Episode Discussion Discussion of 8.39 "Last Gleaming Part 4" - Released 11/01/10 (Dark Horse)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #39: Last Gleaming part 4 (Georges Jeanty cover)
Writer: Joss Whedon, Scott Allie
Artist: Georges Jeanty

It's war, and there will be casualties not soon forgotten as Buffy faces her most fearsome enemy.
Buffy creator Joss Whedon and series artist Georges Jeanty join forces for the most emotional issue to date as they approach the finale of Season Eight.

* The penultimate issue!

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http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/16-...-39-Last-Gleaming-part-4-Georges-Jeanty-cover

This one is supposed to be pretty dire....

The horrendous snowfall here in the UK might make things difficult for me to pick this up on release date.

Dammit! Imma get myself a couple of dogs and a sledge! Mush!

UGH! I need to go buy this...I hope the comic book store is open after I get off work.

Is this the last issue of the season? Or just of the arc?

There's one more issue after this, but it's more to set up season 9, kind of an epilogue. At least that's what I here. I am going to try to stay away from this thread until tomorrow afternoon when I get a chance to pick it up.

VisionGirl said:

There's one more issue after this, but it's more to set up season 9, kind of an epilogue. At least that's what I here. I am going to try to stay away from this thread until tomorrow afternoon when I get a chance to pick it up.

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Yeah. I think I read that issue 40 will be to S8 what Restless was to S4.

Was just looking about other sites to see if there's anything... someone else's post.

Spoiler

angeI/tvviIight kiLL s the master then .....giLes (à  La anya death ; just a snap)
buffy uses the scythe to destroy/kiLL the seed

aLL aLiens demons are sucked back and vviIIovv Iooks Iike she going insane
buffy is Iying dovvn in the same position vve 've seen her in anyvvhere but here

shocking issue
and there are sIayers meIting dovvn ... evv

and vvarren's death in venice is hiIarious
evvr

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Not really sure what to say here...

Joan the Vampire Slayer said:

UGH! I need to go buy this...I hope the comic book store is open after I get off work.

Is this the last issue of the season? Or just of the arc?

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I'd wait until tomorrow to pick it up if you can. If you live in the U.S., distribution of some comics has been delayed for a day because the main comics distributor took a day off in honor of Thanksgiving last week. I don't know much about comic book culture so I don't know how these things usually go, but I went to the store today hoping to find it and my comic shop said it won't have it until tomorrow.

Yea from what I've read about it tonight... Doesn't look really good, ugh.

ElmoHasAGun said:

Was just looking about other sites to see if there's anything... someone else's post.

[/SPOILER]

Not really sure what to say here...

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Is the source reliable? Also, kinda hard to read lol

His spelling, not mine.

Haven't a clue if its' legit or not. Kinda hoping it's not...

Guy's posted some more. Someone fixed the spelling.

Spoiler

Xander spies on Buffy fighting Angel near The Seed.
Spike is being saved by his crew

When Xander is about to act, Giles shows up with the Scythe. (Faith is still outside tending to Andrew who was injured by a demon)

Xander tries to talk Giles out of interfering with Buffy and Angel's battle, to which Giles answers "She needs me"(he thinks she wants to stop Angel not kill him).
Angel kills The Master.
When Giles is about to strike Angel/Twilight down with the Scythe, Angel snaps Giles' neck saying "when they are all gone you'll understand"
Buffy and Xander are in shock.
Buffy grabs the Scythe saying "No more" and shatters The Seed.
A flash seems to indicate that Buffy and Angel are back to normal.
Willow is outside the crater using the Seed's power to help the earth defend itself. She cries as she's deprived of her power along with all the Wiccans around the world! (Vi is shown with Wiccans in NYC and Warren is shown dying in Rome with Amy at his side (her magick was his skin)

Willow falls down saying "We lost", while Kennedy comes to her side. She seems insanely traumatized.

Last panel: Buffy, Angel and Xander standing in front of the broken Seed and the broken Scythe

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ElmoHasAGun said:

His spelling, not mine.

