defeat Toru and company, if we'll be
left with one or more ex-Slayers as continuing characters, striving to
remain empowered even after they've been rendered normal again.
--Chris
______________________________________________________________________
chrisg [at] gwu.edu On the Internet, nobody knows I'm a dog.
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