Is Willow Redeemable?

What Is It?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Eight: Willow- Goddesses and Monsters

Timing: After "Chosen" and before "The Long Way Home." Likely set during the fifth season of Angel.

Warning: The bigger spoilers will be written in black text. Simply highlight to read. As this is a review, there will be some minor "spoilers" sprinkled throughout the text that don't warrant being hidden. If you have not read the issue and don't want to know anything about the plot, don't read this. Spoilers for previous issues will obviously not be covered.

REVIEW: I recently had a conversation with a professor of mine about Willow. He mentioned how much he loved her, and I shrugged. "I'm over Willow," I said. He simply replied, "I'm not." I made the argument that it's less the character's fault and more the writers, but I just couldn't forgive Willow for what happened at the end of Season Six. Killing Warren, I got. Chasing Jonathan and Andrew, I got. But the whole ending the world thing was too grand, too villainous, and too much to ask for the fans to swallow. Then, in Season Seven, with the whole Kennedy thing, and Willow acting how she was, it was just too much. Then, she came back in Season Eight with a whole bunch of unexplained powers, and I was just so, so over her.

And then, Joss did little things that sort of made me see glimmers of the old Willow in her. The one that I loved, the one that my professor isn't over.

And then, Joss wrote this one-shot. In the best Buffy installment since #16, he humanizes Willow without really making it obvious that he's setting out to do that. He manages to suggest how she got her powers without really showing it. He shows how Saga Vasuki, whose real name is Aluwyn and whose role seems to be titled Saga Vasuki, was introduced to Willow and kind of what role she plays, but he leaves the rest up to the imagination. A few folks commented on the forums (snort, geeky chuckle) said that this feels like the first issue of a miniseries, but I couldn't disagree more. Joss gives us what we need here. We see sort of who the elemental goddesses are, because we don't really need specifics unless the story dictates that. And I feel sort of like a douche saying this, because it's such a Scott Allie line, and he uses that so often to cop out of editorial and story screw-ups. Stuff that should be in the story is an elaboration of how the world is so convinced that vampires rock. But this issue has a great balance of what we need to know and what we just need the suggestion of.

So yeah, Joss is a master.

Also, the balance between the drama and the funny is at a place it hasn't been in way too long. I got to used to Buffy: Season Eight being mediocre with splashes of good and splashes of terrible, but Joss really brought the greatness here. Scene after scene, idea after idea, it's brilliant. The dialogue is at a place is hasn't been in way too long, and Willow is damn likable. I feel her pain, I feel her happiness, and I'm both scared and excited for her when she takes control of her own journey and makes an important choice about who is going to be her guide.

I'm thrilled that Joss is on again for the next issue, and I definitely have hope for Meltzer. Espenson's arc, which was uneven at best and shark jumpy at worst, left me feeling pretty sad for the state of the series, but this one-shot showed me that Joss, as sucky as recent issues have been, does have a plan. I'll trust him. I can't really forgive how bad some issues, particularly #29, were, but now I have faith that he can redeem the series and make sense of all the stuff that, from here, looks nonsensical. I'm pretty excited for what's to come, which hasn't happened for me in a long time, so... that says something about how excellent this issue was.

My favorite story (well, aside from ANGEL) is in your hands, Mr. Whedon. Don't go breaking my heart.

Art: Man, does Karl Moline how to draw Willow. The quality of his pencils here are insane. So much so that I'd probably put him as my second favorite Buffyverse artist, after Urru. It's really just insane how much better this art is than the art of Jeanty, who seems to be sort of rushing through the "Retreat" arc. If Dark Horse is going to start looking for a series artist for Season Nine, they should look no farther than Karl Moline.

Covers: Really good stuff. Jo Chen's cover is elegant and really beautiful, with amazing colors, but I will say that Willow looks a bit too voluptuous here. Faith, that's okay. But Willow... eh. Tone down the boobage for the betterment of the cover. Moline's cover is excellent, for the most part, except for the random design on the bottom. I mean, what? The image of WIllow is just great, so why not stick with that? Good covers, but there are little things that take away from them, preventing them from being truly great.

Characters We Know: Willow, Kennedy, Aluwyn AKA Saga Vasuki, and (SPOILERS:) Tara.