Haven't a clue if its' legit or not. Kinda hoping it's not...

Guy's posted some more. Someone fixed the spelling.

[/SPOILER]

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I may actually cry. 🙁

Messed up, sorry, that one's from another guy. Mod. Totally trustworthy. So it's true.

OhGod.

I'm gonna go cry.

---------- Post added at 06:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:39 PM ----------

Dammit. I am so stupid. Messed up. Idiot is me.

Not from him. Guy can speak English all of a sudden.

Someone else will have a review tomorrow.

I am so freaking thick.

Buffy and Angel are two of my favorite characters, and I have a feeling this issue is going to be an unmitigated disaster for me. The past few have been bad enough.

I've read it.

Quick overview -

Big fight - Slayers getting chopped in half. Willow chants over the seed. Buffy and Angel fight; they seem quite evenly matched. Spike attacks Angel. Angel takes Spike up into the sunlight and tries to kill him. Buffy flies up and knocks them apart. Spike's ship flies forward to catch their smoking captain. Angel throws a misile to the ground killing a lot of people (army and slayers mostly).

Angel and Buffy continue to fight. Buffy gets slammed into the ground. Xander sees what is happening and realises "We're not going to win this"

Andrew teams up with the earth-bound demons against the invading demons. Buffy and Angel continue to fight. Andrew sees a big dragon-type demon approaching and warns the slayers to get out of the way but he only succeeds in rescuing the red-head scottish slayer (Leah?) while the rest get incinerated by the dragon's fire breath.

Willow is really powering up on the seed. She glows red then transfigures out to where the fight is happeneing. She causes a huge tree to grow up out of the ground, spearing the dragon. Trees sprout up everywhere and Willow uses her magic against the demons making them explode - she's cross because they didn't just attack "little things that crawl on the outside of the earth...[they] attacked Mother."

Willow then begins to fight a big floating demon that looks a bit like female genitalia (i'm sure this is supposed to be symbolic) Angel says, to Buffy "You're friend thinks she can win this fight. She's missing the point" then kicks her down. Buffy flies back up but is more concerned where Giles is.

Giles watches from a distance then goes to get the scythe off Faith. He tells Faith to lead the girls but that he needs the scythe for Buffy. She hands it over. Giles runs off with it and Faith is attacked by an electric demon (what is this, pokemon?) who causes Faith's troop of slayers (and soldiers) to literally melt. Yup, that's another big group of slayers dead.

Amy and Warren are lunching in Rome. Amy wonders if they should have stayed to see how it ends. Warren thinks not.

Xander goes into the seed cave. Willow says magic spells over the vagina demon. Kennedy and Andrew watch from below and Andrew observes that the demons are winning.

Buffy and Angel are still fighting. They crash through to the chamber of the seed. Angel says "you created a world. you can't turn away from it. You were Chosen Buffy." The Master Says "That's original." Angel punches his fist clear through the Master's skull. He turns to dust.

Giles arrives and finds Xander watching the action from behind a wall. Giles asks what he is doing there. Xander implies that he was going to try and do something (what, I don't think even he is sure). Giles says there is nothing they can do, "Their power fades in proximity to the seed...but the seed fuels the scythe..."
"So throw it to her!" says Xander
Giles replies "Xander, I's Angel. At the very least she...she'll hesitate. She wants to stop him...not kill him."
and then Giles takes the scythe into the seed chamber. Xander tries to stop him but Giles can't be dissuaded.

Giles steps inbetwwen Buffy and Angel and Angel rushes forward, says, "You abandoned me for this?!" then snaps Giles neck in classic vampire fashion - quick and brutal (and just like he killed Jenny calendar). Angel stands over his body and says "When they're all gone you'll understand."

Buffy is shocked (and I mean shocked) as is Xander. Buffy knocks Angel down with a huge BAM, grabs the scythe and thinks 'No More' and smashes the seed.

