Five page preview of the Willow one shot comic - BtVS

Ooops,I posted right after you.

Preview looks interesting.

Is it too much to hope this is the first stage in an inevitable Willow/Kennedy implosion?

Emelye, maybe so, but I'm hoping right along with you.

I'm hopeful for Tara sightage, but I don't expect it. When it comes to Willow and Tara, I'm still a sentamental old fool. I also can't wait for the inevitable Willow/Kennedy implosion. I thought Chris Golden did a fair job of the implosion in the novel "Dark Congress". :)

[ edited by quantumac on 2009-12-01 20:16 ]

quantumac | December 01, 20:11 CET

Probably I'm the only one, but I loved Willow and Kennedy. They're cute.

Brasilian Chaos Man | December 01, 20:30 CET

Is it too much to hope this is the first stage in an inevitable Willow/Kennedy implosion?

That's kinda doubtful considering this is set in the past (as in they're not broken up in the future) and we're about to see Willow's relationship with Saga Vasuki. Me personally, I'll go Willow/Kennedy over Willow/Scary Snake Lady any day.

Great preview and Kennedy had some amazing lines here.

Emmie | December 01, 20:42 CET

I thought Chris Golden did a fair job of the implosion in the novel "Dark Congress".

I've read a bit of Golden's work, but not "Dark Congress." I'll have to check it out.

JTown | December 01, 20:46 CET

"Dark Congress" seams to be a kitten Bible. Even here, in Brazil, a lot of Tara fans make comments about it. I believe there is also a non official translation of the book.

Brasilian Chaos Man | December 01, 20:55 CET

That's kinda doubtful considering this is set in the past (as in they're not broken up in the future)

I think it could be possible since Willow, in the issue three, said to Buffy that Kennedy and her were taking it slow and that the young slayer was in her bubble or something like that.

rua1412 | December 01, 21:30 CET

Overall I liked it-and yes, Kennedy did have some awesome lines (also, I sense a large (green and serpenty) relationship oopsie coming up because Kennedy says she's "just mastered monogamy" and presumably was non-monogamous before. Eeep. (Also, as I have said ad infinutum, Willow likes power and knowledge and apparently will go very far to get it.)Plus, having it be a snake lady has temptation and sucumbing all over it--which I personally hope they show and show for several panels. However, I am not the best judge of this since I have always had a thing for Willow.

Also, Willow keeps denying as soon as the term "goddess" shows up. I think if not a goddess, Willow is something huger than she imagined--a force as we saw in Retreat. I'd also argue a force like the Slayer force. Maybe we'll also find out why she (presumably) cut off contact with her family or gets so upset when called "Ms. Rosenberg" as "her mother's name".

Very interesting stuff.

JessicaMelusine | December 01, 21:31 CET

Willow/Kennedy implosion to me means break-up. Since they're together in the future, it seems more like they'll go through tough times here but still stay together. That doesn't read like an implosion to me. Buffy and Angel in events leading up to The Prom and Graduation Day - implosion. But this not so much since they're still together several months later in the comics.

Emmie | December 01, 21:39 CET

Excited for this one-shot because I think many of the supporting players have gotten the short end of the stick in the main series.

Riker | December 01, 21:43 CET

Perhaps I should clarify what I meant. I don't expect we'd see an actual break up in this issue. It is possible though that throughout the course of the comic, we might find Joss liberally sprinkling the seeds of relationship doom. (And if that doesn't sound like cheating with a snake woman, I don't know what does.) Yes, they're together in the future, but who knows for how long? This might give us a clue.

Emelye | December 01, 22:00 CET

Who is that red-headed lady in the pages that does not look like the red-headed lady on the cover?

Quantumac- what you said.

Dana5140 | December 02, 00:13 CET

I had to do a double take on the imagery in the last panel of the second page.

DAMN O_o

Ashley | December 02, 01:40 CET

I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about that image on the last panel of the second page gives me the creeps.

Riker | December 02, 02:27 CET

PErhaps some distressing vaginal symbolism in the flower? I wouldn't've noticed without being told and I don't think it's all that creepy.

