Rabid, who's rabid? I just adore Joss so much to continue Buffy in any matter he can and with the same heart. Though I haven't read a comic book since I was a kid, I'm picking up this selection just to see where Joss leads us next with Buffy. Just a fan thing so to speak (I'm drooling on my keyboard).

Isn't it amazing for a show that has been cancelled nearly four years to still be frontline news? Not when it as brilliant as BtVS. We're on a roll!

Madhatter | March 17, 13:31 CET

We live in the age of multimedia explosion. A visionary like Joss shouldn't have creations aborted by corporate concerns. While I never would have found Buffy if it hadn't been on network television, I am ecstatic that he's chosen to continue the story through another medium. I would have been even happier if he had gone the direct-to-DVD route, but I understand that that's a lot more complicated - especially if your lead actors don't want to be involved - than comic books.

I still hope that he (and his potential financiers) realize the opportunities of alternative media. Charles Dickens didn't have a book deal for 'Oliver Twist', he published through a cheap periodical. What he published later made its way into novel format that people still read - and buy!

Movies or series made straight to DVD may seem like a cheap alternative, but Serenity 2 (and 3, 4, and however many we may be graced with) will be in my library regardless of whether it's made as a blockbuster movie, or a much less expensive (but creatively satisfying) DVD that people can buy and rent from libraries, just as they do with books.

When money's involved, an artist always has to balance popular with quality. (The recent tragedy called Grey's Anatomy sticks in my head right now.) In some ways, there is much more freedom to make movies that don't have to deal with a theater release, or TV series that don't have the pressure of X number of episodes, done every week.

I mean, I'm thrilled for David Boreanaz and I watch Bones every week - but will he ever again make me cry like he did when he was fighting to save Darla from herself? Popular and classic are not always the same thing. Classic will endure.

Now, if only my little squeaky voice could reach the ears of the Exalted Purple Goodness ...

[ edited by carpeffulgent on 2007-03-17 18:50 ]

carpeffulgent | March 17, 21:42 CET

Me! Me, I am totally rabid. I have been going to conventions, buying action figures, and reading the non-canon novels and comics for the last several years (and naturally I am an even bigger Firefly/Serenity fan), but I've been longing for more of the official series. This first issue has convinced me that I have not been waiting in vain. I completely love all the jokes and drawings and ambiguous teasers. I know I am going to really enjoy reading this series and discussing it everyone I can force get to read it with me.

embers | March 17, 22:36 CET

We can be patient and rabid at the same time. Cause Whedonists are multi taskers and self sufficient.

I didn't get to know Buffy until two years ago (It was an intense year that involved watching all of Buffy, the first season of Angel, and Firefly, plus some convention fun, all packed together!) so I missed the original Buffy excitement. I'm super juiced that I get to have the mass energy that comes from waiting for episodes. My basic point is that I love season 8!

JCapra | March 18, 03:21 CET

Great comments. carpeffulgent (a joyous outpouring of fish?:) you made some great points about multimedia/alternative media & corporate concerns. Although I love Grey's Anatomy, and Bones puts me to sleep.
The sad thing is that a visionary like Joss, on the cutting edge of something not yet fully formed, is losing out on opportunities to share his brilliance with the world in the medium that best showcases his talents, i.e. film, either movies or TV. Dialog written on a comic book page will never come close to making the same emotional connection and impact as dialog in the hands of a good actor. And as a fan of Joss the *director*, I'm so seriously missing his unique talent to give us something visually stunning.
Not to rain on the happy comic fans' parade, but the only reason these comics have the impact they do, is that .... as many of you have expressed .... you hear not only Joss's voice in the dialog, but the voice of the actors who gave life to the characrers, as well. It's certainly better than nothing, but I wont be really satisfied until I once again have the opportunity to observe the masters touch in the glory of film, with real actors speaking the dialog. And the fact that corporate perceptions of what kind of profit makes a writer/director "bankable" has already robbed us of BtS spinoff DVD's & continues to rob us of a talent like Joss, in the medium that allows the highest expression of his talent, pisses me off beyond my ability to express. Here endeth the rant.

Shey | March 18, 04:54 CET

Hear, hear.

I was going for "carpe effulgent" ... Seize the shiny joy of the day ... And I ended up in a fish market.

I hate the Grey's Anatomy writers for not talking to each other. At least that's what I assume happenned. I can find no other explanation for the disjoint between the last episode and everything that came before it. I mean, Mer comes back from the brink of death, and she and the love of her life have nothing to say to each other? Not even a long meaningful stare? A few minutes of passion? All because they had to make space for a near-incestuous, out-of-character, totally unromantic hook-up of two of the sweetest characters on the show?

[ edited by carpeffulgent on 2007-03-18 18:52 ]

carpeffulgent | March 18, 21:25 CET