Breaking the seed causes a great flash of light that shocks Buffy and Angel and causes Willow to grab her head and fall to earth. The remaining Slayers look on in shock. Amy and Warren feel it too. Acctually, Warren more than feels it - he disolves into an squishy mess.

Willow is traumatised. She cries out "No! Goddess?! What... Where!?" while all the non-earth bound demons are sucked back into the portals through which they came. The New York wiccas lose connection with sunnydale - I think they might have lost their magic. Kennedy runs to Willow who is still desperately calling for Aluwyn. Kitty Twilight is seen walking away (i'm not sure if this is on earth or in 'Twilight' dimension).

Spike order's his ship be put into reverse to avoid being sucked into "hell" with the retreating demons.
Bug one says, "Your friends, your majesty, they did-"
Spike cuts him off, "She. She did it. Slayer, you did it." He is about to land and see who need help when he spies Willow's vagina demon fleeing the scene so he decides he better stop that first and flies off after it.

On the ground, Willow is inconsolable. She says they lost and that this is the end. in the chamber of the seed Buffy is prostrate on the ground, crying and gripping her stomach (just like we saw in Anywhere but Here). Giles is dead beside her. Angel steps forward - I think he touches Xander but Xander shrugs him off and goes to check on Buffy. The Slayer Scythe is broken in the foreground.

End.

Next: Coda...

Wow, I guess the U.S. is the last place to receive this issue.

My condolences to the Bangels here on the board. Looks like the end of the line. 🙁

For me, this will forever ruin the Empowerment scene from "Chosen." Knowing how it's going to turn out for almost all of those poor girls... it would have been better not to have done it.

I...don't even have words. I almost wish I never started reading the comics right now :/

Urgggggh. Read the summary, haven't gotten the issue yet. All I can say is, JEEEZ. This story. WHAT.

Oddly, I'm not that angry about the death. I saw it coming, or at least something bad coming for that character. I'm mostly angry because in the context of the television series, this season is making NO SENSE. It's inconsistent with the entire message of Season 7. Joss's themes are utterly incoherent and this is just crap storytelling. Character development AND major themes of the show are being sacrificed to make room for the ludicrous plot.

I also can't help but think that Joss trying to tell this story after the publication of Fray is, IDK, a little restrictive? It's like there's an established endgame that he can't change and he's trying to force everything in for the sake of sticking to that endgame.

^I haven't seen that opinion around/haven't read Fray in a long time, so apologies if it's a little unfounded. I'm just frustrated and I hate this story right now.

He killed Giles? No. That's stupid! Stupid comics! Stupid Angel! Stupid Joss Whedon!

[insert lots and lots of swearing *&*&^$%$$# ^$#$Y&*^#$%&*)@#$%^&] Angel should have died! Not Giles! Not GILES!!! [more swearing $%^&#@#$^&#$%^&*##$$^^^$^] It's bad enough they killed Wesley! [#$%^&*^% $%^&* #$%^&* $%^&*]

Rant not over, but I'll just rant and weep in my mind.

It's a sad, sad, sad day. 🙁 🙁 🙁

AndrewCrossett said:

Wow, I guess the U.S. is the last place to receive this issue.

My condolences to the Bangels here on the board. Looks like the end of the line. 🙁

For me, this will forever ruin the Empowerment scene from "Chosen." Knowing how it's going to turn out for almost all of those poor girls... it would have been better not to have done it.

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I was always so proud of that "Are you ready to be strong" - it was like the final Great Message to all the women viewers and to the men as well. It was the culmination of, what was for me the great central theme of the entire series; finding the strength within yourself to be the warrior and hero/heroine when it was required on the Big Scale and in the everyday.

I can only speak for myself - but my question is - after all these years and this story, what did we get from it? was it this story worth losing so much of what was great about the series finale and the events of "Chosen?" Each reader and fan will of course find their own response to Season 8 - but I personally feel that I have lost something that effected me on a deep level when Buffy asked "Are you ready to be strong" and I saw all those young women becoming strong.

So Giles is dead? Angel killed Giles? I will forever hate Angel for doing this.

And will Warren actually stay dead this time? LOL.