Reading List Update: # 57 - 60
Oct. 28th, 2008 07:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jedibuttercupI've actually read nine "books" in the last month, but as four of them fall under the "graphic novel" header I'm reporting them in this post and the other books in the next.
(I was hesitant to even include the graphic novels in my count, but as a friend pointed out, the collected volumes do have more than a handful of pages, require a chunk of time to read, carry an ISBN, and tell a story, so how is that any different from reporting any other short book?)
57. Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, and Will Conrad. Hardcover graphic novel, 96pp. The dialogue sounded like the characters I remember so fondly from the TV show and movie; they act like them; they even look pretty similar. The only problem is, this graphic novel was created in an attempt to explain how the storyline transitioned from TV to movieverse, and it was really too short to accomplish that in a satisfying manner. (Seriously. What kind of resolution to the Blue Hands storyline was that?)
58. The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty. Paperback graphic novel, 136pp. B:tVS Season 8, Volume 1. Dude, this stuff reads like fanfic. An army of slayers with high-tech gear? Check. Suddenly slim, general-like, girl-worshipped Xander? Check. A plot-line requiring someone to awaken their secret love with a kiss? Check. Another plotline with ridiculous morning-after consequences played for humor? Check. A pair of villains back from the literal grave? Check. Although ew, Warren-- *shudder*. Fun, but hard to take seriously.
59. No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughn, Georges Jeanty, and Joss Whedon. Paperback graphic novel, 120pp. B:tVS Season 8, Volume 2. And the run of bad fanfic plots continues. I appreciated the glimpse of Giles, but seriously, the rest of it? I thought Faith was OK with Buffy et. al. again, but that's not the vibe here. In fact, this whole book seemed to be all about unnecessary wedges being driven between the members of the former Scooby gang. I was disgusted by just about every development of the story; lots of bad judgment and unnecessary misunderstandings hyped up for drama, all around. Can anyone tell me whether it gets any better from here?
60. Fray by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, and Andy Owens. Paperback graphic novel, 216pp. B:tVS futureverse. I can tell this was written back before Joss' attention got so thoroughly splintered; the story quality's much better, IMHO, than the Season 8 stuff I've read. The story is set a couple of hundred years after the end of Buffy and is an excellent addition to the mythology. If you've watched much of the series it's not much more than another verse in the Slayer song, aka nothing particularly new, but there are enough twists and unique elements that I wish he'd kept writing this instead of backtracking to do new "seasons" of his television series.
Next book: See following entry.
~
(I was hesitant to even include the graphic novels in my count, but as a friend pointed out, the collected volumes do have more than a handful of pages, require a chunk of time to read, carry an ISBN, and tell a story, so how is that any different from reporting any other short book?)
57. Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews, and Will Conrad. Hardcover graphic novel, 96pp. The dialogue sounded like the characters I remember so fondly from the TV show and movie; they act like them; they even look pretty similar. The only problem is, this graphic novel was created in an attempt to explain how the storyline transitioned from TV to movieverse, and it was really too short to accomplish that in a satisfying manner. (Seriously. What kind of resolution to the Blue Hands storyline was that?)
58. The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty. Paperback graphic novel, 136pp. B:tVS Season 8, Volume 1. Dude, this stuff reads like fanfic. An army of slayers with high-tech gear? Check. Suddenly slim, general-like, girl-worshipped Xander? Check. A plot-line requiring someone to awaken their secret love with a kiss? Check. Another plotline with ridiculous morning-after consequences played for humor? Check. A pair of villains back from the literal grave? Check. Although ew, Warren-- *shudder*. Fun, but hard to take seriously.
59. No Future For You by Brian K. Vaughn, Georges Jeanty, and Joss Whedon. Paperback graphic novel, 120pp. B:tVS Season 8, Volume 2. And the run of bad fanfic plots continues. I appreciated the glimpse of Giles, but seriously, the rest of it? I thought Faith was OK with Buffy et. al. again, but that's not the vibe here. In fact, this whole book seemed to be all about unnecessary wedges being driven between the members of the former Scooby gang. I was disgusted by just about every development of the story; lots of bad judgment and unnecessary misunderstandings hyped up for drama, all around. Can anyone tell me whether it gets any better from here?
60. Fray by Joss Whedon, Karl Moline, and Andy Owens. Paperback graphic novel, 216pp. B:tVS futureverse. I can tell this was written back before Joss' attention got so thoroughly splintered; the story quality's much better, IMHO, than the Season 8 stuff I've read. The story is set a couple of hundred years after the end of Buffy and is an excellent addition to the mythology. If you've watched much of the series it's not much more than another verse in the Slayer song, aka nothing particularly new, but there are enough twists and unique elements that I wish he'd kept writing this instead of backtracking to do new "seasons" of his television series.
Next book: See following entry.
~
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 02:24 am (UTC)I bought those when they were still coming out in comic form.
Speaking of, I haven't read them in a while...
Anyway.
I'll have to pick up the Firefly one. I was kind of leery on reading the season 8 stuff... And I may still do so, but I've got enough on my plate now as it is.
:-D
no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 03:13 am (UTC)Yeah, the Firefly one's worth reading, but I may hang off on picking up the rest of Season 8-- or whatever the Angel sequel series is called-- until they're "finished", so I can tell if it will be worth the time and $$.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-30 03:50 am (UTC)Oh yeah Fray is pretty cool. I think a Fray/Fifth Element crossover would be pretty awesome, but I'm too dammed lazy to write it :)
no subject
Date: 2008-11-09 02:27 am (UTC)You know, it's really too bad you can't submit crossover prompts to Yuletide, because those both qualify as small fandoms, and that is an awesome idea.
... Hey, hey.
*wanders over to make prompts*