Buffy season 8 came to an end last month, with issue 40.  I have some thoughts on both the final issue, and the series as a whole.  I plan on going into detail about the plot, so anyone who has not read the whole thing, and is wary of spoilers, should not read beyond the jump.

Buffy the TV show meant a lot to me.  I connected to it from the moment it came on the air, and for the entire seven years it was on the air, I looked forward to every new episode.  I think I only missed seeing two episodes the night they aired, that whole time.  It is the reason I follow every project Joss Whedon works on with great interest.  Somewhere around season two, I became an unabashed fangirl, and haven’t looked back since.  And it’s fair to say my own writing has been heavily influenced by it.  In that I think a hero (or even more so, a heroine) should not be infallible, that they can make mistakes and fall down, and still remain a hero.

So when it was announced that Joss would be resuming the series as a comic, I was thrilled.  I could not wait for my friends to return, and find out what he had in store for them next.  The first twenty issues or so were pretty spectacular, beautiful art, and brilliantly written.  Having Joss write many, and oversee the rest, assured that the tone of the show carried over to the comics, and that the characters felt true to how they had been previously portrayed.  Those issues did a really good job bringing the audience up to speed with what the Scooby gang had been doing since the end of the series.  And also establishing new characters to root for, such as Renee and Satsu.

Spoilers from here on.  You have been warned, don’t whine to me if you read something you don’t want to.

Some of the highlights of the first half for me were: Xander growing into the role of strategic leader to the slayer army.  A great bit of growth, but not one that felt unnatural for him.  Buffy getting into a relationship with Satsu.  A move that brought a lot publicity and controversy.  A lot of people declared that it was totally out of character for Buffy to suddenly become a lesbian.  But I think those people were missing the point.  It wasn’t played as Buffy discovering a new sexual identity, but rather as her experimenting within the one she already had established.  And I thought it was very nicely portrayed.  I also quite enjoyed the return of Dracula.  A character that actually was more well rounded and interesting in the comics, than in his single episode of the series.  Another stand out was the arc Brian K. Vaughan wrote, focusing on Faith.  I felt it really got inside her head, and moved me.  And I am not even that into Faith as a character.  I did love the Fray cross over, and its implications for Willow.  And the issue about the Buffy stand in, was sublime.  And those gorgeous Jo Chen covers!  I want all of them framed on my wall.

The second half of the season however had some flaws.  The plot seemed to peter out, and go in circles.  First the slayers had to give up their power, to keep Twilight from finding them.  Then they needed to get it back to win the battle with the Twilight led army.  Then Buffy was inadvertently leaching the power from all the other slayers, and turning into to uber slayer.  Then they all had to band together to get rid of the source of magic in the world.  It just felt convoluted, and I lost interest in the major plot.

Then there was the fact that they brought back Oz, one of my favorite characters, and one that had been gone since season four.  I was really excited when I heard he was coming back.  However it turns out that Oz is such a stoic character, that without Seth Green’s subtle performance, he feels pretty flat on the page.  It didn’t help that one of his defining traits was his deep connection with Willow, but so much had happened in their lives, and they had changed so much in the intervening years, that that simpatico had all but vanished.  I’m not saying I expected them to rush back into each-other’s arms, that would have rung false.  But there wasn’t really any moments of shared history between them, that I can recall.  Without that, his presence felt pretty incidental.  Like he was only there, because Joss knew that the fans wanted that, and not because it served the story.  Really, how much difference did Oz’s band of wolves make to the battle?

And there were some out of character moments in the back half.  One that stuck out particularly for me, was an issue where Buffy is pulled back to her life circa season one.  There is a moment when Cordelia says something mean to Willow, and Buffy jokes to Willow something along the lines of “One day she will be dead.”

I know Buffy and Cordy weren’t bff’s, but they were friends.  For her to be so glib about Cordy’s untimely, and ignominious death, really rubbed me the wrong way.

