Original sin

My issue with Joss Whedon is that he's beginning to be too much of a fanboy himself.

For those who aren't in the mix, Joss (yes, we're on a first name basis) continues the eight season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in comicbook form. The storyline quite literally follows where the show we religiously, obsessively followed for 7 years left off, except now budget constraints are no longer an issue. Now he can make Buffy flykick and do midair roundhouse even while falling from a glass roof, without having to concern himself with its choreographic or logistic (im)possibility (or deal with Gellar's tantrums). In fact, the darkly cute Willow and Amy - her former pet (literally) and witch-bitch - can be seen engaging in a spectacular magical fight that can rival Dumbledore's and Voldemort's in issue 4. Hmm, I would like to test that theory. ;-)

But Joss heavily invests on how the slayerverse played out in the last two seasons of the show, which is understandable, but can be quite disappointing for the fans. Yes, I do love dikey Willow, and I have no problems with one-eyed Xander. I must admit though that activating slayers the world over spoiled the whole drama. It was a resolution that fans knew was coming, but fervently hoped Whedon wouldn't allow because admit it or not, the drama ergo the story is all about the one girl in all the world who will stand against vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. In walks Faith in season 3, and I wanted post-Buffy slayerville to be about her, standing against vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness, alone. It also helped that Joss' writing of Faith is just too interesting and the casting, hot.

SPOILER

Joss however refused to fail popular expectations, and decided to end Buffy's TV run with an army of slayers that the now uber-powerful Willow activated. So we see that Buffy is given a chance to lay her arms down. And then we are told that he spent his post-Buffy break writing The Astonishing X-Men.

Being a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, as well as being impressed with Firefly and his turn in Stan Lee's iconic mutant characters, it is no question to me that Joss is a genius of the sci-fi/fantasy genre. But working on multiple storylines must have taken its toll, and it appears that he is now jumbling everything up. With thousands of slayers running around, the latest season shows the government and some demonic order conspiring to destroy the slayer population out of fear that they might eventually take over the world given their inhuman abilities. In fact, as of issue 5, it appears to be about slayer-discrimination/fear, the same way X-Men was about mutants and mutant hate/fear.

I hope season 8 doesn't turn out to be that derivative. It's too early to judge anyway. And I will love slayerverse, bad or good season notwithstanding.