So I bailed on last month’s Buffy comic review/recap – mostly because I got carried away with other things and partly because issue seven was the first real disappointment of the series (though maybe “underwhelming” might be more fair). Anyways, Faith has donned a fake British accent and gone undercover at the estate of rogue slayer and super-villain Genevieve… to kill her. But as it so often happens with Faith, she’s straying from the mission and feeling the temptation of the high life, hoodlumery and possibly same-sex hanky panky. All of this would be fun if she wasn’t playing off of such a flat, annoying character.
Genevieve has the unique distinction of being the first comic book character I truly loathe. Like a monstrous amalgam of every bratty potential slayer from the show’s seventh season, she is a pox on every frame she’s featured in, and those frames are coming at us fast and furious in these last two issues. Her dialogue has also prompted the season eight comics’ biggest misstep thus far: forced pop culture references! The last thing I need to find in these precious 22 pages of Whedon-sanctioned Buff is a mention of Amy Winehouse or The Arctic Monkeys.
Frustrating aspects aside, the last two issues have given us some delayed and heartbreaking insight into Faith’s take on her relationship with Buffy. Sure we saw her react to living in the main Slayer’s shadow for a few years – we even watched her take on Buffy herself when the two swapped bodies, but sympathies for Faith might never be as high as when we relive that fateful night on top of the Mayor’s apartment with Faith’s lost lamb voice over. Buffy’s refusal to ever trust Faith (justified as it might be) is possibly our hero’s greatest failure. She’s always ready to assume the worst, and circumstances don’t often help matters. When the two duke it out in a swimming pool after Genevieve’s botched attempt to take out Buffy, I almost want to route for Faith. Then I realize that Faith has got to be at least 24-years-old at this point. She’s tried to end the world, she’s saved the world, she’s gone to jail and she’s made amends with herself god knows how many times. So why does it seem like she hasn’t really grown? I’d like this series to finally see her bury her Buffy envy once and for all, because this supernatural Jan Brady bit is getting old!
Buffy Season Eight looks to go AWOL pretty soon. After the final issue of “No Future For You,” there’s only one more comic with a release date. The dreaded hiatus we’ve been hearing about may go into effect as early as this January. But with Joss returning to pen issue 10, I trust we’ll be left on a satisfying note.
[...] Mikey Likes TV: Trying to ignore the traumatic effects of the writers’ strike, Mikey reviewed the two most recent issues of the Buffy comic series and welcomed a speedy end to NBC’s green week. [...]
she is hot