And Xander getting into a relationship with Dawn feels off to me as well.  I’m not one of the faction of Buffy fans that dislikes Dawn.  Being a little sister myself, I usually felt pretty sympathetic to her.  So it’s not that I hate anything that has to do with Dawn.  It’s just that while Dawn had long had an on-off crush on Xander, his feeling toward her, always seemed to be brotherly.  To have that morph into a romance, feels kinda squicky to me.  I know that he isn’t her brother, and they aren’t genetically related, and she is not a child anymore, but it still feels weird.  And there is also a part of me that feels like Xander is just using her as a more obtainable Buffy substitute.  One that would return his feelings.

(That being said, I applaud his calling Buffy out on her only showing interest in him, after he is taken by someone close to her)

Which brings me to the biggest WTF, of the series for me.  Having Twilight turn out to be Angel, was a very unexpected and shocking reveal.  Definitely a jaw dropper.  But the reasons that were given for him going there, just don’t work to me.  We have seen time and again that he is not the type to chase a destiny, with no regard for what it would do to the world.  In fact we saw him twice sacrifice things that would benefit him and his possible future with Buffy, because it would mean that innocents would suffer.  So to have him go to extremes, and become essentially a supervillian, so that he and Buffy can create a new universe, which just happens to mean the current universe will be destroyed, along with everyone in it.  That feels so out of character!

Even after it was revealed that he was manipulated, by primal powers, or something, (did I mention I had a hard time following this?) I still didn’t buy that he would go along with it.  And I’m saying this as someone who isn’t a huge Angel fan.  He is probably somewhere around twenty on my list of Buffyverse characters that I care about.  Nevertheless, the Angel that had been established since his exit from the Buffy series, is one that has a lot of priorities beyond Buffy.  His team, his son, the thousands of innocent lives that he feels responsible for.  I just don’t believe he would under any circumstances, decide to throw them over, because he has been told he has a greater purpose.

I’m not going to even go into the sex in the sky thing.  In my opinion, that was the least of that story arc’s problems.

Alright, so I just complained an awful lot.  I feel bad for unleashing that,  because I think there was a lot to like over the forty issues.  Just less in the last twenty.  The writing just wasn’t as tight in the back half.

It was not by all bad.  I liked the idea of public opinion tipping in favor of the vampires.  And Harmony becoming a reality tv star was a really fun idea.  And Spike’s return, in a completely unexplained dirigible, crewed by giant spacebugs!  That is a random plot element I can absolutely get behind.

Here’s the thing, despite the issues I had with the last half of the season, I thought the final issue was really good.   I like what it sets up for season nine.  And I am still super happy that there will be a season nine.

I like that the slayer army is no more.  While it was a cool concept, it quickly became unweildy, and drew focus from our central characters.  I am looking forward to seeing how Buffy handles once again being a free agent, after having been a general.  And I am eager to see how she deals with the many very powerful girls who feel betrayed by her.  Though I’m not quite sure why they feel like she wronged them, since they still have all they’re power.  It’s the rest of the magic community that she stole something from.  (Are there still demons?  Or did Clem and Lorne go poof, along with the egg?)

I do think that she made the right choice, and did what she had to, to keep the world from going boom.  But nobody else is going to get that, since they weren’t forced to make the decision.  Spike was right about that.

Speaking of Blondie Bear, I’m glad he is once again a regular part of her life.  Playing the part of supporter and truth teller.  I’m even okay if they don’t end up in a romantic relationship again.  In fact if they do, I think it needs to be taken slowly, after events are not so raw.  And it isn’t just a reaction to what happened.

Giles being dead, I mean.  That hurt.  For several days after I read that scene, the words “Giles is dead,” would interrupt my train of thought.  I love Giles!  I don’t want him to be dead.  However I don’t see Joss bringing him back to life.  Because Joss is mean and likes to make me cry.  And he likes to make Buffy cry too, and this is going to keep her in a shakey place for quite a while.  (One thing that really does bug me about Giles being dead, other than you know dead Giles, is that it means that when Buffy returns to an audiovisual medium.  I do believe it will someday.  It means that Anthony Head won’t be in it.  Unless Joss does something Jossy, and he is).

