I’ll expand on this sometime in a general post about Buffy, but while I enjoy Joss Whedon’s TV work immensely, his comic books are hit or miss for me. Whedon just doesn’t have the same knack for what works in comics as he does in television, both visually and storytelling-wise (see the Whedon-penned Runaways issues for an example of this).
So while I won’t miss a Joss-penned issue of Buffy, I’m also ready to be let down every time. This time I wasn’t.
Joss seems to have finally gotten some handle on the re-introductory material needed in monthly comics, given in sufficient amount and timely fashion. There’s something very right about beginning the issue referring to Buffy’s new flight ability, and only then recapping recent events in a Willow-Oz conversation (I was actually confused since I mistook the last panel in 30 to suggest that Buffy became giant-sized, but I blame Jane Espenson for that). That said, the new status-quo in which the battle is essentially over is somewhat sudden, and along with Willow’s re-powering and Buffy’s victory over the godesses seems like somewhat of a Deus Ex Machina.
But the overarching plot wasn’t the focus of this issue as much as the characters, specifically Buffy squaring off with Xander regarding Dawn and Xander’s kiss. Joss handles the dialogue for this superbly, with just the right amount of cynicism and emotion. As usual, Jeanty’s character art helps in recognizing and sympathizing with those characters (not to mention his great Lichtenstein-style cover. which as it turns out was Joss’ idea), but it’s Joss that does the heavy lifting.
Next month’s issue is the first of an arc by Brad Meltzer, who wrote DC’s Identity Crisis (recommended – clever and twisted). It’s interesting to see whether an experienced comic book writer can do better than Joss, but If he does as well as Joss in this issue, fine by me.
Best panel: Buffy and Xander’s conversation reflected in the mirror.
References and gags: Other than the obligatory pop culture references, there are some less obvious ones: The Domo on Kennedy’s shirt, “18″ on Dawn’s sleeve (yes, everyone, she’s legal), and the one I swear I’m not imagining – Willow happy over Xander and Dawn falling in love is her channeling How I Met Your Mother’s Lily. I’m certain Joss is a fan.
Tags: Buffy, Whedonverse
