"My name is... Spike. And I'm a bad, bad man. But as far as vampires go, I rank in the top two."

[elisi]

I am *so* going to have to get 'Shadow Puppets'... cause that - points to subject line - is some brilliant writing! :) Also - please tell me that there are icons of this image! *hugs Puppet!Spike* (ETA: Look what moscow_watcher made!!!) Oh and I am also very much in love with Puppet!Lorne. (Interview with Brian Lynch here, including the first 5 pages of 'Shadow Puppets', and interview with Joss here.)

******

OK, so I had vowed to myself not to touch the subject of S8 being ‘canon’ ever again (too pointless - someone stop me!), but then aycheb made me realise something very obvious about why I love the ending of ‘Chosen’ so very much [points to icon]:

Buffy at that moment has something priceless in her grasp: Freedom. The past is wiped out (literally) and the future is an open book - she can go anywhere, do anything. She can have a normal life, or fight alongside her fellow Slayers, or have fun with The Immortal in Rome, or marry Bob Dole and raise penguins in Guam, or...

‘The ending’ is a springboard to any and every possible story you want to imagine.

But the comics lock Buffy down again in a specific situation and place and saddle her with a whole boatload of new problems. And that can never be more than just *one* future - to borrow from Doctor Who, every choice creates a new reality. The comics are Joss’ reality, but they’re still just one amongst many.

As for Angel, then the end of ‘Not Fade Away’ was different, and yet the same. As David Fury put it:

...the last beat of the episode would be Angel and whoever was left of his crew about to launch into the apocalypse. My thought on that is, that's the perfect way to end the show. The point of Buffy was always girl power and showing that power. The point of Angel was always that the fight never ends. He'll always fight. It's an eternity of fighting. You can't ever win but the fight is worth fighting.

Rather than a new future, it was the perfect encapsulation of AtS: Angel will never be free. But - like S8 - whatever S6 brings it’ll only be one possible way for the story to continue. As for why I’m more excited... well Joss said it best here (although there are other reasons too):

We had NO IDEA where Angel had to go. And so he went everywhere, anywhere: up down, good, bad, left, farther left... off the edge of the world and home for supper

There’s no safety net.

ETA: Have been discussing the canon issue with ibmiller over on newly_legion. His argument (which is very sound) was this: So yeah, lots of sense made, but I think the basis is flawed. The show ended, perfectly. But it wasn't just a show, it was a story. And that goes on.

Which made me think a lot when I went to pick up the children from school. These were my thoughts:

For me, my response to Buffy was always (or at least post-FFL which was when I really fell hard) emotional. I have never, and will never, love a show the way I do Buffy (and AtS). I have never in my life cared as much about fictional characters as I do Buffy, Spike and Angel. It does things to me, this 'verse. The look on Spike's face when he sees Buffy come down the stairs in 'Afterlife'? I have no words to explain how that affects me. Or to explain how I felt when Spike got his soul. Or when Angel locked Dru and Darla in the basement with the lawyers... (to mention just a few moments). It knocks me out, it drags me down and pulls me up and turns me inside out. It makes me analyse every angle, makes me re-watch favourite scenes over and over, makes me read and write fanfiction like it is oxygen. If I didn't happen to be a Catholic I'd be a worshipper in the Church of Joss.

The comics don't do that to me. The story might go on, but in comic form I'm pretty much indifferent. It's just a story now, not magic.

I miss my show.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh absolutely. I just think that in comic form Buffy is somewhat reduced.

My opinion of the fact is biased, but I can't get into comics, even if I wanted to. It's not the medium, per se - I used to read loads of manga and its form never bothered me. What does bother me is the ugliness of the drawings. I'm sorry, there's no other way around it - I wish Joss found a better artist - why d.ex. not hire full time the one who did the covers? They're stunningly beautiful and I can't help but wonder what would it be like if she worked on entire visuals. Buffy was not only a story, it was the music, lightning, sets, actors - take that away and along goes my canon and my investment.

[elisi]

*nods along to everything*

Although I doubt that even Jo Chen could reconcile me to the story he's telling, it would certainly *help* not to have the pictures be so *very* ugly... (I don't read the comics, but whenever I have a look at a preview page I sort of recoil at the hideousness.)

Buffy was not only a story, it was the music, lightning, sets, actors - take that away and along goes my canon and my investment.
Exactly.

Also thank you for commenting on this old post! :)