Rating: 9/10

WILLOW one-shot

Want something to tide you over until Saturday's major Comic Con announcements? Well, he's an admittedly small version of Karl Moline's cover to this November's WILLOW one-shot. It takes place in BTVS Season Eight. A high quality version will probably surface next week.

A lot of cool things a-comin'...

Great Tie-In Material, Decent Comic

What Is It?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Issue #21: Harmonic Divergence (written by Jane Espenson).

Timing: BtVS, Season Eight. Short while after "After These Messages... We'll Be Right Back."

REVIEW: I gotta hand it to Dark Horse, they truly went all out with the promotion. There were awesome articles on MTV about the comic and a nice effort was made to keep the public aware that this is a big event without making it as extreme as the press stuff with #12. Also, Myspace Dark Horse Presents put out a tie-in webcomic called Harmony Bites, written by Jane Espenson with art by Karl Moline. Fantastic little comic, which I enjoyed to the fullest. If all that weren't enough, Jane Espenson also dropped by MTV to do a little guest blog, in character as Harmony Kendall titled Tune In. If that's not enough, all the other Dark Horse comics that were released today feature more little Harmony tidbits. I hope Dark Horse learns, this time around, that they now have ample material for a special features section in the TPB that includes this issue, because they did an astounding job with the tie-in material and I wouldn't want to see any of these quirky little works forgotten.

Now onto the issue. I wish I could say I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed all of the surrounding stuff, but I didn't. There are a few gaping flaws in the issue, and though the problems are less apparent later in the book, the overall effect of the comic is damaged. Previous Buffy: Season Eight writers all seemed familiar with the medium of comics. Joss Whedon's written many a funny book, they're Brian K. Vaughan's biggest passion, and Jeph Loeb is one of the most well known comic writers there are. Drew Goddard and Jane Espenson have about the same experience in comics, both of them being featured as writers in previous non-canonical Dark Horse Buffy books as well as the canonical Tales of the Vampires/Slayers series... but Drew Goddard is definitely more skilled at crafting a story in this medium, because Espenson's story just doesn't flow very well. But that confuses me. I enjoyed some of her short comic stories in the past, as well as her three issue Buffy: Haunted book, which was a cool bridge between seasons three and four. So maybe it's the fact that this is a one-shot and she tried to cram so much into it that it felt stilted. But I think it's a bit more than that. The placement of the internal thought captions doesn't really make sense to me, nor do the actual words sound like Harmony. This is most evident in the opening pages, when Harmony tries to get into a club. Her first internal thought is in a panel where she isn't even visible (maybe they should have at least had her looking over her shoulder), and says the following: "Ooh. Someone famous! I've got urine running down my leg!" The next few captions read like this: "Here's the thing about fame. It's good to touch. I'm gonna touch some fame." To me, that sounds nothing like Harmony Kendall. Which is so, so strange, because all of the dialogue that Harmony actually says out loud and some of the internal thoughts later in the issue are so her. However, she uses the word "zeitgeist" twice. Do we really think Harmony knows what zeitgeist means?

The issue definitely picks up when Harmony pitches her show to MTV. Focus, however, is then shifted away from the lovable bloodsucker to a young Latina slayer who wants out of her gang, Las Chucuillas. When she's free of that gang, however, she naturally resists Buffy's urge for her to join another "family" of sisters, leading to the girl waging her own solo war against vampires. This is an awesome bit, because it sets up the conflict in the issue (Harmony/Latina slayer) and also speaks for what's going on with Buffy, about how she can't really connect with any of the slayers that she's empowered. She's lost her ability to speak effectively to these girls, and I'm thinking all those speeches she gave in the seventh season took all the speech-giving-ability out of her.

Andrew gets a lot of screen time here, as does... wait for it... Clem, which is one of the high points of this issue. Jane handles him nicely, as she does with Harmony and the majority of the rest of the issue. Most of the problems--which are pretty big--are all focused on the first seven pages (another issue is why isn't there a bigger reaction when the world realizes that vampires are real?), so the rest of the issue is pretty much smooth sailing. I did enjoy it for the most part, but to say I'm also let down is an understatement. The issue had enormous potential and should have been among the best of the series so far, but strange storytelling choices in the beginning took away major points. What saves this book from being as bad as The Chain or last month's abysmal After These Messages is the attention to detail. There is always something else going on in panels, such as the scene where Buffy calls the Latina slayer... in the background, you can see a horse charge at Dawn (still a centaur) while Xander tries to hold it back. Also, after Harmony bites the star who made "urine (run) down her leg" (Andy Dick), TMZ reports that "Hot Vamp Gets Taste of A. Dick." If nothing else, the issue is good for the expected laughs it gives.