As for Willow, I am really interested to see what happens with her.  On the one hand, yay!  No more annoying Kennedy!  On the other, dear god!  She is going down a dark path!  It really looks like she is going to do something dangerous and destructive to get her magic back.  And what did she mean that she broke up with Kennedy, because there was someone else, that she will never see again?  For a minute there I thought she was referring to Giles, since she used to have a crush on him.  Then I thought she might mean her snake lady teacher, who is also cut off from her now.  But I actually think she meant Tara.  I think some part of her always believed that if she got enough power, she would be able to bring her back.  And I think we will have to deal with the fact that she decided that it was better for the world to burn, than to lose her magic.  Honestly I don’t know if there is any way to bring her back from this.  Except maybe actually bringing Tara back (although it couldn’t be through her actions).  That might be the only thing that would make her let go of the bitterness, that is eating her alive.  So yikes, Willow!  Just embrace the computer nerd, you were awesome  pre-magic too, sweetheart.

Alright, if anyone managed to make it through this novella of a post, I would be interested in hearing what you thought about season eight, the last issue, and what you want to see in season nine.

This November, Dark Horse put out a the graphic novel the Shepherd’s Tale.  It provided us Browncoats with the long awaited back story of Shepherd Book.  While it was interesting to finally find out what he was hiding, and it was a well written story, it didn’t really feel like an installment of Firefly, since most of the crew only appeared in a couple of pages.  When I think of Firefly, the first thing I think of is the fun of spending time with the nine, very distinct, people living aboard Serenity.  Well Shepherd’s Tale writer, Zack Whedon, has given us just, that in an online only, eight page comic called Serenity: Downtime.

Surprisingly it is available on USA Today’s website, along with a brief introductory article about Firefly/Serenity.  It is awesome!  It feels very much like an episode of Firefly.  It even has close ups of River’s feet!  Here is a little blurb about the comic.

Whedon has tried to create an atmosphere resembling a scene from Firefly. “I wanted to reward those fans by showing these characters like it was a part of the show,” he says.

Downtime follows crewmembers snowed in on a planet filled with, as Whedon puts it, “a bunch of people you don’t want to run into.” Though the whole crew is included, the focus is on the mysterious (and fan-favorite) character known as River.

Check it out here!  Serenity:Downtime

Penny Keep Your Head Up

I really hope to see more of these, they really flesh out the world of the web series.  Of course I would love to see a sequel to the musical, and now that Dollhouse, How I Met Your Mother, and Castle are all on summer hiatus it may happen.

I am too lazy to do the research myself, maybe you guys can help me figure out,  whatever happened to…?

1) Serenity: the Shepherd’s Tale.  When Dark Horse announced this three issue mini series  that would finally document Shepherd Book’s past, they said it would be out Fall 2008.  I have yet to see it listed in there upcoming lists.

2)Savant and Creote.  Gail Simone’s run on Bird’s of Prey produced some very cool new characters, such as Black Alice, and Misfit, both of whom are still showing up in the series pages.  However my favorite, the duo of Savant and Creote have completely disappeared.   Savant is a highly intelligent, extremely unstable, misogynist pretty boy.  Creote  is his extremely loyal bodyguard/manservant/sidekick/husband?  Despite the fact that their first appearance involved them holding Black Canary prisoner, Oracle was able to turn them into allies and ably used their skills to help her ever growing team.  Savant eventually fled since Oracle’s reforming of him had seriously disturbed his calm, Creote being completely devoted of course went with him.  I assumed they would be back at some point, but that was the last I saw of them.  I hope some writer revives them.  They might make an interesting addition to Gail’s own Wonder Woman run.

3) The next arc of Sky Doll.  Sky Doll was probably my favorite discovery  of last year.  I even bought the hardback trade when it was released even though I knew there was no material in it other than the contents of the three issues already published.  I want to collect it as books.  I am dying to know what happens next, but there has been no sign of when Marvel will bring out the second series.

Be warned, the spoilers start right away.

