I almost would've rather seen Jeanty draw the goddesses a little more like the references he talks about. As they are in Buffy #29, they're nicely detailed but IMO too cartoony and gods and goddesses are already drawn that way too often in comics and cartoons. Human skins worn as clothing ? Gross, but the Buffyverse has shown worse, plus it'd add to their terrible, wrathful grandeur. I can understand not being able to show exposed vaginas in a mostly PG, sometimes PG-13-ish comic (PG-13 except for mild language and no real nudity, only the unbarred violence, as usual in mainstream North American material), although they probably could've gotten away with it if they aren't so lifelike in the drawings/carvings/inspirations Jeanty mentions and were more along the lines of totem-looking, basic painted shapes. Same with the phallic symbols (c'mon, with all the buildings in the world and truck nuts allowed, what're a few more phallic symbols/obvious representations of male genitalia. Especially in comics, the gayest medium outside of theatre). When it comes to depictions of gods, more Cthulu, less Krishna, I say.

I wasn't able to get Georges' homage cover for this issue, the "Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos" one that I really liked. I wrote in my pre-order that I wanted it, but the comic shop really wasn't paying attention 'cause they didn't even put Buffy #29 in my box. Luckily there were a couple issues left on the shelf. The Twilight cover kinda sucks (Massimo Carnevale did some good covers for Y:The Last Man here and there, but I liked J.G. Jones' early covers for Y a lot more), but I guess it's the issue content that counts.

Re: Scott Allie's Q&A (man some fans need to give it a rest, all the complaining about him not giving out spoilers--clue in! That's not the point of an editor, plus it's kinda couterproductive to selling the comic. You need to buy the issue, they want you to buy the issue to find out--or download it, I suppose, if you're on a budget and desperate to read it and intend on buying the trade later, or just a cheap-ass pirater).

I'm glad Allie's considering fixing more things in future trades, re: the art and dialogue from earlier in this arc that heavily implied Munroe had died.

The loss-of-magic thing was cleared up better in this issue (just got it yesterday).

[ edited by Kris on 2009-10-22 06:43 ]

Kris | October 22, 06:45 CET

[Due to the train problems in Berlin, Germany, my crazy work schedule and various other things, I just picked up #28 and #29 yesterday (so I just found out about my letter to the editor -- yay). Sorry if I'm behind on any of this.]

One question I'd like to ask J is how far he can tell Joss or Scott that the script sucks or is unrealistic and needs to be changed. In #29, Twilight has the military messing around with tanks but without, as far as I can tell, any serious air support (the strange lone plane that lookes like a 50's Super Saber doesn't count). Can J say something like "that's all very nice and I'll draw those tanks if you really want me to but if Twilight had any brains he'd just bomb the place to the bedrock with a single B-52 or a few Reaper drones and have it all over in about five minutes?" That must be terribly frustrating for an artist.

Kris: Don't like the cover of #29 either. The flag in the background is a political statement and will get the issue banned in China, because it is the Flag of independent Tibet. I'm not a big fan of making these kind of statements in comics, unless it is a political comic, and Buffy is not. Wonder what Dark Horse's sales are in China anyway.

[ edited by scotws on 2009-10-22 07:49 ]

scotws | October 22, 07:39 CET

Re: the apparently badly-written tactics of the U.S. military (is it only the U.S. military that Twilight has at his disposal, or has it ever been implied that he has other countries in his pocket as well?), maybe Twilight's connections (General Voll and whoever else) can only manage to get him some tanks and infantry. Anything more would like, alert the President to their shady dealings or something. And tomorrow I'll be applying for the position of Dark Horse's Official Fanwank Provider, to relieve Scott Allie of that responsibility and free him up for other types of damage control.

That plane thing...that was weird. Did anyone, given the look of shock on the three slayers' faces (pretty sure it was just due to the fact that all three of them managed to hit the plane at the same time), worry that they had accidentally just shot down a passenger plane ?

Re: the cover--they can just release the Georges Jeanty cover in China. Or, if the single, monthly issues don't come out in China and they get collections instead, they can pick an entirely different image to represent this story arc.

Despite not being a "political comic", Buffy the show and the Buffyverse as a whole have sometimes been saturated in Joss and the other writers' political observations, critiques, and party preferences in the past. Nothing new for the franchise. If China wants to get its knickers in a twist as usual about something like this, too bad for them.

Kris | October 22, 08:46 CET

And tomorrow I'll be applying for the position of Dark Horse's Official Fanwank Provider, to relieve Scott Allie of that responsibility and free him up for other types of damage control.

I'd give you a decent reference for that on the basis of making me laugh.

Sparticus | October 22, 13:25 CET

Kris: I did some research on the goddesses, and Jeanty stayed pretty true to their basic designs. The exposed vulvas would've been a hard sell, but it's not like he drew pants on them. I did notice one of the goddesses wearing a tiger skin around her waist (Ekajati, I think, the one with the single tooth) which is accurate. Jeanty's style has always been a little more cartoony, and that usually divides fans based on personal preferences for style. However, I'm with you with wanting to see them appear more like his reference materials, although there would probably be certain factions crying foul about making the goddesses more nubile, despite the fact that they are usually depicted as such.

wenxina | October 22, 14:51 CET