8.01: The Long Way Home, Part I

[Kanazaka]

Buffy Summers is in command of 500 slayers, in ten squads. Xander Harris is their "watcher". And the government considers them all to be terrorists. Yes, things are indeed different now that Buffy has changed the world ...



I thought this was a pretty good opening issue. The characters' dialogue remains very true to the television characters, Joss introduces an intriguing new mystery, and ... well, here are my other thoughts (spoilers):

* Dawn looks cool as a giant.
* I'm guessing that the strange symbol ties in with the Big Bad for the season.
* Amy is not the Big Bad, but a definite obstacle, since she's agreed to help the government take down Buffy.
* The "The Immortal" explanation was pretty funny, even though I haven't seen the Angel episode in question (I'm aware of what it's about, though)
Would anyone else like to comment?

[Bikewer]

I thought the release date wasn't until the 28th.... I intend to check it out.

[Snowdog]

While it was a good plot device for ending the series I think the idea of hundreds of slayers/potentials is a complete disaster for an ongoing story. It devalues Buffy and the Scoobies, not to mention every man on the planet.

Somehow, Wheedon would have had to get rid of them, if there had been a season 8. Or perhaps not...he's on record as saying the concept of female empowerment is more important to him than logic/story.

It is, in my view, the worst idea to come out of the Buffyverse.

Even the brilliant Wheedon can have a duff idea once in a while

[Bikewer]

I think I'll wait till the story winds out to pass judgement. Seems to me that the idea of numerous "empowered" potentials would create a number of promising story lines.
We saw a little of that on the final episodes of Angel, where the thoroughly-insane slayer was after Spike, and was subsequently spirited away by a squad of other slayers...
Wheadon is a storyteller.

[sez25]

Anything that involves more Buffy, more witty dialogue and more females kicking ass sounds good to me!

[Bikewer]

I've gotten the first two issues, and so far it's pretty solid. You can definitely "hear" Wheadon in the dialogue.

[scottevill]

I dunno, I kind of like the new element of having many slayers. The slayers are now a group akin to the groups the single slayer was created to police (the vampires, the demons, etc) -- and they, themselves, now have to be policed, too. So we will have bad slayers, and possibly slayers who get *vamped* (something I'm personally hoping to see them explore).

[Quokka]

Yay! I've booked the first edition with a comic store and they're going to hold it for a week or two to see if any reprints of the second and third come in before posting it down to me.

Looking forward to checking this out, the guy at the shop must have used the term 'ridiculously popular' 3 or 4 times whilst I was on the phone to him, I don't think he was all that impressed