Whedonesque : Comments on 22065 : (SPOILER) Preview for Buffy #30.

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October 19 2009

(SPOILER) Preview for Buffy #30. The final part of Jane Espenson's 'Retreat' arc will be out on November 4th.

Simon | BtVS | 14:41 CET | 27 comments total | tags: dark horse, buffy season 8, jane espenson

Beat me to it by a second :). We-are-as-gods!

zeitgeist | October 19, 14:44 CET

"You are no the first"? Lets hope they fix that typo before release...

jamesthegill | October 19, 14:56 CET

Amy may have picked up some Scottish dialect in her travels.

Simon | October 19, 14:58 CET

I thought it was intentional, as in the famous quote-age "I knew XXX, I served with XXX and you, sir, are no XXX".

(originally Bentsen about Quayle re: Jack Kennedy IIRC)

zeitgeist | October 19, 15:00 CET

It would be fine if Leah was saying it, but with anyone else it just looks like a typo, even if it is intentional. Pretty awkward dialogue to get around the whole Warren / The First problem, but I guess that was the best the writers could do after putting themselves in such a difficult position.

I don't follow why Faith and Willow are expecting their powers back at the moment. The idea in the last issue was that they traded their powers for protection by these goddesses. Why, when they're getting that protection, would they also get their powers back?

[ edited by NotaViking on 2009-10-19 15:21 ]

NotaViking | October 19, 15:06 CET

I never want to read these previews, but I always click on them anyway... Curse my lack of self control!

Very excited about this issue... Two weeks on Thursday!

Vortigun | October 19, 15:06 CET

I'm not exactly sure what is spoiled by this preview. I know the spoiler tags are traditional, but this is a pretty straightforward set of reactions to the reveal at the end of 29.

jclemens | October 19, 15:51 CET

I read the line as zeitgeist did. The all-caps format in comics can be a little misleading, but if the line is read as "...and you are no The First," it flows. Replace "The First" with "Big Bad" or any other proper name for a Buffy villain and it sounds fine, too. It's just an awkward phrasing because The First's name has a capitalized article in it and the English language is all zany.

CrazyKidBen | October 19, 16:12 CET

I don't follow why Faith and Willow are expecting their powers back at the moment. The idea in the last issue was that they traded their powers for protection by these goddesses. Why, when they're getting that protection, would they also get their powers back?

I've been wondering that too.

wiesengrund | October 19, 16:15 CET

I'm a-wondering, why bother taking ground? Why not stand back and watch? Get a soda? Maybe get the hell out of there?

Sparticus | October 19, 16:39 CET

Why, when they're getting that protection, would they also get their powers back?

Presumably because it was a power-for-protection deal. They've provided a certain amount of power, and now they're getting a certain amount of protection. Both sides of the contract have been fulfilled and everybody can go her way again unencumbered.

Except by the sound of it it's not working that way, and the goddesses are still sucking away their power...

stormwreath | October 19, 16:58 CET

Hmm, so you're saying it's like handing over £10 for a £5 item - you get back the item and £5? Not sure that wrathful goddesses give change, but if the slayers get back less power than they had originally, then I could go with this. Or are you saying that it's a loan deal rather than a trade?

[ edited by NotaViking on 2009-10-19 17:44 ]

NotaViking | October 19, 17:13 CET

I love the two-page spread. The Buffy (and Angel) comics have not taken advantage of this comic book staple as much as they could have. I'm glad it's being used here in this kind of epic scene. Also, love the First explanation.

Riker | October 19, 18:00 CET

It's remarkable, the number of magic events in "Season 8" that the characters seem to take for granted will be temporary without actually ever asking if they are or making any plans for the even that they're not. Dawn's transformation, Twilight tracking them, giving up their power...

beergood | October 19, 18:09 CET

Twilight's reaction is very interesting IMO.

Buffyfantic | October 19, 18:41 CET

Yes, that Twilight is sure a knowitall.

Dana5140 | October 19, 19:40 CET

"And you are no the First."

I think it would've flowed more if it were "And you're no the First."

Sosa Lola | October 19, 20:17 CET

Could summoning the goddesses help imbalance that power Twilight is always talking about? Maybe this is actually a good move for him, lose the battle to win the war sort of way.

korkster | October 19, 20:20 CET

It seems pretty obvious that it was presented as an ongoing/temporary deal. They aren't handing over their power permanently, they're channeling it and redirecting it "into the earth" (or rather, into those goddesses). Oz and Bay haven't stopped being werewolves, and they still have to do the meditation and bonding with the earth stuff every month.

Logically, if Buffy & co stop redirecting their power, they'll get it back - and that's how Bay represented it to them. She warned them it might take time to stop redirecting the energy once they got started, and there might be side effects if they stopped channeling their power, but she never said it was impossible.

Of course she may have been mistaken. Or deliberately lying, even. We'll have to see.

stormwreath | October 19, 20:23 CET

Well, in the summery of issue 32 (SPOILER ALERT) it says they still don't have their powers. So I'm thinking (and I hope I'm wrong) that the Goddesses took there powers permanatly, and they'll never get them back. Ofcoarse the summay could just be a mislead to keep people from guessing the end of this issue, but I wouldn't put it past Whedon to have Buffy and crew running around powerless for the rest of the season against the army. And remember in the future Willow was powerless (except for being immortal).

[ edited by Sunfire on 2009-10-19 23:27 ]

The Great Gonzo | October 19, 21:33 CET

Yes, they would have got their powers back slowly (and lost the protection from the goddesses) if they stopped redirecting it, but the point is that they called upon that protection. What happens then? It could be that it makes no difference - afterwards they could continue to redirect their powers and receive protection or wind down the deal and get their powers back. That's not how I was thinking about it, but I can see that as a possible option now. However, given what the characters had found out, I don't think they should've been confident about getting their powers back and certainly not straight away.

The Great Gonzo - could you, or a mod, please put that spoiler in invisible text. By the time my brain got to "SPOILER ALERT", my eyes had already taken in the rest of the line.

NotaViking | October 19, 23:25 CET

I invisibled it.

Sunfire | October 19, 23:31 CET

Sorry, I don't know how to do that.

The Great Gonzo | October 20, 00:10 CET

The war feels cartoony. What they are wearing and the art may have something to do with it. Or the colors. I hope this issue is good, I want a great pay off to this arc.

GhostsWatcher | October 20, 01:44 CET

Sorry, I don't know how to do that.

It's explained here. But generally just be careful about posting explicit information about future issues in the current preview discussions. People who choose to read a few pages from the most immediate new issue might not want to read any more than that.

The war feels is feeling cartoony here. I'm liking this arc less as it proceeds but am hoping the last issue is good. The dialogue about the Warren mistake is kind of painful here but the rest is promising.

Sunfire | October 20, 02:05 CET

Am I the only one who doesn't see anything wrong with "You are no the first"? =/

I like Twilight's thinking, the gods are so pissed that even after killing his men, they're gonna turn on the Slayers.

But wow, 1 page? Seriously?

DawnLover90 | October 20, 12:30 CET

Well, technically it's a 3-page preview. The second page counts as two pages since it's a double-page spread.

wenxina | October 20, 13:12 CET

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