What Is It?: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Issue #11: A Beautiful Sunset (written by Joss Whedon)
Timing: BtVS Season Eight, short while after "Anywhere But Here"
REVIEW: He's back. He's really back.
Joss, that is.
There was a mixed response to his work on "The Long Way Home," which was understandable because it was a season premiere. Joss never did well with season premieres. I rated the overall arc a 9/10 because, when put against the first episodes of Season One-Seven, there was no comparison. "The Long Way Home" was probably the best season-opener in BtVS. However, there were some things that weren't so shiny about that arc. Issue #4 wasn't as good as I would have hoped, and the "Warren never died" blunder was really egrh. Then, Joss put out the first one-shot, "The Chain." People either loved it or really disliked it and, in retrospect, I'm in the latter category. It was, in my opinion, a badly executed non-linear story. Then, we got some more Joss Whedon work through his little Sugar Shock mini-series, which is by far the worst thing he's ever written. Well, "least great" is a better term, because nothing Joss touches is bad, but... yeah, actually, Sugar Shock was pretty bad.
People were getting worried. Some weren't, but hey, I was a little iffy, especially when Brian K. Vaughan came on board and blew Joss's arc out of the water with "No Future For You." Then, Joss came back and finally hit a home run with "Anywhere But Here." Was it a fluke?
Nah. Joss scores another 100 points for this one-shot comic, "A Beautiful Sunset," which has a lot of stuff we've been waiting a long time for. Buffy fights the Big Bad of the season for the first time, we get a lot of development on the "Satsu Loves Buffy" storyline, and a lot of cool character moments in the beginning and the end (the eye-weller of a scene where the injured Buffy and Satsu lean against a grave after the climactic fight). Also, there's some vamp slayage, something the series has been sorely missing.
Overall, this is what you've come to expect from Joss, the man who brought us episodes like "Becoming," "The Gift," "Chosen," etc. While the issue may not be as BIG as those ones I just mentioned, it succeeds brilliantly in what it is trying to be. It's big on character development, plot-set up, drama, and humor, all of which Joss is the master of. If this is only the fifth episode of the season (figure it out), this is looking to be by far the strongest since Season Five.
Art: Great stuff. Jeanty nails every character, as usual. I've noticed that he is better than many, many comic artists in 'long-shots,' to use a television term. He--unlike any Buffyverse artist we've seen so far--keeps the details and proportions of faces and bodies perfectly in tact, even when we are seeing them from a distance. I couldn't be happier with him as the series artist, because after Cliff Richard's average work in "Anywhere But Here," I found myself genuinely missing Jeanty's wonderful art.
Characters We Know: Buffy, Xander, Dawn, a few unnamed slayers seen during "Chosen" (such as softball girl!), Rona, Caleb
Season Eight Recurring Characters We Know: Satsu, Twilight, Simone, Leah, Renee, Lieutenant Molter
Speculation (highlight to read): I so thought Twilight was about to be revealed, unmasked. Tricksy, sneaky, Whedonses! But yeah, this pretty much tells us that Twilight is someone I know. The most popular choice seems to be Riley, who would make sense, considering the whole government thing. Other people have said Caleb, based on the fact that Twilight recognized the move Buffy tried to make with the scythe, which was the same move that killed Caleb in "Chosen." Other people are throwing down the idea that it is Angel, but that theory doesn't even deserve to be mentioned, so forget I said it. We will speak of it no more! Spit! Who do I think Twilight is? Could be Ethan Rayne, carrying out an elaborate scheme, but it wouldn't make sense for his character. Could be Riley, but I don't know if I'd like that. Joss would have to sell the story HARD. I hope it's not any of the previous Big Bads, because villains should only get one chance at being a Big Bad. It's not something you get to do twice. Another alright idea is that it is Graham, but that would sorta be anti-climatic.... Well, we'll see. ALSO, looks like Buffy/Xander as a couple is down the tubes. *Mouths: yesssss*
Rating: 10/10
Timing: BtVS Season Eight, short while after "Anywhere But Here"
REVIEW: He's back. He's really back.
