It's a nice Buffy portrait cover.

Buffyfantic | June 29, 22:42 CET

She looks tired. Or vunerable. Or thoughtful. Or all three. Or something else entirely. I'm guessing that Jo's art for Joss' arc will be Spike, Buffy, Angel, Xander and Willow?

Simon | June 29, 22:45 CET

Interesting prediction Simon.

Anyone else feel like it's supposed to be a younger Buffy, to sync up with Jeanty's cover?

trunkstheslayer | June 29, 22:46 CET

River had the same dream!

will.bueche | June 29, 22:47 CET

It's pretty... but it really doesn't say all too much. At least, not without context. That is to say, it's fairly uninteresting.

wenxina | June 29, 22:47 CET

I think it says everything, in terms of mood settin'. So very pretty.

gossi | June 29, 22:57 CET

Looking at Georges Jeanty's cover makes me wonder if this is somehow all going to wind up back at Sunnydale High.

kmb99 | June 29, 22:58 CET

Hmm. Jo's done better Buffy likenesses before. Wonder what's up.

My store only orders Chen covers, so I hope the Jeanty covers are collected in the eventual hardcovers.

Riker | June 29, 23:02 CET

@Riker: The hardcover for the first arc collects all of Jeanty's variants, so I don't see why the deluxe HCs won't.

wenxina | June 29, 23:42 CET

It looks good, but it *almost* looks like Tara. I'm not sure why and I'm sure I'm the only one who is seeing Tara in that cover... but still. haha.

jesse | June 29, 23:45 CET

@trunktheslayer Maybe it's suppose to be younger Buffy, but she looks very skinny, season 6-7 skinny, not as healthy-looking as she was in the early years.

I think I'll be getting the Jeanty cover for this one. Less depressing.

It's very interesting not to see a "fierce"(yes, I'm a top model fan) cover. Buffy's not posing, just looking defeated. We rarely get covers that actually look poignant and *real*.

[ edited by Skytteflickan88 on 2010-06-29 23:56 ]

Skytteflickan88 | June 29, 23:53 CET

Jo Chen, as always, is fantastic.

Nicole | June 30, 00:42 CET

I see despair in Buffy's look. The tone seems somber.

maje | June 30, 01:34 CET

Vulnerable was my first thought, Simon.

redeem147 | June 30, 01:54 CET

I like it. It has a I am so sad... I don't want to do what I'm about to have to look to it.

Sunfire | June 30, 02:37 CET

I'm seeing it as Buffy looking on with anger and pity and maybe, finally, that look of betrayal we're still yet to see.

Kaan | June 30, 02:40 CET

Beautiful. If I were SMG I'd get Jo to do a portrait.

resa | June 30, 02:41 CET

This is Chen's best cover in a very long time. Yes it's very simple but that's why I love it. A lot of Chen's covers are very flashy, as if the characters/actors are posing for promos or something. This is a very intimate portrayal of Buffy and a wonderful insight into her character. It's not even Chen's best likeness of her but it still conveys so much about what she's feeling. At this point I don't even know what exactly it is that she's feeling -- you could interpret so much from the portrait -- but I'm getting waves of emotions off of it and I love it. Yay Chen!

This is also my favourite Jeanty cover for the entire season. So I think both artists did a great job for this issue. Well done guys!

vampmogs | June 30, 03:04 CET

@trunktheslayer, I have to agree with Skytteflickan88. Buffy looks exactly like later S5/earlier S6 with long hair and a thin face.

Sosa Lola | June 30, 04:36 CET

B has 'the weight of the world' written all over her face in Jo's cover. Also I swear I've seen Buffy make that exact face. I think it was when she was talking to Spike in the alley about being brought back... or maybe it was to Giles about her quitting if Dawn dies. Maybe both. Regardless, I think it's a beautiful likeness. Very real, somber, and worried.

Willowy | June 30, 04:59 CET

It's not Chen's best likeness (the face is a bit too angular, the features a bit highset), but I think it's selling the most real emotion and mood.

I look at this though and the details of likeness (very good, but not perfect) are rendered unimportant. This feels like Buffy. Remember how Joss instructed the artists to not draw SMG but to draw Buffy?

This is Buffy. Weary, defeated, letting the world crash over her without the energy to fight back, to protest, to even cry. The emotion of this piece is powerful, almost hypnotizing, and very, very Buffy.

Excellent. I feel as it I could stare at this all day and get lost in it. The way shadow is used, the brush strokes of shade that run atop Buffy's form, as if her picture was crumpled, as if the slashes of light and shadow are painting over her at the bottom, as if she's being swallowed by greater forces and she's submitting.

Understated and powerful. There's real heart in this piece where before in other covers I often saw poses and likenesses that felt a bit plastic. Even the detail of the hand speaks of this inward pain. Normally when Buffy's caught in an angst-ridden moment, she throws her hand out and says "Don't touch me!" But this reminds me more of grief, turning your hand inward to cover your heart, but the hand is limp and almost boneless. There's weakness and pain, but a pain without the energy to grieve with loud tears and wails. All this pain is emanating from deep inside, silent and heartbreaking and quiet. All Buffy's energy has been used to silence the pain, to try to capture it inside her, to shoulder it alone and controlling her emotions has taken it's toll--she has no energy left to fight.

The earthy palette choice gives a feeling of the mundane. Makes me think how life has defeated Buffy, not the supernatural, but the pain of life, of love and connection. Her weakness and her strength are in how she's so very human.

I love this cover. I think it tells a story that leaves me feeling haunted and aching for Buffy.

I could go on--I think this cover is that good.

Emmie | June 30, 06:52 CET

Jeanty's Buffy = she's frightened
Chen's Buffy = she's so lonely

Both covers are great.

anca | June 30, 13:01 CET

Please, someone tell me that's not the Once More With Feeling outfit.

Because if I have to endure seeing that for the umpteenth depiction of Buffy, I'm going to gouge out my eyes.

didifallasleep | June 30, 17:35 CET

Is it me or are her eyes brown? as far as i recall SMG has green eyes, like a hazel green. But i could be wrong, on both counts!

BlueSkies | June 30, 17:53 CET

I think the eyes have been darkened by the artist to capture the mood--the entire piece is brown, in varying shades of light.


Heh. Your eyes don't seem to be doing you much good as it is, didifallasleep--it's not the OMWF outfit. ;-)

[ edited by Emmie on 2010-07-01 03:07 ]

Emmie | July 01, 03:06 CET