Buffy: Season 8 #19

Susie: I can’t say that’s what I was expecting, but it makes a lot of sense.

Florence: But it’s so sad! Ultimately Buffy killed dark Willow because that’s what Willow wanted. Do you think Willow did actually fuck shit up in the future?

Marty: The last page of the comic said that the future was still there, and everything was fine.

Florence: But did Willow actually cause evil to happen in the future?  Or did she just stir up stuff that was already happening?

Susie: I think if our Willow were to find out about it, she might cause the no-magic to happen herself, to prevent that version of herself from happening.

Florence: Did she actually live all those years? She made mention of being ‘in and out’.

Susie: No, I think she’s lived the whole, unnatural amount of time.

Florence: Yes, she did seem old- with a long burden.

Susie: She had lost a lot of herself.  She didn’t create the rift, she just had to take advantage of it.

Florence: So sad!

Susie: New topic: stupid Riley!

~Interlude for Susie to explain Riley to Marty.  He’s an ex-boyfriend of Buffy’s who was in the military demon-fighting core, and who was a stupid jerk that Buffy always idealized as the unattainable “normal” boyfriend who abandoned her.  ~

Marty: Didn’t he look like Christian Slater in this?

Florence: He didn’t look very Riley-like, but it has to be him.

Marty: What is that on his chest?

Susie: It’s the Twilight symbol, but really big.  I suppose he could be a triple agent just fooling Twilight…

Florence: Argh!

Susie: But I don’t think so.  I think we’ll finally be rid of him soon.

Florence: Yay!  Vindication after that infuriating ‘Riley is the messiah’ episode where everyone thought he was awesome.  Where do you think his wife is now?

Marty: Florence is still writing about Riley…

Florence: What were you on to?

Marty: Susie was talking about Willow.

Susie: Will this whole experience cause Buffy to start questioning Willow?  Will she tell Willow about what happened?  I can’t imagine that she’d do that.  Could anything stop her from becoming Dark Willow at this point, or does that have to happen?

Florence: I agree that Buffy is not prone to sharing burdensome secrets, but it will definitely drive her further into isolation and away from her best friend.

Susie: If she doesn’t share it with Willow, she’ll be a hypocrite for exiling Giles for not sharing every detail with her.  But when has Buffy not been a hypocrite?  New topic!

Marty: This would have made a good podcast.  Everyone would have heard me sniffle.

Susie: Was Xander’s helmet an acorn?

Marty/ Florence: What??!

Susie: It was a very strange helmet.  I sort of appreciated how silly the forest creature interludes were.  With everything else going on, that was kind of nice.

Marty: It did look like an acorn. One of the funnier lines was when Xander says, “All the ladies in the house go ‘Yeah…’”.

Susie: I liked that they were still bantering in the middle of the battle. Do you think that a big portion of the slayer army has died in the bomb?  How big of a setback will that be for them?

Florence: Good question.  There are many slayers now, but they’re still a finite number.

Marty: So this concluded the arc. Where do you think they’re going to go from here?

Florence: Do you think they’ll tell us the whole story with dark Willow?

Susie: It depends, do you want them to?

Florence: Yes- I need it!

Susie: Then.. they probably won’t.  When did they ever give us what we wanted?

Florence: But we can’t count on future seasons this time, this could be it!

Susie: I heard this season is supposed to be around 40 issues, so we’re about halfway through.  And they say that they could keep going to Season 9.  I also heard there are some stand alone issues coming up. I hope to see more of Faith and Giles again. Drusilla is still out there. But as for what will happen? I have no idea.

Florence: In the letters column they say that Giles and Faith will be back again in issue #24.

Susie: Yay!  So we will see them again.  What other old Buffy characters haven’t made an appearance yet?  I was thinking of Dru.  Is there anyone else that you would like to see pop up again?

Florence: I miss Jonathan.

Susie: As far as I know, he’s still dead.  But then again, so was Warren.

Florence: I am so dead.  Whoops, I meant to say I am so done with Kennedy.