DaddyCatALSO | December 02, 02:39 CET

argh!! i hate previews...i want to know what happens next!

riotgrrrljaz | December 02, 02:47 CET

Some really great lines but I am right with you Dana5140. Who is that vaguely Willow shaped person?

holeworld | December 02, 06:03 CET

Love, love, love it! I'm so happy that Kennedy is likeable this season and I'm enjoying all the Willow/Kennedy interaction a lot. I'm certainly not hoping that Willow continues to pine over her dead girlfriend for the next gazillion seasons! That’d be very unhealthy and very unfortunate for Willow who deserves better and a chance to be happy.

I dig Moline's art and as always I'm loving Joss's dialogue. I'm also very intrigued to learn about Willow's relationship with Vasuki (that women gives me the creeps *shudders*) and wonder if we’ll get any surprise appearances by other characters?

I also love seeing the slayer organisation only a few months after Chosen and how close Willow was to it before departing.

I wish this issue was coming out earlier in the month!

vampmogs | December 02, 08:08 CET

Would Willow really say "For realsies" ? Has she ever said that in the course of the series or other parts of the Season 8 comics ? I know this is by Joss and it was otherwise promising, but it felt like dialogue made for Molly Hayes from Runaways that was placed in Willow's text bubble.

Cue the usual complaints about art (so far I think it's better than Moline's "Time of Your Life" art, but he hasn't been the same in his Buffyverse work since Fray IMO. And I don't just mean that his style has changed/evolved, 'cause that's gonna happen with a lot of artists--I just don't think things look as tight as they used to in his work). Also, he does a quality Kennedy.

More statements from the writers (in this case Joss, and possibly for the first time in-book/in-show--I think previously it was Jane, Marti, and other writers in Seasons 5, 6, and possibly 7 that were doing "Hello! Gay now!" and "I'm a breast girl, myself" bits of dialogue) asserting that Will is all-the-way-gay. Unless that wheelchair-bound spirit guide's interpretation is off, but if it isn't, I suppose we would have seen a more mixed forest if Willow was bi. Not a complaint, just an observation. Cool with however they wanna paint it at this point.

Spirit guide ("Muffitt", according to Saga Vasuki ? Sounds more like a pet name, but that might be right) reminds me a little bit of Dandelion, from Sugarshock, in some of her randomness.

Maybe what some folks are finding disturbing/uncomfortable in the full-bodied Vasuki pic is the end of her tail and the implication of what she could do with it.

I see they've opted for the Mystique-from-X-Men-films-style of breasts (no nipples) to get away with a bit of nudity (though non-human) in an otherwise PG-feeling comic. Yay for semi-non-prudishness ! Now if only they would un-censor the few swear words--maybe in the hardcover collections ?

The Willow/Kennedy dialogue moved along smoothly, at a nice clip. I like Kennedy here, in all her just-mastered-monogamy, unapologetic honesty (heh, I know, some of that was just her teasing Willow).

This is kinda cheese, but after reading Kennedy's last line (and the last line of this preview), did the "Don't you/forget about me" song from the end of The Breakfast Club cue up in anyone else's head ? Even the lighting in the Willow/Kennedy scene in the comic seems to match the lighting at the end of that film.

[ edited by Kris on 2009-12-02 09:59 ]

Kris | December 02, 09:53 CET

Would Willow really say "For realsies" ? Has she ever said that in the course of the series or other parts of the Season 8 comics ? I know this is by Joss and it was otherwise promising, but it felt like dialogue made for Molly Hayes from Runaways that was placed in Willow's text bubble.

I think this is our Willow/Kennedy version of “Willow Lovers Speak” which she develops every time she has a new partner. Willow sounds distinctively different in how she talks to Oz, Tara and Kennedy. With Oz it was a lot of cutesy words, with Tara it was a lot of “baby” this and “baby” that and with Kennedy it seems like a mix of nicknames and cuteness.