Joss, that is.
There was a mixed response to his work on "The Long Way Home," which was understandable because it was a season premiere. Joss never did well with season premieres. I rated the overall arc a 9/10 because, when put against the first episodes of Season One-Seven, there was no comparison. "The Long Way Home" was probably the best season-opener in BtVS. However, there were some things that weren't so shiny about that arc. Issue #4 wasn't as good as I would have hoped, and the "Warren never died" blunder was really egrh. Then, Joss put out the first one-shot, "The Chain." People either loved it or really disliked it and, in retrospect, I'm in the latter category. It was, in my opinion, a badly executed non-linear story. Then, we got some more Joss Whedon work through his little Sugar Shock mini-series, which is by far the worst thing he's ever written. Well, "least great" is a better term, because nothing Joss touches is bad, but... yeah, actually, Sugar Shock was pretty bad.
People were getting worried. Some weren't, but hey, I was a little iffy, especially when Brian K. Vaughan came on board and blew Joss's arc out of the water with "No Future For You." Then, Joss came back and finally hit a home run with "Anywhere But Here." Was it a fluke?
Nah. Joss scores another 100 points for this one-shot comic, "A Beautiful Sunset," which has a lot of stuff we've been waiting a long time for. Buffy fights the Big Bad of the season for the first time, we get a lot of development on the "Satsu Loves Buffy" storyline, and a lot of cool character moments in the beginning and the end (the eye-weller of a scene where the injured Buffy and Satsu lean against a grave after the climactic fight). Also, there's some vamp slayage, something the series has been sorely missing.
Overall, this is what you've come to expect from Joss, the man who brought us episodes like "Becoming," "The Gift," "Chosen," etc. While the issue may not be as BIG as those ones I just mentioned, it succeeds brilliantly in what it is trying to be. It's big on character development, plot-set up, drama, and humor, all of which Joss is the master of. If this is only the fifth episode of the season (figure it out), this is looking to be by far the strongest since Season Five.
Art: Great stuff. Jeanty nails every character, as usual. I've noticed that he is better than many, many comic artists in 'long-shots,' to use a television term. He--unlike any Buffyverse artist we've seen so far--keeps the details and proportions of faces and bodies perfectly in tact, even when we are seeing them from a distance. I couldn't be happier with him as the series artist, because after Cliff Richard's average work in "Anywhere But Here," I found myself genuinely missing Jeanty's wonderful art.
Characters We Know: Buffy, Xander, Dawn, a few unnamed slayers seen during "Chosen" (such as softball girl!), Rona, Caleb
Season Eight Recurring Characters We Know: Satsu, Twilight, Simone, Leah, Renee, Lieutenant Molter
Speculation (highlight to read): I so thought Twilight was about to be revealed, unmasked. Tricksy, sneaky, Whedonses! But yeah, this pretty much tells us that Twilight is someone I know. The most popular choice seems to be Riley, who would make sense, considering the whole government thing. Other people have said Caleb, based on the fact that Twilight recognized the move Buffy tried to make with the scythe, which was the same move that killed Caleb in "Chosen." Other people are throwing down the idea that it is Angel, but that theory doesn't even deserve to be mentioned, so forget I said it. We will speak of it no more! Spit! Who do I think Twilight is? Could be Ethan Rayne, carrying out an elaborate scheme, but it wouldn't make sense for his character. Could be Riley, but I don't know if I'd like that. Joss would have to sell the story HARD. I hope it's not any of the previous Big Bads, because villains should only get one chance at being a Big Bad. It's not something you get to do twice. Another alright idea is that it is Graham, but that would sorta be anti-climatic.... Well, we'll see. ALSO, looks like Buffy/Xander as a couple is down the tubes. *Mouths: yesssss*
Rating: 10/10