Art: It's great to have Jeanty back as the main artist again. He excells in drawing the main characters (Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Willow, Andrew) and is especially talented at crafting meticulously detailed backgrounds. Clem's likeness is also perfect, and the medium of comics gives a lot of opportunities with a character that looks like that. The panel where he stretches his skin out to look for a tattoo is hilarious. Who Jeanty is not that good at drawing here is Ms. Harmony herself... who looks just like Buffy. In a few panels, she looks quite a bit like Mercedes McNab, but in most others she looks just like Buffy, especially in the panel where she's sitting at her computer desk. The only way to tell them apart is her surroundings, that she's always smiling (even when she's being rejected at a club on the opening page, which was odd), and her dialogue. I'm glad the two didn't have any scenes together, otherwise it would have been a bit difficult to follow who is who. The coloring here is fantastic, giving the right tone to all of the scenes. Michelle Madsen, whose style I was unsure about when she first joined the team, is a realllly skilled colorist.

Covers: Jo Chen's cover, as usual, is a perfect likeness. It features Harmony holding two of her dogs with a drained corpse in the background. Her smile and the "perky pair" of dogs are gothically juxtaposed to the corpse, which really sets up the mood of the issue... and the whole series. Funny and light on the surface with dark stuff moving underneath. Jeanty's cover, which features Harmony holding a pomeranian over a while background, seemed dry at first... until the full version was released. It's set up like a fashion magazine cover with hilarious headlines and is just one example of how much great work was put into making this issue stand out.

Characters We Know: Harmony, Andy Dick (the celeb), Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Andrew, Vi (only on a TV screen), Clem.

Rating: 7/10

"You Don't Volunteer to be a Minder, Buffy. You Get Chosen."

What Is It?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Issue #10: Anywhere But Here (written by Joss Whedon)

Timing: BtVS Season Eight, follows the events of "No Future For You Part 4"

REVIEW: "Anywhere But Here" is the most fully realized Buffy: Season Eight comic released by Dark Horse, as it offers a solid, twenty-five page story that reads as if it were an entire arc. It's not perfect (the way they defeat the villain is a bit lame), but it did more than I could have ever expected a one-shot to do. It's so crammed with story and zingy dialogue that it took me a long, long time to read. At least forty minutes, I'd say. The structure of the story (what with Buffy and Willow's 'fantasy' sequences and, later, their visions of the future/past) is a bit experimental but, unlike the previous one-shot in this series "The Chain," this actually worked. Well.

There were a lot of revelations (How did Dawn become a giant? Can we get a look at Kenny? How does Buffy have money for all these high-tech thingers? Where the blip is Kennedy?) as well as references to past events, all of them with new plot twists attached on the end. I love how Joss is daring enough to put a scene in this book like the Kennedy/Willow scene, which is sure to be controversial with fans of the Scooby core-relationship as well as a few still-sore Willow/Tara lovers. I couldn't have loved this development more though and this little (or huge) drama is something that I feel Willow's character has needed for a long time. Her arc in Season Seven was pretty much "I was evil, can't do magic, Kennedy is hot!" which was a little disappointing, considering her monumental role in Season Six. But here, a spin is finally put on the once-bland Willow/Kennedy relationship. With Dawn finally revealing how she was "embiggened" and Buffy reeling from Willow's revelation of why she doesn't bring Kennedy around, this series continues to heat up like a tea kettle that Giles has left on for too long. In a good way.

On a lighter note, this is also the funniest issue. In this dialogue heavy issue (and with Joss writing, that's a plus), I'd have to give the best line to Willow, for something she says while describing a fantasy of her's to Buffy: "It's too dangerous! We can shi down these crazy alps in the morning, but till then, television's Tina Fey... we must find a way to keep warm."

