Back On Point

What Is It?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Issue #19: Time of Your Life Part III (written by Joss Whedon).

Timing: Directly after "Time of Your Life Part III."

REVIEW: After a nearly two month long wait, Joss Whedon and friends deliver the conclusion to the hyped Buffy/Fray crossover, "Time of Your Life." After some still-good-but-slightly-off-if-you-know-what-I-mean issues, Joss finally lives up to the standard he set in the fantastic #16, which kicked this arc off. Revelations--huge ones, in fact--are made, confrontations are had, and things get all sorts of stabby when Buffy faces off against the many, many people in the future who either want her dead or want to prevent her from returning home. With everything on the table, it's definitely the second-best conclusion to an arc we've seen thus far, ranking in just below Drew Goddard's fantastic #15.

There was a lot of plot to tie up here, so it's no surprise that the issue got a few extra pages. The awesome, but non-essential stuff was dealt with in a quick and neat manner, which enabled the story to focus more on the core of the arc and its ramifications on the characters. Harth presents a threat but is taken care of (not dying, obviously, as that's Fray's business if there's ever another series), Gunther's fate is revealed, and the Xander/Dawn fight their final battle with the Green Magic Serpent Things... along with some help from the woodland creature. Wow, never thought I'd type that sentence.

A lot of the main conflict, which can be boiled down to Buffy vs. Fray/Buffy vs. Dark Willow, is made up of action, but the dialogue and the final resolution to the conflict (c'mon, you don't think I'd give it away, did you?) is at once terrifying and sad. There are a few images here that you won't soon forget, I'll say that much.

Also, a major Who Is Twilight? theory is either proven or debunked in this issue (not sayin' which). Let's just say... what we learn leaves us asking more questions that ever before, yet is somehow satisfying. For now.

Looks like, thanks to Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, Scott Allie, and co. taking their time to make sure this issue gets done right, Buffy: Season Eight is back on track. I've had a damn rough past two days, but this issue sort of helped to take my mind off the shit. Thanks, guys. Loved the issue.

Art: Karl Moline is a force to be reckoned with. I thought we might have had to sacrifice a bit of quality in the pencils in order for Moline to get this issue out on time, what with the script being so late, but nope. His work looks good as ever. I will certainly miss his take on the Buffyverse characters, because he really put a lot of his own style into it, all the while making them look like them. There were a lot of epic action scenes and even more epic emotional shots that Karl Moline just nailed. Ah man, I love this 'verse.

Covers: Jo Chen has given us some of her best work for this arc, and this cover is just another shining example. Well, maybe shining is the wrong word. Veiny? A veiny example? The cover is a close-up on Dark Willow, and it's probably the most accurate likeness Chen has gotten. The reflection of Buffy in Willow's eye, the shape of her nose and lips, the crude veins stretching down her forehead and cheeks... stunning. Jeanty's cover, on the other hand, is his least impressive in a while. It's detailed and all, but it's just not as dynamic as his images usually are. His Fray likeness isn't really that great here, though his take on Buffy is awesome as ever. I just wish it were something a bit more than Fray and Buffy standing side by side, no matter how cool the future/present background is.

Characters We Know: Willow, Buffy, Fray, Erin, Gates, Harth, Gunther, Xander, Dawn, Amy, Warren, Twilight, SPOILER!: Riley, Kennedy. Wow, loaded issue.

Rating: 9/10

Not Even The Season Eight Haters Can Dislike This

What Is It?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Issue #16: Time of Your Life Part I (written by Joss Whedon)

Timing: BtVS, Season Eight. Short time, presumably a week or so, after "Wolves at the Gate Part IV."

REVIEW: Best start to an arc, best art in a Buffy issue, and best writing in a Buffy issue. Altogether, the best issue in Season Eight and the best issue in the larger Buffyverse since "After the Fall" #5. The overall arc of the season is driven along fantastically, the plot of this episode is set up nicely, and there are some pretty devastating moments.

