Discussion of 8.05 "The Chain" Release 07/25/07

The last of the Joss penned issues for a while. A fragmented, yet poetic, stand alone telling of the tale of one of the Doppleganger Buffys - the one that's underground (literally). The final image, as usual, is a total rush.

is the date wrong or is it me reading it wrong?

It's GOTTA be wrong, because tfaw just notified me that my copy will be shipped in "a few days."

Well if TFAW told you it'll be shipped in a few days expect it in a month or so. 😉 :whistle: j/k

But yeah, the date is wrong. Stupid blurry eyes. Stupid fingers. Not May 25 2007, of course. It's July 25 2007 it came out. Thanks for pointing out the date mistake Mogwaid. I'll fix it.

I read # 5 this afternoon. Really liked it. Non linear story that packs a real emotional punch at the end.

I loved this issue. It's like the best "Tales of the Slayers" tale yet written, to me. What was that phrase you coined way back when N4H? The "millenium message"? Something like that. This is like an anti-millenium message story.

I burp out so many silly, concepts that make others go "Huh?", I lose track of them. Let's see if I remember that one. Didn't it say something like the corporate machine of the new millenium is inculcating it's own warped morality on the eloi, lotus-eating masses where what's good is what brings cosmetic self-satisfacition, rather than the sense of larger united purpose. The new message was "acquire" at the expense of all other societal restrictions. You don't just see this in television commercials anymore, it's infected the culture's art.

If I'm right in that's what the millenium message was, then yeah, I get your point. This is definitely, not that. This is more like the Harry Potter message where individuality and the smugness of personal acquisition matters less than the connection and responsibility to the welfare of other close knit groups. I wonder if a kind of knee jerk revolt is developing from the creators of culture. If so, I say go Joss. Go JK.

I wonder also, if maybe that's why Joss, and the talent he gathers around him have such a problem getting any kind of a significant break from the corporate brain. Their message is not it's message.

Yeah, I had in mind the Potter scenario I suppose. We were talking about Joss and noir and individualism, blah blah... The story's kinda structured like some noir. It's essentially over as it begins, told in sort of a flashback.

It's been building for years, but I'm thinking the exhaustion with "me" culture is clearly there now. Nihilism's starting to take it on the chin. I think the superhero-related flicks are helping that along. Spidey, Batman Begins. Harry Potter, etc. The "torture porn" movies aren't pulling in the big bucks anymore apparently. Tarantino's last experiment tanked (maybe that was just the weird format). I dunno.

As far as Joss and the corporate conflict, I'm not sure. He's just a little too quirky and geeky in his interests and his references and approach. So many of the suits just don't get it and don't care to. He obviously loves the freedom of comics.

I gotta say I was less than thrilled about this issue. While the story itself is good and interesting, I felt like Joss was cutting too much from one scene to another (if it's okay to call it that in a comic book) and it all felt a bit rushed. (I have the same complaint with #04.) I think that if the comics were maybe 10 pages longer that everything would go a tiny bit slower and we'd just have a little bit more time to take everything in.

I wasn't sure about no. 5 after the first reading. The non-linear story threw me a bit at first but after the second reading I loved it 🙂 This must be the Buffyverse's first venture into the realms of Faerie if I'm not mistaken...I reckon Mr Whedon must've been reading over Mr Gaiman's shoulder 😉, although it's a distinctly Buffyverse take on it.

Some questions though...the black girl with the dreads was Rona, right?

Who was the older woman in the turtle neck?

How many of the slayers in the red "chain" panel are known to us? I thought Nikki Wood, First Slayer and possibly Buffy (but I'm not 100% on her though).

Do we know this slayer's name? She isn't Holly Braeburn is she? Or am I right in thinking that the whole point is that it's not important because she does know it (what a choker that was, I was filling up at that point)...n4h is right those last panels are turning out to be pretty bloody good. I do hope she saw that the slayer army had arrived before she died...old softy, ain't I?

Was that Willow in the commercial with Andrew?

The only bad point in this issue was Scott Allie's comment on the letters page that we would have over a year to wait for new issues after no. 9 (I'm guessing that is the last one in Faith's arc). I hope he was just being overly pessimistic...

Edit - I've just seen n4h's post in the comic canon thread, which answers some of the above
- the "chain" panel slayers are from Tales of the Slayers (the comic not the BB fan fic project 🙂) - I haven't read those, so if someone could fill me in on the names...🙂
- Andrew's partner in commercial crime is most likely Vi.

Mr. Pointy said:

The only bad point in this issue was Scott Allie's comment on the letters page that we would have over a year to wait for new issues after no. 9 (I'm guessing that is the last one in Faith's arc). I hope he was just being overly pessimistic...

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That's not how I read it... I think he means that after issue 9, they won't be taking any more breaks for the next year or so.

Hexaphim said:

That's not how I read it... I think he means that after issue 9, they won't be taking any more breaks for the next year or so.

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That's also how I read it.

About this issue, I found it a bit confusing at first, but at the end it all came together and I thought it was really good 🙂

This is a very good surprise! I was under the impression it was supposed to come out in August. I was wrong. Lol.

I'm going to my comic shop on Saturday because it takes them a while to get Buffy in. *cough*Idiots*cough*

🙂
- TC

Hexaphim said:

That's not how I read it... I think he means that after issue 9, they won't be taking any more breaks for the next year or so.

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I re-read it and I think you're right...phew! Slightly ambiguous editorial from Mr Allie there IMO 🙂

I've read it twice now, and it's definitely an issue that rewards repeated readings.

The first time around I thought it was a bit of a mess, but after reading it a second time it just clicked for me. It's a wonderful issue, and well worth the money. 🙂

I was under the impression that the black woman by Giles' side was Olivia... anyone else thought so?

Something just occured to me. Won't all of the people who wait and buy the trade paperbacks miss these standalone issues? The tpb's that I've seen tend to deal with a complete arc and ignore the single issue stories.

white avenger said:

Something just occured to me. Won't all of the people who wait and buy the trade paperbacks miss these standalone issues? The tpb's that I've seen tend to deal with a complete arc and ignore the single issue stories.

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I've read "somewhere" that the first TPB will collect issues 1 through 5.

Pretty cool issue, I read it through didn't think that much of it, but after second read, it's bloody brilliant! Really enjoyed the whole Idea of it.

The last page was brilliant, anf the last few lines were amazing!

Allycat said:

I was under the impression that the black woman by Giles' side was Olivia... anyone else thought so?

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No, I thought it was Rona...see my post above. Olivia, I thought, was more Giles' age and that black woman was younger and training the slayers as if she was one IMO. Plus Scott Allie did hint in one of the previous letter columns that we would see some of the season seven Potentials...

I thought it might have been Rona, but I figured she looked too old lol.