Week 19: Buffy Season 10 #1-5

[Buffy Summers]

This week we are discussing Buffy Season 10, volume 1 (issues #1-5).

"New Rules, Part I"
Writer: Christos Gage Penciller: Rebekah Isaacs
New season. New rules. The age-old battle of Slayer vs. vampire is the focus of Buffy's life once again--- it's downright nostalgic! But with all the toying with magic she's done lately, this girl should know it's time for another game change ... Shouldn't she?

"New Rules, Part II"
Writer: Christos Gage Penciller: Rebekah Isaacs
The Scoobies are back--- including li'l Giles! Revelations about a new kind of vampire menace and the blank Vampyr book have only just begun. Everyone has a job to do, and for Buffy, it's treading the road of past relationships! Lucky girl ...

"New Rules, Part III"
Writer: Christos Gage and Nicholas Brendon Penciller: Rebekah Isaacs
Actor Nicholas Brendon joins the creative team as his character Xander acquires help from his old friend—um, master—Dracula. The new vampires are still a mystery, and unquestionably similar to Drac ... Meanwhile, Buffy and Willow track down one of those new vampires as a study specimen!

"New Rules, Part IV"
Writer: Christos Gage and Nicholas Brendon Penciller: Rebekah Isaacs
Getting help from Dracula seemed like a good idea, until he stole the Vampyr book—and Xander! Now Buffy, Spike, Dawn, Willow, and Giles must save Xander and retrieve the book before it’s too late. Dracula has already begun to study how the lack of magical rules can work in his favor ...

"New Rules, Part V"
Writer: Christos Gage and Nicholas Brendon Penciller: Rebekah Isaacs
When Buffy and crew try to wrest Xander from Dracula’s control, they begin a battle supreme with the terrifying demon that Dracula has become . . .

Source: Wikipedia

 

[sosa lola]

Issue 1:

“Sometimes it’s good to get back to the basics.” I’ve been told this season is too heavy on meta and so far the first line of the very first issue proves that right. S10 is trying to get that familiar feeling of the show back after two seasons packed with:

a) out there storylines and situations (S8: space frak. S9: Fake pregnancy/robot),

b) promoting liberal ideas instead of offering solid storylines (S8: Buffy/Satsu. S9: Abortion),

c) silly and ludicrous new inventions (S8: Seed of Wonder. S9: Billy the Vampire Slayer),

d) character assassinations (S8: poor Angel. S9: almost every slayer hating on Buffy because she broke the Seed of Wonder – Joss just can’t help but revert to his old lazy and unimaginative sacrificing characterizations of other characters in order to woobify Buffy.)

I’m a bit fuzzy on the details of S9, but I don’t remember this redheaded vampire helping Buffy slay. Their dynamic reminds me of early S5 Spuffy. So, her name is Vick and Buffy doesn’t want to get attached to her because she knows she’s going to stake her eventually – after they finish off all the zompires. This does feel a bit “ooky,” not only do they know her, but she’s helping them slaying.

I gotta admit this new Scooby slayage business is so awesome and refreshing after seasons of watching Buffy slay alone. Everyone has a cool and suitable job. Though so far no Xander. Loving Dawn as wheel girl!

“Poor Willow. She was lost when magic went away.” S9’s most wasted opportunity was Willow. I would have loved to be shown Willow adjusting to life without magic and then realizing she doesn’t really need it in order to make a useful and accomplished woman of herself. I just can’t really relate to Willow anymore. I miss when I did back when Willow wasn’t all about magic.

“I got our father figure killed.” So much wrong with this line I don’t even know where to begin! FATHER FIGURE!! It’s okay for the writers and fans to be referring to Giles by that, but NOT the Scoobies!

I’m liking Spike as one of the Scoobies. It’s long overdue to be honest. This could have happened in S7 if the writers weren’t so adamant on separating characters into pairs: Buffy/Spike, Xander/Anya, Willow/Kennedy.

Can’t get enough of Andrew’s crush on Spike. Also, joining the sighs of awe at the coolness that is Spike. Cute.

And finally, my boy shows up! Or at least, his voice. Dawn calls Xander to warn him about the zompires – he asks her if she’s okay, which really isn’t the time as wheel woman is driving for her life. What I remember from S9, Xander betrayed his friends to save Dawn’s life – as she gradually started to disappear due to the lack of magic and along with her the memories of her – and after they have saved her life, Dawn didn’t really come back the way she was. Emotionally she’s back to the beginning: S5 Ep 1. Which kinda doesn’t make sense, shouldn’t she be having the feelings and desires of a 14 year old? Seems it was only done to make her not love Xander anymore – which appears to be the only side effect as she acts like a true 19/20 year old. The writers could have just had her break up with Xander because of his betrayal.

