Reviews of s8 issue 4.

[elisi]

Realised that for some reason I forgot to put these up. This time I've ordered them in groups:

I've got a theory...
Excellent summary and analysis by moscow_watcher.

Canon-y goodness yay!

Indepth review by stormwreath

Review and meta by aycheb

*shrug* (a mixed bag...)

Review by beer_good_foamy

Review by yourlibrarian

Review by confusedkayt

Review by shapinglight

Review/rant by ruuger

wtf?

Review by sp23


Um... thedeadlyhook? molly_may? Any thoughts at all? Or are you just paralysed with not caring anymore?


But I have a theory of my own... Because lets face it, Buffy looks *nothing* like she did on the show (who is this round-faced, button-nosed young woman people keep addressing as Buffy?). So, I think the real Buffy (and the real Dawn) are in Rome. This Buffy (and Dawn) are from a parallel universe, where incidents not entirely unlike those in 'our verse' took place, but with the odd differences of course [insert ret-cons]. Oh and Willow mindwiped everyone so they *think* this is the real Buffy. :)

*has brainwave*

When they brought the other Buffy and Dawn through, parallel!Amy and parallel!Warren hitched a ride. That, I think, explains everything! My theory is neat! *g*

Comments

[elisi]

This may be because none of what I've seen so far includes any close-ups but again that's another problem 2-3 pages with every panel at the same mid-distant focal length gets wearying on the eye.
Oh the cinematography of Asylum is *gorgeous*. Much more like the show than s8 - IMHO of course. And Spike has plenty of expressions, trust me! :) Anyway, even if he didn't, he still comes across as the character we know. S8 Buffy just doesn't. She sounds right, but looks wrong, and I can't separate the two I'm afraid.

if you don't care about Buffy when Spike's not there there's not a lot S8 can ever do for you {g}
Well I *do* care about Buffy. A lot. It's just this Buffy I'm having a problem with. I think it's partly just that the focus is so wide. It's written like a TV show, but it doesn't have any of a TV show's advantages. *sighs* See if I love something, I'm willing to forgive an *awful* lot. But I don't love easily and so far s8 has done nothing to win me over.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

Oh the cinematography of Asylum is *gorgeous*.
But the cinematography on BtVS wasn't gorgeous. Unlike Angel which aimed to be cinematic Buffy remained determinedly TV. Academy ratio and plenty of mundane one shot-two shot editing. Intimate but not visually striking until every so often it would leap out and suprise you like a salmon pink OT3 fantasy or Satsu's eyes reflected in the blade of her katana.

[elisi]

But the cinematography on BtVS wasn't gorgeous.
Yes it was! Moreso in the later seasons, but although the camerawork was never cinema like, it was certainly very, very good.

Anyway, comparing ep.1 to Asylum really is apples and oranges. It's like comparing ep.1 of S1 of the new Doctor Who (what was it called? 'Rose'? The one with the autons) to 'Blink'. The latter is an outstanding standalone tale that succeeds superbly in what it does. Whereas 'Rose' is... well it's a little lame. I thought so when I first watched it and only stuck with the show because I figured that it'd probably get better - which thankfully it did. But based on 'Rose' alone I would not deem Doctor Who a success - it does the job, but it didn't impress me at all. (It's grown on me somewhat on re-watch, but there are still elements that I find badly done.)

I can appreciate all the merits of 'The Long Way Home' that you and stormwreath point out, but without emotional investment it just falls flat.

[aycheb.livejournal.com]

It was certainly very, very good
Gorgeous and good aren't synonymous. What I was trying to say was that BtVS and AtS had different aesthetics. Jeanty's art is a reasonable match to the former, Urro's (I can believe) to the latter.

[elisi]

Well I'm not going to argue semantics. But BtVS is a very, very pretty show. And I don't think Jeanty is doing it justice.

I'm not a big comics fan, but I have read a fair share - Lucky Luke, Asterix and 'Spirou & Fantasio' f.ex. what I was younger, Elfquest, Spirit etc. when older. The artwork in all of these is *gorgeous* and effortless and I find it hard to accept anything less. Jeanty can draw, no doubt about it, but his style is doing nothing for me. He's a craftsman, not an artist. I wish they'd found an artist.