Before Tara I would have never pictured Willow speaking like she does in that relationship and now her voice has changed again. It’s an interesting phenomenon, I hate it because I find Willow really tacky when she does it lol, but I wonder why the writers do it?

vampmogs | December 02, 10:33 CET

Every time I see the phrase "Ken-doll" I throw up in my mouth a little.

dispatch | December 02, 10:45 CET

I'll take "Ken-Doll" over "baby this, baby that" any and every day.

Emmie | December 02, 10:56 CET

Yeah, can't say I'm a fan of either but I'm with Emmie on this one. Some of the Willow/Tara speak made me gag! Personally I liked how she spoke with Oz the best as it wasn't all that different to how she speaks to her friends. At least "Ken-Doll" is meant to be laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

vampmogs | December 02, 11:20 CET

vampmogs, I'd never really taken note of the major differences in how Willow would speak to her lovers (aside from all the "baby" with Tara), but now that you mention it, yeah that makes sense.

Ken-Doll is cheese, but I'll take it over "baby" too (not indicative of a preference for Kennedy over Tara). Not to harp on that aspect of Willow/Tara specifically, but in real life and fiction in general, I'll never understand the use of "baby" as a term of endearment said by one adult to another. I know it's super-common, but still--it's sexy/cute/appropriate to liken your lover or spouse to an infant/underaged ?

For whatever reason I excuse it a little more when sung (Bon Jovi comes to mind as one popular artist who uses it a lot--but thousands of others do too), but even then if I stop and think about it...blech.

Kris | December 02, 11:23 CET

Yeah totally agree Kris! I've also always found it really disturbing when people call their wives/girlfriends "kid." It always disturbed me in Sex & the City when Mr Big would constantly call her that! … blech x2

How does that make anyone feel sexy? :O

vampmogs | December 02, 11:29 CET

Ha, Kris I felt exactly the same about the 'realsies', Molly Hayes all the way.

And yeah I'm finding Ken-doll and 'Willpower'(come on who would ever think of that as a nickname) a bit barfsome too.

I'm trying to get over the artwork, really I am. But when the characters change so much from panel to panel I really do wonder if they shouldn't get some more consistent art going. I guess the pace is taking its toll.

Also is anyone else having problems with the cover art? I mean don't get me wrong, I like naked ladies as much as the next queer gal but what the frig is going on with Willow's neck??.

On another gay note I also find Willow's reaction to the 'dyke' thing a bit weird, can'treally put my finger on why, I think I just presumed Muffit way also a dyke and therefore less with the judgemental. I think I just like to assume everyone's gay until proven otherwise. I get disappointed a lot.

In conclusion to this ramble, I've apparently become harder to please and more critical as the comics go on. Oops.

digupherbones | December 02, 11:29 CET

Also what's Muffitt actually shortened when she says "'mo"?

digupherbones | December 02, 11:36 CET

I think it's shiny! Love more Willow! And as far as the artwork, I'm just getting used to trying to make out who's who in the Buffy season eight comic 'verse. So if there are less "players" I'll do fine. *..and I like Kennedy, Koff..* I loved Tara. Still do. But we, as Willow did, must move on. (Ducking and running away!) Pet names be damned. I call my SO some seriously weird names, but y'all don't read them in comic form!

hopitopia | December 02, 13:24 CET

Well, I call my wife "Sweetie" all the time, so I am not too concerned about "baby," which is, after all, used as a term of endearment. But I really don't like the art here. The cover is strong, but the interior art is nearly anime/manga in style, and it lacks clarity and a bit of pictorial reality that earlier books in the series had. And Willow does not look the same from panel to panel. Anyway, kudos to the vaginal flower imagery, though it was a bit obvious and they did self-referral to it anyway.

digup[herbones: "mo"= homo= homosexual...

[ edited by Dana5140 on 2009-12-02 13:29 ]

[ edited by Dana5140 on 2009-12-02 13:30 ]

Dana5140 | December 02, 13:43 CET

I'm with Dana et al. here on the baby, sweetie; don't really care and it lead specifically to jokes about pet names. I thought the cover was actually the weakest Jo Chen for some time and the interior art does nothing to make me think manga. It's got a slightly cartoony almost Terry Moore edge to it. I think it's actually an interesting progression for Karl Moline and it softens his previously sharper angled work. I agree that it was a little too much with the hip kidz dialogue and the overexplainy.

zeitgeist | December 02, 15:12 CET

As long as the character named Ken is not evil, that is the definition of art.

