CBR REVIEW: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9, #14

[CBR News]

Jane Espenson and Karl Moline unleash Billy the Vampire Slayer in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9" #14, and what could have been cliché or even offensive ends up actually working quite well.


Full article here.

[Xarcon]

How did the zompire break into Billy's house without an invite? Did I miss something somewhere?

[brandonAH616]

This issue needs to be applauded and not simply because it is "stand-up" story or an introduction to a gay(non-andrew) character. I had wondered how, where, and why this story was being told and then the lack of Buffster. Up until the end I was still questioning it, but then by the last panel it was finally answered. Billy is making a choice to not only stand up against the big bad, but he's doing without any magical backing or super strength. And for a character who's STILL struggling to find her place in the world, even the new no-magic world, Buffy will pull inspiration from this character. It's better then "stay tuned...", because it's an actual in ur face reminder. This is who are, this is who you were, this is who you can be again. Which, in my opinion, is what this season is all about, Buffy finding her place in the world, regardless of the magic, (there are others dealing with that). Finding her place while breaking all the illusions of what she thought she wanted, was, or going to do. I mean she's Buffy, but like all 20 somethings it takes awhile before you realize that life doesnt end at 25 or 30, it keeps going, oh and that the word 'adult' is simply that, a word. Sorry that was a bit of rambling. Billy the Vampire Slayer is beautifully drawn and written. I am so proud to see a story come out of something that could turn much much darker in the coming issues. Loved it!

[bskell]

This book was a backup story at best, and shouldn't have taken over the entire title. It came across a gimmicky, and rather pointless in the grand Slayerverse. I would have preferred to see this story in a different way, such as a "world of Slayers" book where we see how the other non-Buffy Slayers are handling life without magic.

[Blastermaster]

How did the zompire break into Billy's house without an invite? Did I miss something somewhere?

Seeing how they are feral vampires/zombies and magic doesn't exist anymore it can be assumed that those rules probably don't apply anymore

[charlesjbaserap]

Can't say I'm surprised this book got heavy praise here, but, frankly, it was just as awful as this entire season has been. My review of it on http://www.nerdtopiacast.com/2012/10...-day-issue-11/ stated that:

"Remember when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a show you could watch for reliably good stories with a purpose? Yeah. I barely do, too, at this point, as this series continues its sad grasps at attention. First it was last season’s random “let’s make Buffy gay for two panels out of nowhere and never bring it up again” and then the pregnant Buffy of this one deciding upon an abortion…followed by the writer’s cop out of having it be a robot Buffy and there being no pregnancy at all. Now, it’s the introduction of Billy, a gay teenage boy who is going to be a Slayer. The problem with Billy isn’t his sexuality, or even that he can be a Slayer–although it’s been a role that’s been female from the beginning of time, so I don’t know why they chose the first male Slayer to be gay as if they’re saying a gay male and a woman are practically the same; it’s that, once again, comicdom is following the formula—every gay character now introduced with fanfare must be constantly oppressed and bullied by everyone around them except for one or two stock progressive characters, speak endlessly in clichés, and be little more than a cipher. From the “No H8” sweatshirt to the stereotypical big dumb white jocks who bully him, the issue is riddled with by the numbers dialogue and plot, and Billy’s whole turn to a Slayer comes out nowhere, fitting I suppose since there are no more vampires anyway. That’s right. They’re zompires now. Because this show in comic form is just a mishmash of ideas that have no focus, no overarching uniting force like fighting Glory, or the First. It’s just been one manufactured controversy after the other and no substance. There were so many ways Billy could have been introduced that would have worked, so many ways other than lovesick over the cool guy he thinks can never love him but inevitably will and bullied by everyone except his hippie grandmother. Instead they went for the hamfisted, movie of the week, hammer to the head approach once again. Writer Jane Espenson asked what the problem was to writing with an agenda in a recent interview, admitting there was one. The problem is that the agenda winds up overshadowing the story and what could have been an intriguing plot about gender roles and choice vs. destiny instead has already become another talking points issue for the sake of it. Billy should be a full character on his own merit; he shouldn’t be the one-note song he and his surrounding characters have been shown as so far."

[bskell]

Can't say I'm surprised this book got heavy praise here, but, frankly, it was just as awful as this entire season has been. My review of it on http://www.nerdtopiacast.com/2012/10...-day-issue-11/ stated that:

"Remember when Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a show you could watch for reliably good stories with a purpose? Yeah. I barely do, too, at this point, as this series continues its sad grasps at attention. First it was last season’s random “let’s make Buffy gay for two panels out of nowhere and never bring it up again” and then the pregnant Buffy of this one deciding upon an abortion…followed by the writer’s cop out of having it be a robot Buffy and there being no pregnancy at all. Now, it’s the introduction of Billy, a gay teenage boy who is going to be a Slayer. The problem with Billy isn’t his sexuality, or even that he can be a Slayer–although it’s been a role that’s been female from the beginning of time, so I don’t know why they chose the first male Slayer to be gay as if they’re saying a gay male and a woman are practically the same; it’s that, once again, comicdom is following the formula—every gay character now introduced with fanfare must be constantly oppressed and bullied by everyone around them except for one or two stock progressive characters, speak endlessly in clichés, and be little more than a cipher. From the “No H8” sweatshirt to the stereotypical big dumb white jocks who bully him, the issue is riddled with by the numbers dialogue and plot, and Billy’s whole turn to a Slayer comes out nowhere, fitting I suppose since there are no more vampires anyway. That’s right. They’re zompires now. Because this show in comic form is just a mishmash of ideas that have no focus, no overarching uniting force like fighting Glory, or the First. It’s just been one manufactured controversy after the other and no substance. There were so many ways Billy could have been introduced that would have worked, so many ways other than lovesick over the cool guy he thinks can never love him but inevitably will and bullied by everyone except his hippie grandmother. Instead they went for the hamfisted, movie of the week, hammer to the head approach once again. Writer Jane Espenson asked what the problem was to writing with an agenda in a recent interview, admitting there was one. The problem is that the agenda winds up overshadowing the story and what could have been an intriguing plot about gender roles and choice vs. destiny instead has already become another talking points issue for the sake of it. Billy should be a full character on his own merit; he shouldn’t be the one-note song he and his surrounding characters have been shown as so far."

Very well said..