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Or, better known as...
So, see, a few days ago, I thought I was going to sit down and re-read BtVS S8 #1-30 plus the Willow one shot to see if it was as bad as I remember it being when I was reading month to month. The first issue wasn't as bad as I remember, but everything after that went right back down the toilet. I was keeping tally of all these important plot questions from way back then, and as I was reading, I was hoping to stumble upon some answers that maybe I missed the first go around. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Scott Allie says that those plot points aren't important. I guess they might have distracted from the toobular boobular joy of Centaur Dawn or the submarine.
I've been more entertained by the IDW comics. Those comics feel right to me. Don't get my wrong; there's been some writing mistakes over there too. I'd love to take Aftermath and throw that out the window, but it was only five issues, and I forgive them because as a whole the story has been solid (note the lack of plot holes... and ignore Aftermath). Also, I forgive them because they have a giant floating telepathic Betta fish that brings me so much joy I cannot fathom (oh, and did I mention Spike has friends? Like actual friends that are just his? Yeah, that hits the spot.) :D
I can set aside my anger for the ridiculousness that this latest plot development with Twilight will probably turn into. I can overlook all of that and get right down to the business of business.
Spoilers maybe ahead.
And now for the past few days I've been dealing with going between outrage, seething hatred, amusement, and back to seething hatred over the whole Twilight reveal. It's called PROFESSIONAL COURTESY when you want to play a little game of title character musical chairs, Mr. Whedon. According to the licensing rights, IDW could take Buffy and make her the new Big Bad in one of their series since she's appeared in A:ts episodes. They're not going to do that of course because Chris Ryall is a gentleman. Hell, even though IDW wanted to use Harmony in After the Fall, they didn't do it once they thought that Darkhorse was using her because they didn't want to mess with their story. That's PROFESSIONAL COURTESY. Over two years Joss has had this big master plan. Maybe he could have spoken one or two words about it to Brian Lynch at least?
Also, for the demeaning "fanfic" comments out there, that's just downright mean. There's a big difference between professional writers getting paid to write for characters they have the rights to, and fans writing for pleasure. Now, sometimes the fans get it more right than the professional writers (Lord knows I've read better fanfic than Season Eight), but it's like Bill Willingham said- You don't call "The Dark Knight" fanfic just because Bob Kane didn't write it. It's a franchise by a company with licensing rights to certain characters that they hand-pick writers to do storylines for; it doesn't matter what medium they originally came from, be it print or screen. Is Joss Whedon writing "fanfic" for Marvel with the X-Men series? Hell, no, it's a series he's writing in one of the Marvel continuities. Just because it's like an alternative universe off the main storyline doesn't discount it. Continuities for comics get rewritten all the time, retold, because it's interesting to see the story told from another writer's perspective and artistic vision. That's not "fanfic;" it becomes part of the history for the company and for the fandom.
I bet the original Darkhorse writers who worked on the first set of Buffy comics would LOVE to hear how they were just piddling around writing fanfiction all day. If it takes Joss Whedon coming down off Mount Martyr-Me to be considered the almighty "canon" of the series, then that means that only a handful of episodes and comics make the cut. Although, apparently, Joss has to write and "executive produce" a comic for it to count because there's a lot of folks who discredit After the Fall even though Joss outlined it and had his name on the book.
If I got a job tomorrow writing CSI comics for Make Believe Publishing, I would be mad as hell if One Trick Pony Press comes along and says "We're just going to borrow Grissom and put him as a serial killer in our CSI: Miami comics. You don't mind, right? We'll be sure to make it jibe with your story." I would also be mad as hell if the various warring CSI fans told me that I was just writing fanfic because my company didn't have Jerry Bruckheimer "executive producing" my comic. It's my comic, my writing, my art. It means something to the people who put a lot of work into it. Hypothetically, if I spend a few years writing an arc in a comic, putting the characters through trials and tribulations, building them up, getting them where they need to be, and then another company comes along and snatches that out from under me, turns my hero into a villain after all the work I'd done, then, yes, I deserve to be angry and I deserve to feel hurt. I don't deserve the bile and bitterness of people who didn't get their ship to turn out right or who have some problem with my writing or my company. Don't negate my work so that the other company can have it's final hurrah because it's lost 50% of its original readership in the past two years. If this happened, hypothetically, I would ignore the other set of comics and continue on as I had been, following through with my plots and such.
If Jerry Bruckheimer knocked on my door and apologized for what had happened, that he didn't give me fair warning, of course I'd shrug it off. What can you do? Hope for a fruit basket and soldier on is what! I'd stay strong in knowing that my comic was superior and better illustrated. I'd have a smile on my face because at least I didn't turn Katherine into a centaur! I'd cackle with glee as I plotted how I would reveal that Horatio was really the serial killer not Grissom in my comics! Horatio has, after all, appeared in an episode of CSI, which means he's fair game for the next round of title character musical chairs.
You'll never know who will be where when the music stops. ^_~
God, I love a good rant at 3:30AM. Quickens the blood! Where's Spike with my coffee?
And now... Mr. Conway Twitty.