Poor Xander looks extremely sad with his stubble of pain. Talking to Ghost Anya about his relationship troubles. Anya is still blaming Xander for everything that went wrong in her life: losing her vengeance demon powers, being left at the altar, and then killed. I’ll give her the first two, but being KILLED? Anya chose to fight in Chosen free willingly, that’s not Xander’s fault.

I really hate Xander’s “Being normal doesn’t mean being helpless” and Dawn’s “We’re all super in our own way. Or so the super people keep telling me.” This is too preachy for my taste. Xander and Dawn can prove their worth with their actions as shown in the issue. No need to hammer that point.

I personally don’t mind Billy pretending to be a slayer. I find it so refreshing for a boy to be so influenced by a strong woman and wanting to be just like her.

LOL at Andrew admiring Billy choosing the life he wanted and to hell with convention, Dawn mistaking what he said for coming out, but he was talking about being a male Slayer.

Okay, my ooky feelings about Vick? Gone. Kill her, Buffy!

I love how Dawn and Andrew are dragging Xander inside to safety and away from the fight – while I love supporto-accepting his limits-okay with being in the sidelines Xander, I just can’t help but being more attracted to “stand up to danger, even when his hands had no weapons” Xander.

“I’ve got body image issues.” Andrew, dude, that’s one hell of a chest! You’re hot. Embrace it.

Team B for the win! So is Spike and Xander’s protectiveness of Dawn. So is Dawn standing up to herself!

Faith to the rescue! And I can’t describe how happy I am to see Leah, she’s one of S8’s original characters that I wish got more development and panel time. In fact, I’d love to see more of Leah, Satsu and Rowena in future issues.

“Kennedy, this is great! And also awkward!” It’s been a long time since Willow’s break up with Kennedy, unless they haven’t talked since then.

I did NOT know the Scoobies haven’t met Kid Giles yet. This woman needs to reread S9 and A&F S9.

The Buffy/Giles hug! The Buffy/Giles hug! Aw!

The letters section mentions Xander brining up Jesse! That was one of the highlights of S9. Jesse should have been a major plot point to develop Xander’s character in S1. Shame on you, Joss.

So, final thoughts. Great issue! And an exciting beginning to S10. I can’t wait to read #2.

Issue 2:

The fight is still going.

“Look at us, all mature,” Kennedy said. Show it, writers, don’t tell it! Biggest problem with S10 is the writers’ need to spell things out for us. I knew Willow and Kennedy were handling things well without Kennedy’s comment.

It was nice seeing Dawn and Spike fighting side by side.

Little Giles looks like Harry Potter. I liked the reactions to Giles coming back: Dawn and Willow with the hugs, Xander with the hair tousling and the jokes, even Spike looks happy to see him.


It was nice seeing Buffy and Faith interacting pleasantly with each other. The Faith/Giles parting should have been heartbreaking. I’m a bit disappointed with it.


Koh was a bright spot in S9. I liked him a lot. Seems like S10 is getting rid of most of the S9 characters.

 

[Guy]

Season 10 has its problems, but this first arc is almost PERFECT! It's the most perfect arc in the comics since 'Time of Your Life', all the way back in season 8. It's fun, and clever (the whole mystery and plot with the book is great!), and funny, and uplifting (the ending of issue #1 is SUCH a stand-up-and-cheer moment!), and heartbreaking, and gripping, and it's just everything I want in a Buffy story. People say that Gage can be too telling-instead-of-showing, and I agree about that in the LATER arcs, but in this arc he's almost perfect. Everything just WORKS, and the entire arc just makes me unbelievably happy. 9/10! This is as good as any season opener of the show!

Also, Vicki The Vampire is freakin' AWESOME! If the writers do their job right, she can become the new Spike - fun, funny, unpredictable, sassy, likeable-yet-evil, and sometimes a reluctant ally. MORE VICKI, PLEASE!