I also have to mention--and I know you've heard this before, but it's a must I mention this--how nice it is to see a fan of this show, Robin Balzer, immortalized in the pages of this comic. Robin and Jerrod, congratulations on this. Robin was chosen well (in real life, as well as the character!) and I think it's awesome of Dark Horse and Joss to reach out to the fans like this. It warms a guy's heart, no?

Art: Cliff Richards handles the pencils for this one-shot. We know him from his work on Dark Horse's first run of BtVS (if you have the Omnibuses, he did the arcs set between "The Origin" and Season One), and he does alright here. I don't like how he shades by simply drawing lines across the character's faces. Neither of our two main Buffyverse artists (Jeanty and Franco) do this, and the end result often looks weird. Also, when he depicts a character with a shadow across their face, he simply draws a hard line down the center of their faces. It just doesn't look real. That being said, some panels are very good. While I might have liked his style better in the older books, he is good enough that his art doesn't take away from the enjoyment. His art isn't as visually pleasing as Jeanty or Urru's, but it sure ain't bad. As for the covers, we've got a whopper from Jo Chen. Many people are calling her cover for this issue the best they've seen and, for one, no one is hating on the Georges cover. Both are great. However, I feel we should have gotten a 1:10 Cliff Richards cover. When Paul Lee guest-pencilled Issue #5, we got a cover from the main two artists AND Paul Lee. This should have been the same.

Characters We Know: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Dawn, Kennedy

Season Eight Recurring Characters We Know: Satsu, Leah (only from afar)

Speculation: (highlight to read)

Don't have much this issue, which is odd, seeing how revealy it was. We know that Willow isn't bringing Kennedy around because off what happened with Tara. Willow feels that when she resurrected Buffy, she chose Buffy over Tara, thus putting Tara in the path of a bullet. She, Willow, could have recovered from Buffy's death and raised Dawn in a nice place, away from Sunnydale, with Tara by her side. They could have remained at peace, and so could have Buffy. But all she thought about was bringing Buffy back. I don't think this is going to result in more "I wish I would have stayed dead" drama from Buffy, because that was covered two seasons ago, but I'm glad that these things are finally being addressed. I would have never been able to come up with an idea like that, and seeing Buffy react to finding out about this was emotionally riveting. I can't even begin to guess where that story is going to take us.

Rating: 9/10

Tales of the Slayers: Broken Bottle of Djinn REVIEW

What Is It: "Tales of the Slayers: Broken Bottle of Djinn" is a one-shot comic book, sort of a spin-off of the "Tales of the Slayers" series that has already been collected into a trade paperback. This comic is currently the only place you can find this tale, as it isn't collected into any bigger volume. It was published in October 2002, so you won't find this in any comic book stores. I suggest you go where I went: www.tfaw.com

Timing: Season Two / 1937

Story: The story is written by Jane Espenson and Douglas Petrie, both writers from the show. Buffy is written in character, though we don't get to see a lot of her. Only eight pages of the entire comic feature the Buffy storyline. Yep, this one-shot comic book is made up of two stories, one featuring Buffy and Willow facing off against a nasty Djinn, and the second featuring a New York slayer dealing with the same Djinn in 1937. The Buffy story is very light and goofy, while the 1937 tale is much darker and grittier; the contrast is almost ironic, since the stories wind up so entwined in the end, which I have to say was very well done. There is a continuity issue, however. The Buffy story is set in 1997 during Season Two, so that means it takes place after "When She Was Bad" and before "Surprise." However, Willow demonstrates powerful magic abilities, abilities which she hadn't mastered until way past Season Two. Another small quibble I have is that I find myself wishing for a bit more of the Buffy storyline at the end, just to tie it up a little bit.

Art: The Buffy storyline is illustrated in a very bright cartoony way, which adds to the lightness of the story. Buffy and Willow, and even--God help me--Snyder are very cute here, and some panels smell of an anime-influence. To put it simple, if the Buffy animated television show ever took off, it would look something like this. It's attractive and hip, but hard to take serious. The art totally switches for the more serious 1937 storyline and, while I would like a bit more detail,
I can't say it doesn't match the tone of the story.

Characters We Know: Buffy, Willow, Principle Snyder

Rating: 5/10