Whedonesque : Comments on 18891 : (SPOILER) MySpace Dark Horse Presents "Vampy Cat Play Friend".

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February 04 2009

(SPOILER) MySpace Dark Horse Presents "Vampy Cat Play Friend". The special tie-in for Buffy Season 8 #22 Swell. Story written by Steven S. DeKnight and illustrated by Camilla D'Errico.

Emmie | BtVS | 02:37 CET | 25 comments total | tags: mdhp, deknight, swell, buffy season 8

Did you typo 22, or did they skip one?

Jobo | February 04, 02:53 CET

Heh. Typo.

Emmie | February 04, 02:55 CET

ehh, that wasn't worth the anticipation... just 2 pages?! and no Buffyverse characters?

buffycomics | February 04, 03:08 CET

Wow, that's messed up. Makes me miss Bunnicula.

Sunfire | February 04, 03:10 CET

I thought it was great. Very amusing for only 2 pages, setting an interesting and disturbing tone. The gore was definitely shocking.

Emmie | February 04, 03:14 CET

Oh, it's good. Just very very twisted.

Sunfire | February 04, 03:22 CET

Vampirism being normalized through commerce... truly freaky. And the moral sanction that goes with it -- vampires are *entitled* to kill and lash out for their convenience and gratification. Vampires are warm and fuzzy. You want to hug vampires. You want a vampire to be your best friend. Killing a vampire is intolerant, an act of hate. And the idea of a commercial like this is that it's pervasive -- it's the (pace Rumsfeld) "unknown unknown" that the Slayers don't see coming. Being vulnerable to a PR war is the thing they didn't know they didn't know.

Santorio Corporation -- clearly an easter egg, but plot-related, or just a shout-out to someone? Reminds me of the "Harm's Way" shout-outs to Yoyodyne and Weyland-Yutani.

KingofCretins | February 04, 03:23 CET

I meant little kids being so very cruel to one another and then getting their guts ripped out by a cute cuddly little demon while the bullied kid cheers. Everyone gets to be a monster here.

Sunfire | February 04, 03:26 CET

How is this a spoiler? I thought that this is, in fact. the thing... not a spoiler for a thing....

embers | February 04, 03:27 CET

*shrugs* The official discussion threads for the issues are spoiler tagged so I thought it was better to be safe than sorry.

ETA: This could be considered a spoiler for Swell since we're getting a close up look at the demons for #22.

[ edited by Emmie on 2009-02-04 03:35 ]

Emmie | February 04, 03:31 CET

Also... if you check the preview for #22, you'll notice that the bag the demon was carrying reads "Santorio" as well, the same company that's peddling the Vampy Cat. I'd therefore consider it spoiler-ish.

wenxina | February 04, 03:43 CET

I believe "Santorio" is a take-off on Sanrio, the makers of Hello Kitty.

jlp | February 04, 03:52 CET

And the old Oni demon appears to be lifted from Japenese folklore. Neat.

Emmie | February 04, 03:57 CET

I thought it was a fun little story.

Buffyfantic | February 04, 04:13 CET

Actually, seeing that reminded me of a Swedish movie I saw recently. Guess which one.

impalergeneral | February 04, 04:30 CET

Who knows perhaps Kumiko will make another appearance? She's a vampire, a witch and has already had a beef with the slayers. Last time we saw her she had a knife in the back which a) doesn't kill vampires and b) even if it did she'd have rejuvenated as it was before Willow and Drac got rid of the goth vamps mojo. This is set in Tokyo and she could make these creatures with her magic? Perhaps she's a part of the Santorio Corp? Perhaps all the goth vamps were?

vampmogs | February 04, 04:44 CET

Firstly, I agree that Santorio is just a reference to Sanrio. Also, and this goes back (unless you're reading the Omnibus), does this remind anyone of the comic of Dawn's pet teddy bear that used to kill people? First thing I thought of while reading this anyway.

Turbofist911 | February 04, 09:28 CET

Yeah, a little bit. "Hoopy the Bear", wasn't it ? The whole best friend/best pet/best toy protector-thing going over the top and killing for its mate/friend is around a lot in genre fiction (I remember a tale from those Scary Stories anthologies that were sorta aimed at kids involving a boy who took in a stray cat and it basically takes out all the folks in his life who're bothering him, from a bully to one of his teachers, then his father, then goes after the boy himself when he rejects the cat [which can turn into a monstrously large cat-beast]). Though I hadn't thought of Let the Right One In until impalergeneral brought it up.

Kris | February 04, 13:36 CET

The gore is hilarious. xD

Enisy | February 04, 16:42 CET

Hilarious and disturbing. Just the way I like it. The dialogue of the comic reminds me of a poorly translated foreign commercial for some reason. What kid in any country would say, "Please remove your offensive presence!" :)

And, even though I know it's not, the old-demon-man looks like he's walking around in his boxers.

korkster | February 04, 17:18 CET

That was pretty damn great for a 2 page comic. Weird and wonderful. The graphic violence was such a shock - I was laughing and happily swearing away to myself :). Love the pretend-badly-translated dialogue as well.

NotaViking | February 04, 17:56 CET

The dialog reminded me of the flashback stuff from "Selfless," even though it was Drew who wrote that, if I recall correctly.

Nolan | February 04, 18:02 CET

Random villager from the Swedish (or something) hamlet Olaf and Aud (Anya) lived in: "Let us throw fruits and various meats at it!"

I'm trying to think back to various violent scenes in Buffy and especially Angel, but I can't recall quite this level of gore being shown on-screen, only implied. Well, maybe against demons. But this is probably the goriest demon-on-human violence we've seen in the Buffyverse (albeit cartoonishly).

Kris | February 04, 19:20 CET

I'm so tempted to sew myself a Vampy Cat.

Not that I'd use it for vengeful purposes, mind.

redeem147 | February 04, 19:43 CET

Do these online comics ever get collected? I would love a print copy of the Buffy tie-ins!

Riker | February 06, 18:20 CET

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