This had me wishing there where more issues in this series and craving the stand alone episodes of the TV show
(and also made me realise what a sucker I am for Buffy 'in the dark place').
I found the first part of the comic really intriguing. The scene with Buffy and the potential-rapist/magic-bigot was so interesting because it explores the idea that Buffy's power insulates her from inter-human violence simply because humans are mostly not a threat to her.
In season six I always thought that The Trio's greatest defence against Buffy was not their gadgets or demons but their humanness. The nature of Buffy's calling meant that she couldn't just take them down the way she would a demon (hence the running around and trying to save them from Willow at the end).
In this comic we kind of see the inverse of that; Making Buffy vulnerable to other humans, makes her more threatening to them in a weird way. In the past, she could have overpowered the man with little danger to either of them, but in her weakened state it becomes a potentially fatal battle. It's a nice echo back to issue 2 (I think?) when Buffy and Spike where trying to figure out how to fight back the mob without Killing anyone, they are most dangerous to their opponents when they are under real threat.
When ever Buffy has had to fight someone that hard in the past, it's always been been a fight to the death (or a round of kick the Spike). The scene is also an interesting look into the way Buffy operates as a result of being The Slayer for all these years, the strategies with which she handles dangerous situations.
The scene with Willow seeing Calliope again was also interesting. I read Calliope saying Willow seemed different as a way of saying she's lost some of her luster, some of what makes her special and attractive. In season 6, theres a scene where Willow is worried that Tara won't love her without her magic, saying Tara never even met the timid, powerless Willow and Calliope's 'rejection' is almost like the realisation of the fear that her magic is the only thing that makes her worth while.
(wow, lots of season six popping up here)
All of this makes me wish that the whole issue was dedicated to the 'normal people' arc. I felt, (like
@Stoney ) that these issues where wrapped up
far too quickly for the sake of diving back into the plot. The issue feels like two distinct stories which have been smushed together, and the result is some rather awkward dialogue, namely:
- Dawn and Xander expositioning us through Willow and Buffy's 'changes'. (Don't tell me that Willow is withdrawn and without confidence, show me! I want to feel it!)
- Riley and Sam showing up with their pep talk ('As You Where' was awkward enough, if you're going to use the 'Riley shows up and reminds Buffy who she is' story, at least try to improve on it!) (hey, another season 6 flashback!)
Part of what I love about Buffy is the character-work and I would have been more than happy to read a whole issue about Buffy and Willow dealing with being normal and regaining their confidence on their own terms.
Also, the escape plan goes from zero to 100 is no time at all! we've had not inkling that Buffy and Willow had a plan before this and no sense of what they are really up against.
Don't get me wrong, I liked both parts of this issue but I felt they needed more breathing room.