Susie: That’s Freudian, you just wish that Kennedy was dead.  I think we’re stuck with her for now.  The one ray of hope is that no couple can stay happy for long.  I don’t even want anything to happen to her, I just want her to go away.  I laugh, because we are so hateful.  Just resentful that this is Our Thing, how can those writers force something to happen that we don’t like?  Can’t accept that we don’t actually have any control.  I guess the person that made her up probably likes her.

Florence: I find myself excited to see Marti Noxon’s name on other shows, even though I grumbled so much when she was the showrunner of Buffy.

Susie: It got to the point that anything we didn’t like, we attributed to her, and that’s probably unfair.

Marty: What was her role?

Florence: She started as a writer, and moved up to showrunner when Joss left to focus on Firefly.

Marty: ‘Showrunner’ is a thing?

Susie: It’s a job title; it involves supervising everything.  From what I hear, Joss maintained quite a bit of control, but some things fell through the cracks.

Marty: Huh.  You still haven’t transcribed my erection comment.  There is a panel in which it looks like Willow has an erection, while Buffy is hugging her (on the second to last page).

Florence: Groan, I see it.

Susie: I heard that Jane Espenson is going to write an issue, it might be the next one.  Yay!

Marty: Susie, I hope that you don’t get sick after our visit.

Susie: Me, neither, but if I do I won’t blame you guys.

Florence: You should, we are nothing but contagion-spreaders.

The Walking Dead #55

Marty: Dream sequences, love ‘em or hate ‘em?

Florence: This one worked for me. It was clear relatively quickly that’s what was happeneing. So I didn’t feel duped. I thought it said something about his state of mind that he couldn’t just say out loud.

Marty: I feel like we already saw a scene just like this, where he said, “We have to stop talking on the phone.”

Florence: Yes, I think that’s part of the point.  He didn’t let go of the phone for a long time after he said it this time.  It’s going to catch up with him soon.  Did you see the look that Carl gave him when Glen mentioned the phone?

Marty: Yeah, I see now. The new mustache guy gets really annoying.

Florence: Do you think the new scientist guy is legit?  He spent some time this issue “observing” new zombie behavior when they came across a lurker who seemed unable to find the energy to bite, even when prey was inches away.

Marty: I wonder if Kirkman’s getting tired of zombies?  He’s always said that we’re the walking dead.

Florence: What do you mean?

Marty: I mean, this could just become a post-apocalyptic story, if the zombies all die off.

Florence: I remember mentioning that idea during our podcast.  The zombies have to decompose at some point and become immobile at the very least.

Marty: Poor Glen.

Florence: Aww, I know!  That was so sad!  I tried to hide the last page from you while you were reading Buffy next to me, so you wouldn’t get spoiled.  I was caught completely off guard.

Marty: That’s funny, cause I was hiding pages of Buffy from you.

Florence: Which ones?

Marty:  The Riley reveal… and something at the end, I don’t remember.

Florence: I’m too tired to type anymore.

BOOK CLUB
–THIS Saturday–
Marty & Florence’s Place
7 PM

Peppered with quotes from Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain), the second and third trade paperbacks in the Fear Agent series collect issues #5-10 and #12-15 respectively. (Although originally, 12-15 were known as Fear Agent: The Last Goodbye #1-4.)

Do you remember when I got all whiny about the first trade, and how it ended in a cliffhanger? Well, volume #2, My War ends with another doozey. And guess what? Volume 3 is one long flashback! I don’t know when I’ll be getting Volume #4 from the library (since it came out relatively recently, there are a few people in line in front of me). Interestingly, Volume #4 doesn’t even collect Issue #11, which technically came before all the issues in Volume #3. According to Wikipedia, Issue #11 and #16 appear in an (unnumbered) trade paperback called simply Tales of the Fear Agent. While I’m waiting for Volume #4, I’m going to see if the library has that one. (Confused yet? I certainly was.)

The best kinds of cliffhanger don’t actually leave the hero hanging on a cliff. They actually change the tone of the story you’ve been reading. It’s more like you realize that the protagonist has been hanging from a cliff for a while, and he (or she) just didn’t know it. This was the kind of cliffhanger that Volume #2 ended with. Volume #1 was more of the hanging on a cliff kind.