Pointy | December 02, 15:27 CET

Not a fan of "terms of endearment", but I'll actually make an exception for Big's "kid". Because it didn't start as romantic. Big always called Carrie "kid" because he is considerably older than she is. They weren't romantically linked when he started, if I recall correctly. It's been a while since I've watched any SATC (I've been holding out on purchasing the complete boxset).

That said, I'm in the camp of "anything but 'baby'". My enjoyment of Dirty Dancing is forever marred by that ridiculously campy line. Granted it was her nickname, but still...
I'm okay with "Ken-doll" or "Will-power", just because they are such obvious plays on the characters' names.

wenxina | December 02, 17:26 CET

I felt like the nicknames Willow and Kennedy used for each other might be in-jokes for HIMYM's Lilypad and Marshmallow since Alyson plays Lily. They're ridiculous nicknames, but as vampmogs pointed out, Willow has used different "lover speak" with each of her SOs. Kennedy is at least a few years younger than her so Willow's speech is going to reflect that.

It's interesting that I like Kennedy's brand of wit here, since most of her dialogue in s7 grated on me. Then again, I most liked her in "Chosen" and that was also Whedon-penned. I do wonder where things with Saga Vasuki will go and how much it will tie into No Future For You. I most liked Karl Moline's style in Fray, but I don't hate the look of this one-shot. Jentry's work on the regular series is great for consistency, but I like seeing another artist's take on the characters ever so often (even if the characters do look different panel to panel).

Is it just me or does Saga Vasuki seem more like the kind of character one might expect from Angel the series rather than Buffy? There have been some pretty powerful people/demons in the Buffyverse, but Angel and his gang encountered a lot of larger than life characters.

CrazyKidBen | December 02, 18:45 CET

I doubt the nicknames are a specific nod to Lilypad and Marshmallow. And they do make a kind of sense.

And as to Kennedy and monogamy, well, I can imagine she was quite the flutterbee before, and that being with Willow has taught her a lot about how to "do" relationships.

As to foreshadowing an implosion, well, in my own limited experience (one serious relationship starting at age 30 and ending at 46) it strikes me that the reasons for eventual breakups are usually there at the start, they don't usually come out of nowhere at the end of however many good years happen.

Saga Vasuki, well, BtVS had Beljoxa's Eye and the like. Stressing again that it and Angel share a universe, however different the stories got.

DaddyCatALSO | December 03, 02:14 CET

I was glad to see a character using a wheelchair. Just fyi, groups representing people with disabilities frown on the term "wheelchair bound," as do the style books of all major newspapers. Wheelchairs assist people in mobility, just like my glasses help me see. If you see someone in a wheelchair, you don't know if they can walk or not. For example, my oldest sister can walk, but because of pain and weakness, she generally uses a wheelchair.

Suzie | December 03, 03:22 CET

Apologies for that Suzie, I should've just said "the spirit guide in the wheelchair" instead. Thanks for the info. I was thinking of referring to her pilot's cap instead of the chair, but I went with what I felt was more memorable/identifiable for the purposes of the discussion.

It is good to see more of a presence in fiction of folks using wheelchairs recently. Artie is a main character on Glee (I know the actor can walk though), but I can't recall seeing any main characters in popular TV shows who consistently required use of one (there must have been some shows in the past, no?).

Kris | December 03, 09:16 CET

Thanks! Here's an interesting story on the subject: http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2009-11-10-glee-wheelchair_N.htm

Suzie | December 03, 17:14 CET

Daryl Mitchell (from Fox's Brothers, the former Dollhouse lead-in) was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident. His character on the show is often shown in a wheelchair.

CrazyKidBen | December 07, 20:09 CET

December 01 2009