Also, if the writers happen to be reading this (Yeah, right) - please give us more Faith/scoobies interactions, and more intricate battles like the battle of Santa Rosita (I love the way every scooby has a defined role. Even the show never did such a well-executed job of giving every character an important part to play. It felt like the first 'Avengers' film in that way), and more Dracula, and more Buffy/Satsu, and more Willow/Aluwyn, and more Xander/Willow interactions, and more Buffy/Giles interactions, and less resurrections. Please?

S10 is trying to get that familiar feeling of the show back after two seasons packed with:

b) promoting liberal ideas instead of offering solid storylines (S8: Buffy/Satsu. S9: Abortion)

I thought that both of these storylines were great (Buffy/Satsu are PERFECT, and the abortion storyline was great until the robot twist killed it), but to each his own...

d) character assassinations (S8: poor Angel. S9: almost every slayer hating on Buffy because she broke the Seed of Wonder – Joss just can’t help but revert to his old lazy and unimaginative sacrificing characterizations of other characters in order to woobify Buffy.)

What's weird about slayers hating Buffy in season 9? Buffy got over 200 slayers killed due to her mistakes, and she CHOSE to end magic, which meant that there will be no new slayers. It makes perfect sense that she'd be unpopular. Also, it's not like EVERYONE hated her - we see that Anaheed, for example, is one of the slayers who stayed loyal to Buffy.

 

[GoSpuffy]

I really like S10. Right from the start it felt like a continuation of S7. I felt the characters were written really true to how they were portrayed on tv. I haven't read all of the comics before S10 but once I came across S10 I was hooked! Now I'm going back and trying to find the older comics but it is definitely helpful to read a complete season in sequential order rather than doing the jumping around thing that I'm doing for the prior seasons.

 

[Guy]

I really like S10. Right from the start it felt like a continuation of S7. I felt the characters were written really true to how they were portrayed on tv. I haven't read all of the comics before S10 but once I came across S10 I was hooked! Now I'm going back and trying to find the older comics but it is definitely helpful to read a complete season in sequential order rather than doing the jumping around thing that I'm doing for the prior seasons.

Oh, please don't jump around in the comics. That's no way to read. You can just start back in issue #1 of season 8, and continue from there.

 

[Priceless]

Really enjoyable opening, action packed and fast paced, but without losing the emotional character driven stuff. There was very little to dislike about this volume. Liked it even more at second reading and saw stuff that I'd missed the first time, like Andrew hiding behind the sofa during the fight with Dracula, what a loser

It was lovely to see Giles and Buffy back together, though I am still not a fan of the hormonal-teenage-boy jokes, this is Giles, show some respect! Xander has a lot to do in this and I love his dynamic with Dracula, Dawn and Anya. You can tell Xan is suffering because of his unshaven rough look, which I also like.

Loved seeing Dawn jump on Maloker's back, it made me think to years back when Buffy tried to protect Dawn, and keep her away from danger, and now Dawn is out there killing the biggest baddest vampire there has ever been Also liking the idea of her memories being reset, that's the nice emotional story I like.

Season 10 is great and I can't wait to re-read the next chapter.

 

[wickedwillow]

I am new to this forum, it's really nice reading all your different responses.
I've just started reading season ten and I really liked the dynamics of the group again. I was never a fan of Dawn on telly, but I think the comics have matured her well. One thing I'm not certain about is that I think Willow loses something that makes her Willow, she seems to be just a powerful witch now, I'm not sure if that is because the character has naturally changed, or that Alyson Hannigan's acting is what made her so special?

 

[Priceless]

I am new to this forum, it's really nice reading all your different responses.
I've just started reading season ten and I really liked the dynamics of the group again. I was never a fan of Dawn on telly, but I think the comics have matured her well. One thing I'm not certain about is that I think Willow loses something that makes her Willow, she seems to be just a powerful witch now, I'm not sure if that is because the character has naturally changed, or that Alyson Hannigan's acting is what made her so special?

Hi and welcome to the forum. Dawn has totally turned around in the comics and she's often one of my favourite characters. Willow definitely loses somethings in the comics, but I am hoping S11 will rectify that. I think Alison did bring a sweet eccentricity to Willow and I'm hoping we see more of that in future seasons

 

[wickedwillow]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Dawn has totally turned around in the comics and she's often one of my favourite characters. Willow definitely loses somethings in the comics, but I am hoping S11 will rectify that. I think Alison did bring a sweet eccentricity to Willow and I'm hoping we see more of that in future seasons

I'm still working through Season 10, but am glad to here there will be a season 11, even when they don't quite gel for me, I'm glad that the Buffyverse is continuing