Discussion of 8.24 "Safe"- Released 4/01/09 (Dark Horse)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #24
Writer: Jim Krueger
Penciller: Cliff Richards
Inker: Andy Owens
Colorist: Michelle Madsen
Cover Artist: Jo Chen
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure
Features: Preview
TFAW.com Buy Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #24 Now @ TFAW.com
Faith. Giles. Let's catch up!

In an amazing one-shot issue, the esteemed Jim Krueger -- whose works include Avengers/Invaders, Earth X, Justice, and multiple original series -- fleshes out the go-to girl for dirty deeds, Faith, and her new partner, Giles. After her last thankless escapade, where she put a stop to Buffy-hunting Slayer and kindred spirit Lady Gigi, Faith decided that though she's determined to be finished with bloodshed, she's not ready to leave misguided Slayers (like Gigi) with nowhere to turn. Fast-forward to the present . . . bloodshed still abounds, and the Faith-and-Giles team is still finding out what it really means to help those chosen to slay . . .

Executive Produced by Joss Whedon!

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Source: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 #24 :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics

I liked this stand-alone issue. It doesn't feature any other characters than Giles, Faith, and the new ones. I guess that makes this the first issue/episode without Buffy ever. Must say that I didn't miss her necessarily, the story didn't really suit intrusions.

The story should've been a couple of pages longer (that's always my complaint) so that the pacing could've been a bit more relaxed and more tension could've been built. But Jim Krueger did hit the voices of the characters perfectly. Maybe it's because I'm now watching Eliza in Dollhouse, but it was very easy to hear her voice saying those lines.

I wonder if Courtney will be back? The Giles/Faith pairing is working really well. I really feel like they could hold up a spin-off. If Dark Horse would create one, I guess Coco is the first potential additional character on the roster.

Yeah I enjoyed it too, the only problem with this one shot deal for the entire arc is the fact that they have to cram the episoids down and it makes some stuff rushed and/or forced. I found Courtney to be a bit 2D though lol not very interesting. Did have a good laugh at "She's calling me names G!"

I think it was good for a one shot. Faith and Giles work good together.

Liked the "She's calling me names, G." Could definitely hear Eliza Dushku say that line.

I also liked to see that other Watcher's perspective on Slayers - that they're interchangeable and unimportant. I was shocked that those townspeople sent their own children to die for them.

But that tentacle monster feeding on regret, it was meh.

One thing really annoyed me, though - this issue is supposed to be set in Germany but the signs are either in English or written wrong. They could have checked.

Mumrik said:

One thing really annoyed me, though - this issue is supposed to be set in Germany but the signs are either in English or written wrong. They could have checked.

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Yeah, how many different ways did they misspell Backerei? Bakerei? Backerey? October Fest...

At least they got Rathaus right.

It wasn't bad as a monster-of-the-week episode... the problem is, at this point in the season each issue should be moving the characters forward a lot more than this. Faith and Giles get little enough time this season... why waste it on a story with no connection to the overall season arc?

I'd also like to know why

AndrewCrossett said:

Yeah, how many different ways did they misspell Backerei? Bakerei? Backerey? October Fest...

At least they got Rathaus right.

It wasn't bad as a monster-of-the-week episode... the problem is, at this point in the season each issue should be moving the characters forward a lot more than this. Faith and Giles get little enough time this season... why waste it on a story with no connection to the overall season arc?

I'd also like to know why

Spoiler

the Octopus Demon exploded in flames when Faith hit it with her crossbow... and why she was unharmed by being in the middle of an explosion that could be seen from the forest outside of town.

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I agree that this issue features some sloppy editing. I disagree that this issue has no connection to the overall plot. The point of this whole arc is to get a good picture of where Slayers are at right now in the world. This issue really does help do that. As to why Slayers have this position in the world. Well, I think that has everything to do with the big Twilight-plot.

Allycat said:

I agree that this issue features some sloppy editing. I disagree that this issue has no connection to the overall plot. The point of this whole arc is to get a good picture of where Slayers are at right now in the world. This issue really does help do that. As to why Slayers have this position in the world. Well, I think that has everything to do with the big Twilight-plot.