Although the artist is different in Vol. 2 than in Volumes 1 and 3, Jerome Opeña does a great job of picking up where Tony Moore left off, and the style is so true to the way Moore started it that I honestly didn’t even notice.

Fear Agent continues to make us love and hate the main character (Heath Huston) in equal parts. He makes incredibly stupid mistakes, and thinks a bit too much of himself (and only himself) for my tastes. He’s also completely a hick, and mostly dumb as a pile of rocks. Still, it’s all quite fun watching his life (and planet!) fall apart around him. And you get to blame it on aliens!

I’m happy to report that, in spite of yet more “want to read more” type frustration, there is continued happiness and enjoyment. (The Clemens quotes also kick the series up a notch in my book.) I’ll report back when I’ve read the rest of the series.

But I did manage to enjoy this anyway, and along the way I wracked my brain for additional references to circuses in space. (I did some web searching too.) More space circuses after the jump.

Apparently Batman and Robin join a space circus in World’s Finest Comics issue #130. I wanted to see this so bad that I managed to “find” it online. Actual copies tend to sell for a pretty penny, so I’ll post the only really relevant panels here. You can see Batman and robin doing the flying trapeze, and Batman on a tightrope on a unicycle, with robin on his shoulders! There is also a rather disturbing William Tell reference.

Valerian features a space circus in the last story. I’ve talked about that some in one of the podcasts, but I should really have written a review. It’s a translated (french) TPB I brought home from the library, and liked it so much that when I found it on Amazon (for cheap) I bought it anyway.

Then there is a novel called Lord Valentine’s Castle that is the first in a series by Robert Silverburg that I absolutely adored when I was about 13 or so. I haven’t read it since, but it’s the reason (along with Stranger in a Strange Land) that I used Valentine for my first online alias. Basically, a prince loses his memory, and falls-in with a traveling troupe of alien jugglers.

An episode of the TV show Lost In Space was called “Space Circus“, and apparently features one. You can watch it on Hulu.com, but I haven’t yet. There is also an episode of Super Friends that features a space circus, also unseen by me.

Circus World is a science fiction novel by Barry B. Longyear, about a world where the entire population is descended from a space circus that crash landed on the planet centuries before. It’s actually part of a trilogy. I’ve only read this one, but when I realized it was missing from the disambiguation page, I added a very short entry for the novel it to wikipedia.

Unread by me, Beast Master’s Circus is another science fiction novel, written by Andre Norton and Lyn McConchie. It’s actually the 4th in a series.

I also have a game for the N64 laying around somewhere called Starshhot: Space Circus Fever, as I recall, it was a pretty awful platformer, and I never played more than a few minutes into it. (Obviously I bought it for the theme alone.)

There’s a myspace page for a hardcore band called Space Circus. Also, little closer to my musical tastes, (anyway, easier to listen to) a band from the 70s called Return to Forever has a clip labeled Space Circus on youtube. I’m pretty sure it’s the name of a song.

That was it, that was all I could find or remember. Many of the top results on google are to a weird educational site in the UK, but I didn’t include it here because it’s neither sci-fi nor really a circus. If anyone has any additions to this list, I’d LOVE to hear about them. I really feel like there must be a ton more that I’m forgetting, or just don’t know about.

I ask myself: Isn’t this why you prefer to read trade paperbacks? So that you have a complete story at the end? And then the frustration rises, and I cry a bit, then I make the sound again, “BLARRRRGGGGGGH!” (This time with more of a blubbery noise, because of the crying.)

Fear Agent is awesome. That is why it is so hard to hate it. Or perhaps, like a good relationship turned sour, that is why it is so easy to hate it. Someone yoda-like once said “Fear leads to hate. Hate leads to anger. Anger leads to suffering.” That person was probably talking about the end of the first Fear Agent TPB.

