Buffy

Looks like the 'Season 8' Buffy comic is going ahead. I have mixed feelings about this - as much as I loved the series, I've never successfully followed a fandom into comic book form.

I'm not sure why - partly, I suppose, because the art never looks anything like the actors. (Generalise? Who, me?) Everytime I look at the pictures instead of the words, I get yanked out of the story. So I tend to focus almost exclusively on the words, which I guess means I'm missing a lot of the detail (is it subtext when it's pictorial?) and this leads to an overall less satisfying experience. Although honestly, even if it was photorealistic artwork, I'd probably still tend to focus on the text. I am a text and word orientied person, and after so many years of novel-reading, it's a preprogammed response. I don't think I could change this if I tried.

And there's also the problem that I read fast - as in, 500 page novel in a night fast. Which means that I get through comic books at a rate of knots, and then feel cheated it's gone so fast. Especially if I paid for it.

And then there's the slightly problematic nature of the Buffy canon itself - while I loved the first three seasons, the later ones never generated the same emotional response. And when you add that to the fact that I've now had three years to get emotionally attached to the status quo of the characters and their relationships, I'm worried about the direction they are going to take things.

I'm tempted to say I'll just stick with fanfic, but as with everything else, I've had a lot of trouble finding good-quality Buffy gen-fic. Even though it's one of the fandoms in which I do have a favourite pairing I'm heavily invested in (Buffy/Angel, if you are interested, although anything with Willow in it is a close second), my ideal plot(action)/ship ratio in fic would be around 50/50.

Perhaps I'll just go back and rewatch the DVDs...

Buffy

Looks like the 'Season 8' Buffy comic is going ahead. I have mixed feelings about this - as much as I loved the series, I've never successfully followed a fandom into comic book form.

I'm not sure why - partly, I suppose, because the art never looks anything like the actors. (Generalise? Who, me?) Everytime I look at the pictures instead of the words, I get yanked out of the story. So I tend to focus almost exclusively on the words, which I guess means I'm missing a lot of the detail (is it subtext when it's pictorial?) and this leads to an overall less satisfying experience. Although honestly, even if it was photorealistic artwork, I'd probably still tend to focus on the text. I am a text and word orientied person, and after so many years of novel-reading, it's a preprogammed response. I don't think I could change this if I tried.

And there's also the problem that I read fast - as in, 500 page novel in a night fast. Which means that I get through comic books at a rate of knots, and then feel cheated it's gone so fast. Especially if I paid for it.

And then there's the slightly problematic nature of the Buffy canon itself - while I loved the first three seasons, the later ones never generated the same emotional response. And when you add that to the fact that I've now had three years to get emotionally attached to the status quo of the characters and their relationships, I'm worried about the direction they are going to take things.

I'm tempted to say I'll just stick with fanfic, but as with everything else, I've had a lot of trouble finding good-quality Buffy gen-fic. Even though it's one of the fandoms in which I do have a favourite pairing I'm heavily invested in (Buffy/Angel, if you are interested, although canon pairing with Willow in it is a close second), my ideal plot(action)/ship ratio in fic would be around 50/50.

Perhaps I'll just go back and rewatch the DVDs...