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It shows that there are groups of Slayers out there who are leaderless and being taken advantage of, but I'm not sure I see the direct influence of Twilight in this.

I don't know... more important stuff should have happened in this issue. We already knew things are bad for Slayers. The season plot didn't move forward in any way that I could see, and neither Faith or Giles grew or evolved at all as characters, like they did in NFFY.

With the possible (arguable) exception of "After These Messages..." (which I liked), this was the first issue of season 8 that you could miss completely and not have your understanding of the season diminish at all.

I didn't hate the issue... I just think it needed to do more.

AndrewCrossett said:

Yeah, how many different ways did they misspell Backerei? Bakerei? Backerey? October Fest...

At least they got Rathaus right.

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I didn't even notice that there were more than one different spellings of Bäckerei, I only noticed Bäkerei. That's just sloppy editing.
If you make a mistake, at least make it consistent so you can brush it off as the shop owner being illiterate or something - we do have some stupid named shop names here, there's one named Back World. "backen" means "to bake" in German and world is English, of course. But every English speaking person must be wondering why a bakery is named Back World.
But they got Bibliothek (or at least the part that wasn't covered by a speech bubble) right! 🙂

The name of the town bugged me, too. Hanselstadt. I think it's supposed to be a Hansel and Gretel (Hänsel und Gretel in German) pun, so technically it should have been Hänselstadt. But I think most English speaking people don't differentiate between ä and a, so I let that slide.

/rant

I'm just being nitpicky because it's my first language.

I was a little disappointed that the Slayer (two-dimensional as she was) wasn't German. I'd like a German Slayer.

I'd also like to know why

Spoiler

the Octopus Demon exploded in flames when Faith hit it with her crossbow... and why she was unharmed by being in the middle of an explosion that could be seen from the forest outside of town.

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Yes, I wondered about that too. I thought I didn't really get it because I rushed through this issue a bit and wanted to re-read it but I still don't get it. It seemed like they just ran out of space and just needed to finish that monster off fast.

Mumrik said:

I was a little disappointed that the Slayer (two-dimensional as she was) wasn't German. I'd like a German Slayer.

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Rowena is German. Although thankfully they stopped trying to do her accent phonetically after the first couple of issues.

I have to admit, I don't even know how to make umlauts on my keyboard.

à cän ! Hühü. Frà«nch kà«yböärds rülà« ! =D

I think the end of the issue was really rushed. It had many good ideas and all. The beginning was cool, slow, but it seems like at the end, they were like "oh bummer, we have to finish this issue in three pages! let's rush it all!". I mean, why didn't Giles dream of Jenny ? How did Faith get over her regret issues ? How did the monster go burn-y ? How didn't Faith go burn-y ? I don't think that's questions that'll ever be answered. It's too bad, really. It really makes it look like a stand-alone, monster-of-the-week episode.

However, I think it's kinda connected to Twilight and all : the vampire at the beginning talks about the new vamp fashion, and if there are so many Slayers at loose ends that want to go to the Sanctuary, it's obviously because they're rejected by society. I think Cort mentions it, doesn't she ?

Anyway, I expected a little bit more from this. I liked it but it could have been better, and I don't feel like I've got Buffyized enough for the month.

I really want to read this one. Giles and Faith together must be a patience fest

I enjoyed the issue. The fact that Giles & Faith were featured is fine in my book, since they've been such important characters for a long time.

My big objection with Predators & Prey is that we're seeing little progression of any kind. As Allycat pointed out, they've been establishing the overall tone of the world, but that really isn't enough for a nearly half-year long dry spell of progression.

I'm fine with one-offs. The Satsu/Kennedy one was fine, the Buffy/Andrew one was pretty good (though, far from great), and this one was enjoyable. But never have we had such a lack of interaction with the Big Bad like this. Even the faux-Big Bads of S6 (the Trio) were often feature in the latter half of S6.

There are only two issues that I have so far (not counting just hating the Harmony issue, even though I like Harmony as a character):

1.) We, the audience, know that Roger Wyndham-Pryce was alive as of late Angel S5. Why wouldn't Giles know? He and his wife are a phone call away and not in hiding. In this issue Giles eluded that he didn't know of any surviving Watchers.

