I'll admit that I was a little tiny bit apprehensive about the Buffyverse colliding with Frayland. First off, the time travel bugaboo. It can be the whole' jumping the shark' can of worms, and no one wants to see that, right? But I'm a loyal fan, and nothing if not open minded (except with Republicans...with them I'm as closed as a steel trap left out in the rain and rusted shut), so I gently went into that storyline hoping for the best.Issue 16 was good, a proper set up for what's to follow, with lots of stuff happening. But it's 17 that blows you away. Gotta say that I'm just lovin' the cover art by Jo Chen. Guys at Dark Horse (and you are mostly guys there): DO NOT LET HER GET AWAY!!! Her cover for the final episode in the Faith arc, No Future For You, should win awards and stuff. Her cover for the current issue is equally as brilliant. The twist on perspective perfectly reflects what is going on in the pages inside.
Oddly, I'm not going to give a lot away in this post, unlike usually when I just spill all of the beans and then make bean soup. No, instead I'm going to encourage everyone to go out and buy the comic, and then find someplace, here even, to go and obsessively discuss it.
One other thing: I finally got the Fray series and read the entire thing, just so that I could be fully caught up on Frayland. When it first came out in serial form I'd read maybe one or two issues, but I was dedicated to it, so there were huge gaps in my knowledge of what happened with Mel and why. It's not essential that you read Fray to keep up with what's happening in the Buffy arc, but it helps to know what happened to her twin brother and the price Mel has had to pay to be a slayer.
I even let MK read my copy of Fray, but she had to promise to be extry tender with it. I want it to stay in pristine condition, so we handle it with surgical gloves and I don't smoke around it. Now that's dedication, or just garden variety obsession. One or the other, but never both.
Anyone have any thoughts on Willow? Anyone?
Posts
2 comments:
Along with others that have mentioned the same thing around the web, I initially thought that the 'madwoman' was Dru. Best madwoman of the Buffy cast, btw.
I didn't feel betrayed when it was revealed to be Dark Willow, but it did make me start to question so many motivating factors in the evolution of Willow. Willow does have a softer side of Sears, but she's got an underlying darkness and nastiness that she usually doesn't reveal. Where Cordy was obvious in her thoughts, words, and actions, Willow has always been quieter.
So, why the Dark old Willow? Mad in a distant future? Disappointed by love? Long life? Not enough of the spotlight?
I think that Willow is something of a cautionary tale, what we can become if we got all we wished for. Bear with me: The powerless attains epic power. In her own mind, within that dangerous inner dialog that we all endure nonstop (even while sleeping, but then we call it dreaming), she is able to justify willful (I'm having an unZen moment) actions that have resonating effects that can't even be imagined.
It's why Willow has become the Mad Woman, and out crazied even Dru in the Buffyverse. No small feat, that one. I still keep a blindfolded baby doll because that whole concept with Dru just fascinated me, and can mean almost anything about how ugly the world is.
But, back to Willow - Dark Willow is actually the personification of will. And given that her nickname is 'Will', I think that this was always intended by Joss. She's a wonderfully sympathetic character, embraced by nerdy fans from day one. But if the less than idyll ideal of absolute power corrupting absolutely is to be realized, then Willow becomes corrupt, ergo 'evil', by her power. Did we really believe that once she tapped into that black wellspring of power that she would just retreat quietly back to her plaid jumpers and brick red Mary Janes?
I anxiously await the rest of this arc!
Post a Comment