Overall, it's certainly not what I expected. We barely get any Fray action at all, which actually was good, as it gave the story a chance to really build up before Buffy was inevitably shipped off to Fray's time. There was a lot of Kennedy and Vi stuff (though Vi is now going by Violet, because since the lettering is all caps, "Vi" would look like the Roman Numeral Six) which was awesome, and Xander's greif over Renee was handled very, very well. And we get appearances from Twilights and the villains (oh you know who they are) from the first arc that everyone and their complainy mother has been Whedonesque-ing (sorry, I meant complaining...) about not seeing again since #4.

Those that were happy with the Buffy, Xander, Willow reunion in Issue #3 will have multiple fangasms while reading this. Most of the issue is banter between the trio, then banter between Buffy/Willow, then meetingy banter between Buffy, Willow, Vi, and Kennedy, followed by more banter between Dawn and Xander. It all serves to drive the story forward and reads like some of the best Jossian dialogue you can find, but again OH does it drive the story forward. Dawn's thricewise curse goes into its second stage, which really answers the "Why is Dawn a centaur?" question people we asking when they saw the cover to #18. There are great Willow/Kennedy moments, as well as an awesome exchange between Buffy and Kennedy where Kennedy makes it all too clear to Buffy that Willow is off limits. I thought all of this was great, because this issue left me enjoying two characters that I haven't enjoyed in a long time. Kennedy and Willow. Well, I never really enjoyed Kennedy that much until now, and how great is she here? Very. Thing about Willow this season, though... she's been so powerful, so flighty, so healy, that it seems she hasn't really been a character as much as a plot device. But in this issue, she is very much a character. And I love it.

One thing that I loved was that this entire issue was like a huge nod to continuity. Many people have said, and not without reason, that Joss Whedon sacrifices continuity when he sees great story and character moments, citing the case of "Warren never died" as the prime example. However, he seems to be trying to develop Buffy into a more tight-knit mythology with this issue, because of both obvious and more subtle reasons. Most obviously, the entire Buffy/Fray cross-over and, at a larger scale, Season Eight itself is functioning to clear up the discrepancy between "Chosen" and "Fray." On a much smaller scale, there are references to past happenings and demonic breeds that gives the Buffyverse a greater feeling of continuity. Fyarl demons are mentioned, and the "trade" that happens when someone goes through a portal (from Season Seven) happens again in this issue. It just gives me the feeling that Joss is really trying to give his story a more solid structure to fall back on and, as a fan, I truly appreciate this.

After reading this, I'm more excited about Season Eight that I've ever been. Ever. And that is saying so much, because holy BHC was I excited before.

Art: Again, the best we've seen. I love Georges Jeanty and I love how he's made the characters his own, but penciller Karl Moline (who was behind the art of the original "Fray" series) is just better. I feel like I'm cheating on Georges by just saying that, but it's true. Moline's Dawn is simply fantastic, as he makes her look at once 100% like Michelle Trachtenberg and 100% like his own design. He captures the subtle expressions of the character's faces, allowing this Joss-banter heavy issue to pop across the page, each panel completely registering. His depiction of Buffy is also great, and ties with Jeanty's Buffy.... but Moline's Willow completely beats out Jeanty's. He does a great job with Kennedy and Vi(olet), and pretty much just gives us an all around stellar performance. His artwork in "Fray" was already great... but he's come miles since then.

Covers: The glorious return of Jo Chen. After Jon Foster's really-not-that-good-at-all-and-that's-a-laughable-understatement run, it's like a breath of oxygen to a drowning person to see Jo Chen strut her painty stuff all over this page. Buffy and Fray are going at it--more with the violent than sexual connotation, there, by the by--and it's an overall awesome image. Not iconic like the way she's kicked off the first two arcs, but still a really, really nice cover. The second cover is from our boy Jeanty, who gives us a really cool image of Buffy, Willow, Vi(olet), and Kennedy hanging out in Manhattan. It's really reminiscent of his cover to #6, which was the start of the "No Future for You" arc and had a very similar image with Buffy and Faith. It's nothing to wow you, but it's a great image with really deep colors that set a really cool tone for the contents inside. Well, most contents ARE inside something, but.... you know what I mean.

Characters We Know: Buffy, Fray, Dawn, Xander, Willow, Leah, Twilight, Warren, Amy, Kennedy, Vi(olet).

Rating: 10/10. An easy, easy 10/10.