Saturday, September 14, 2013

365 Comics...253: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #25 (2013)

Also this week on Thor's Comic Column I dish my thoughts on both Buffy Season 9's conclusions and Buffy Season 9 as a whole.

I wish I liked it more.  Buffy is a very important figure in popular culture.  She remains one of the strongest female action heroes in history, one whose identity is still clearly feminine and couldn't be swapped out for a dude.  She is a rich and flawed character, and one whom time does not stand still around.  Buffy over seven TV seasons grew immeasurably as a person, accepting her role as slayer but defying (or at least challenging) its conventions. Season 8 comics gave her a new role as figurehead,  pushing her forward from her season 7 role as mentor.  Season 9 really finds Buffster spinning her wheels, unmotivated, and really having story pulling her rather than her driving the story.  The pregnancy thing early on was wonderful, but what it turned into was weak, and from there on it felt as if Buffy took a back seat to what the rest of her cast was going on about.

I'm wondering if Joss' busy Avengers and SHIELD schedule has impeded on his ability to guide the Buffyverse any longer.  His touch does seem to be fading from the book.

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