So, see, a few days ago, I thought I was going to sit down and re-read BtVS S8 #1-30 plus the Willow one shot to see if it was as bad as I remember it being when I was reading month to month. The first issue wasn't as bad as I remember, but everything after that went right back down the toilet. I was keeping tally of all these important plot questions from way back then, and as I was reading, I was hoping to stumble upon some answers that maybe I missed the first go around. I was wrong. Very, very wrong. Scott Allie says that those plot points aren't important. I guess they might have distracted from the toobular boobular joy of Centaur Dawn or the submarine.
I've been more entertained by the IDW comics. Those comics feel right to me. Don't get my wrong; there's been some writing mistakes over there too. I'd love to take Aftermath and throw that out the window, but it was only five issues, and I forgive them because as a whole the story has been solid (note the lack of plot holes... and ignore Aftermath). Also, I forgive them because they have a giant floating telepathic Betta fish that brings me so much joy I cannot fathom (oh, and did I mention Spike has friends? Like actual friends that are just his? Yeah, that hits the spot.) :D
I can set aside my anger for the ridiculousness that this latest plot development with Twilight will probably turn into. I can overlook all of that and get right down to the business of business.
Spoilers maybe ahead.
And now for the past few days I've been dealing with going between outrage, seething hatred, amusement, and back to seething hatred over the whole Twilight reveal. It's called PROFESSIONAL COURTESY when you want to play a little game of title character musical chairs, Mr. Whedon. According to the licensing rights, IDW could take Buffy and make her the new Big Bad in one of their series since she's appeared in A:ts episodes. They're not going to do that of course because Chris Ryall is a gentleman. Hell, even though IDW wanted to use Harmony in After the Fall, they didn't do it once they thought that Darkhorse was using her because they didn't want to mess with their story. That's PROFESSIONAL COURTESY. Over two years Joss has had this big master plan. Maybe he could have spoken one or two words about it to Brian Lynch at least?
Also, for the demeaning "fanfic" comments out there, that's just downright mean. There's a big difference between professional writers getting paid to write for characters they have the rights to, and fans writing for pleasure. Now, sometimes the fans get it more right than the professional writers (Lord knows I've read better fanfic than Season Eight), but it's like Bill Willingham said- You don't call "The Dark Knight" fanfic just because Bob Kane didn't write it. It's a franchise by a company with licensing rights to certain characters that they hand-pick writers to do storylines for; it doesn't matter what medium they originally came from, be it print or screen. Is Joss Whedon writing "fanfic" for Marvel with the X-Men series? Hell, no, it's a series he's writing in one of the Marvel continuities. Just because it's like an alternative universe off the main storyline doesn't discount it. Continuities for comics get rewritten all the time, retold, because it's interesting to see the story told from another writer's perspective and artistic vision. That's not "fanfic;" it becomes part of the history for the company and for the fandom.
I bet the original Darkhorse writers who worked on the first set of Buffy comics would LOVE to hear how they were just piddling around writing fanfiction all day. If it takes Joss Whedon coming down off Mount Martyr-Me to be considered the almighty "canon" of the series, then that means that only a handful of episodes and comics make the cut. Although, apparently, Joss has to write and "executive produce" a comic for it to count because there's a lot of folks who discredit After the Fall even though Joss outlined it and had his name on the book.
If I got a job tomorrow writing CSI comics for Make Believe Publishing, I would be mad as hell if One Trick Pony Press comes along and says "We're just going to borrow Grissom and put him as a serial killer in our CSI: Miami comics. You don't mind, right? We'll be sure to make it jibe with your story." I would also be mad as hell if the various warring CSI fans told me that I was just writing fanfic because my company didn't have Jerry Bruckheimer "executive producing" my comic. It's my comic, my writing, my art. It means something to the people who put a lot of work into it. Hypothetically, if I spend a few years writing an arc in a comic, putting the characters through trials and tribulations, building them up, getting them where they need to be, and then another company comes along and snatches that out from under me, turns my hero into a villain after all the work I'd done, then, yes, I deserve to be angry and I deserve to feel hurt. I don't deserve the bile and bitterness of people who didn't get their ship to turn out right or who have some problem with my writing or my company. Don't negate my work so that the other company can have it's final hurrah because it's lost 50% of its original readership in the past two years. If this happened, hypothetically, I would ignore the other set of comics and continue on as I had been, following through with my plots and such.
If Jerry Bruckheimer knocked on my door and apologized for what had happened, that he didn't give me fair warning, of course I'd shrug it off. What can you do? Hope for a fruit basket and soldier on is what! I'd stay strong in knowing that my comic was superior and better illustrated. I'd have a smile on my face because at least I didn't turn Katherine into a centaur! I'd cackle with glee as I plotted how I would reveal that Horatio was really the serial killer not Grissom in my comics! Horatio has, after all, appeared in an episode of CSI, which means he's fair game for the next round of title character musical chairs.
You'll never know who will be where when the music stops. ^_~
God, I love a good rant at 3:30AM. Quickens the blood! Where's Spike with my coffee?
And now... Mr. Conway Twitty.