OK. Perhaps I should get to what I liked about the comic — Nay! — what I so LOVED about the comic! Namely, it was the subject matter. There are space ships. And space stations. And planets with fallen civilizations. In general, this is pulpy science fiction at its best, in comic book form. Lets take our protagonist, Heath, for example. He’s an Alien Exterminator / ex-space-military, with his own space ship, who also has a drinking problem. Oh yeah, and he kicks all kinds of ass. And by this I mean alien ass, robot ass, and any combination thereof. Oh yes, it’s awesome.

I just hope the library has the next TPB tomorrow morning when I go there. Because I’d hate to have to make that noise again.

It was so great, in fact, that the site went down due to high traffic the first night, and they had to switch servers to get it back up and running.

Anyway, Captain Hammer, who is Dr. Horrible’s arch nemesis, (played by Nathan Fillion of Firefly fame) has his own comic, which you can read on Dark Horse’s myspace page. It’s pretty awesome, and I actually really dig the art, drawn by Eric Canete, which is almost crayon-like at times.

You can also buy some Dr. Horrible swag, but the Captain Hammer shirts aren’t nearly as cool as the style he wears in the comic. (I’d totally buy a shirt if it looked more like the comic.)

Battlestar Galactica: April 4
Iron Man: May 2
Indiana Jones: May 22
Incredible Hulk: June 13
Wanted: June 27
Hellboy 2: July 11
Batman: The Dark Knight: July 18
The Punisher: September 12
Star Trek: December 25 (this may have been pushed back to 2009)
The Spirit: January 16, 2009
Watchmen: March 5, 2009
Wolverine: May 1, 2009

Unknown dates 2009:
Green Hornet
Superman

Of course, much of the appeal comes from Sergio Aragonés’ signature style, perhaps taking me back to the days of my youth, when I coveted owning my own issues of Mad Magazine, rather than reading snippets of friend’s copies over their shoulders or in the bookstore when I thought I could get away with it. I think Aragonés art is best when it’s super-detailed scenes with lots of people and stuff happening. I love when he draws lots of faces at once, as in scenes of village folk and cityscapes, or armies and big battles. The variation he achieves in expression with so few lines is definitely an art worth studying.

This latest arc, Hell on Earth, is an obvious parody of our political climate. Issues of the environment coupled with an unfriendly war-mongering ruler draw easy parallels to situations here in the US and the rest of the world. Truth be told, I thought it was all a little heavy handed in the first two issues of this arc, but with this issue I’m warming up to it. I’ll reserve final judgment for the forthcoming fourth and final issue.

The letters pages have been particularly amusing in this Groo itteration, and this issue’s was especially so. I felt like it really managed to build toward a suitably silly conclusion, and unlike other letter columns wasn’t filled with endless praise and meaningless back-patting prattle.

If you have a bone for the funny, Groo is well worth a gander. Not an elephant sized gander, mind you, but perhaps one human sized or slightly larger. But if you started reading Groo with this series, and then went back to read some of the old Groo series, you might find the gander grew on you, if you catch my meaning. (Yes, I did just write that. Cluck.)

For those who do know what I’m talking about, but haven’t read the comic, or at least this issue, yet, I don’t want to spoil a single moment! Suffice it to say that it all felt incredibly true, while opening up new doors. And it was really funny! I first became aware of Drew Goddard as a tv writer on Buffy, and he went on to write for Angel, Lost, Alias, and most recently the film Cloverfield. It is wonderful to see his return to Buffy via the latest comic arc. He is clearly a fan of the medium, and like Joss, knows how to use panel layout to add comic and dramatic timing to his words.

#12 begins a new 4 issue arc, and the current plan includes 50 issues total to represent a long Season 8 of the show. I can’t wait for more.

Joss is so good at this.

My favorite moments in this issue:

Buffy’s kindness to Satsu was really touching- she’s so much more of a grown-up these days. Thought she did lapse into the

His almost-reveal of Twilight had me gasping, and then laughing on the next page.

Xander’s look of love and faith in the second-to-last page felt so true, and something she needs so desperately.

The art felt uneven to me- faces went from cartoony to lovely depending on the scene.