2.) The tactical stupidity of the Rogue Slayers taking over an island. For a terrorist cell that is the worst possible strategy. Isolated from the general population they are extra vulnerable to various large scale attacks.

Btw, Joss recently confessed that the "direction" of this arc has gotten away from him. But he said from a creative standpoint it's not entirely a bad thing.

Buffyverse Fan said:

1.) We, the audience, know that Roger Wyndham-Pryce was alive as of late Angel S5. Why wouldn't Giles know? He and his wife are a phone call away and not in hiding. In this issue Giles eluded that he didn't know of any surviving Watchers.

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Maybe it's because Roger stepped down as a Watcher? He wasn't actively involved with the Council anymore, so Giles doesn't count him as a Watcher?

Buffyverse Fan said:

Btw, Joss recently confessed that the "direction" of this arc has gotten away from him. But he said from a creative standpoint it's not entirely a bad thing.

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(Source?) I get where he's coming from. All the different writers seem to have been given a lot of freedom to explore these side-stories. That probably makes the individual STORIES more interesting than they would've been if they'd been more tightly connected to the main arc. However, the latter might've made the ISSUES more interesting.

Allycat said:

Maybe it's because Roger stepped down as a Watcher? He wasn't actively involved with the Council anymore, so Giles doesn't count him as a Watcher?

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Yeah, there must have been quite a few retired Watchers out there who weren't at the HQ when it got blown up. (In fact, I've always assumed there were a few more active Watchers who weren't there, for one reason or another.)

Allycat said:

(Source?) I get where he's coming from. All the different writers seem to have been given a lot of freedom to explore these side-stories. That probably makes the individual STORIES more interesting than they would've been if they'd been more tightly connected to the main arc. However, the latter might've made the ISSUES more interesting.

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He said in an interview that the series had gone down a few more "cul-de-sacs" than he would have liked. One problem is that we have a stretch of seven months here (almost the whole length of a television season) with nothing but one-shots in which the uber-plot moves forward only a tiny bit and the Big Bad isn't seen at all.

I'm not sure that was entirely a good idea.

I just read it, and I have to say, I'm SO tired of these one-shot issues. None of them have been all that great, and it's just frustrating me to no end. They need to focus on the main plot and the core Scoobies again...if they do, maybe I'll actually look forward to their release and be willing to spend money on them.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Andrew's referencing the same interview. I think it was with TV Guide.

re: Watchers, I'd imagine that there were MANY that weren't at the HQ when it blew up. Now, we know that the Bringers hunted those guys down, but come on, the Field Watchers could handle themselves in a fight, there must have been a good few who survived.

I getting this issue soon , and might be getting Buffy Oniumbus vol 1 😀 . Are their worth buying ?!?!?!?!?!?

I enjoyed this issue but it did seem pretty pointless, almost like they had just realised they had set up the whole Giles and Faith thing in the second arc and then forgot to continue it. But who knows, the events in this comic could become important in some way later on.

That's what I was thinking. As a stand alone it's fine, but in the Joss world we all know that sometimes seemingly unimportant things can become important (Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco, The little foreshadowings for Dawn since season 3?). So I guess we'll find out, either way it was good. But since I'm a fan of Buffy and Faith being friends, I just want them to see each other again and not in a fighty way. Also since Giles is like a father to Buffy him spending all this time with Faith and there being no resolution to his rift with Buffy is starting to irk me. Don't get me wrong I think he and Faith have a great storyline and I like that he's helping her but I can't help but identify with Buffy and feel like she's being a little abandoned.

I'm tired of these one shot deals too...lets get back to the main "arc" of the story.

However it was good to see Giles again.

I thought this was the best one in awhile. I picked it up Saturday (yay for free comic book day, boo for the Buffy comic not being free!) and read it in the store while waiting for my friends to finish raiding the $.25 comic boxes, then read it again when I got home. I love the Faith/Giles dynamic, and I like that Giles didn't actually have any regrets to get trapped by--or if he did, his concern for Faith outweighed them.