The Culturatti

So great to have this one on time (and I would have had it even earlier had I known the release date had been bumped up one week).  Based on the cover I’d say more time-slipping is in order.  Let’s see.

***Spoilers (obviously)***

When we last saw our intrepid gang of heroes, Gwen, Cordelia (the dragon) and Illyria/Fred were all perchance dead.  Out of that list, I’m hoping only Gwen is actually kaput.  Oh, and as for Spike’s ‘death’ last issue, Brian Lynch — don’t do that.  That was cheesy.  Don’t nonchalantly kill off a main character in such a way that it’s obvious he’s not dead.  It’s cheesy and gimmicky.  Especially when it’s a ‘time-loop’ thing (even though it’s a detail related to Gunn’s master plan).  Boy, between this and Buffy - Season 8, time-slipping-travelling is getting to be a bit much, no?  Hmm, turns out Draco-Cordy is actually dead.  That’s too bad.

Okay, suppose it’s time I said something substantive.

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I’m assuming Vol. 3 of AtF encompasses these five issues, as the first volume contained five, but stupidly, even though it’s pre-orderable at Amazon already, nowhere can I find an actual listing that tells me what’s in it.  So, given that, right now, issue 13 is the latest available, and five is such a cozy number, I’m simply going to roll with it and if I’m off, well, then, I’m off.

So now we’re basically down to basics.  The Lords are dead, Lorne is doing what his character is best suited for — taking care of the civilians (read: staying out of the way) — the rest of the troupe is back at the hotel, Gunn is the Primo Bad . . . the stage is set for things to really move into high gear.

Finally, we get the info that there’s either some sort of glamour over L.A., so the rest of the world doesn’t know there’s anything wrong (or something else which basically amounts to the same thing).  There’s a relief.  Now I can stop complaining about it.  Although one thing I will complain about — typos.  Two or three so far.  C’mon, I mean, that’s just unacceptable.  How do you get a typo in a comic book, where every word has to be printed by hand and then inked?  You’d think someone would notice.  Unless both the writer and editor don’t know their grammar, in which case . . . IDW, can I have a job?

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Okay, so this one isn’t technically part of the After the Fall series, it’s a spin-off, but, as you can see by the title, it’s clearly related and intertwined, and I need an immediately-post-Not Fade Away story to get the horrible taste of First Night out of my mouth (Gunn’s one small important bit at the end there not enough to do it entirely), so this one gets the full review treatment.  Spike and Illyria team up — which is odd, but okay — and somehow end up working with Connor.  Also odd, but — okay.  I’m willing.

And jumping crawfish, this is so much better.  Fits in so nicely with everything else, you can tell they had all this stuff mapped out before they even started AtF.  This is the story they should have told instead of First Night (okay, I’m done complaining about First Night now . . . maybe).

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Finally . . . finally (!) we’re getting to see what happened that fateful evening in the alley.  The non-reveal of this, the years of waiting, had been one of the coyest flirtations in the entertainment industry that I could think of (along with maybe Ghostbusters III and Chinese Democracy), but now it’s finally happened, we all feel satisfied, and we can all finally get some sleep.

Except, I don’t feel satisfied.  I gotta say, this isn’t the way I wanted it.  I don’t want a bunch of little dinky stories.  I want a narrative.  Now we’ll never get a narrative.  It’s like an awful blind date.

The art has gotten way better, though, because I see it’s a different artist, doing the first bit at least.  David Messina.  I like how the Spike mini-arc in Issue 6 is drawn.  Hopefully Messina does some drop-ins for a while.  But then . . . it all comes crashing down; the Connor one is atrocious — absolutely horrible.  Makes me miss Urru.  Cordelia on pg. 18 looks like a three-month-dead-prostitute.  And — none of the others are better, although the Lorne one fits the mood of the sing-song poetry alright.

<sigh>

Seriously — this is just really bad stuff.

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Finally, down to business.

Things start off intriguingly enough; I’m still not sure whether L.A. was cast into a separate hell dimension or whether hell was brought to earth in L.A.  Seems to make a big difference, don’t you think?  I mean, as much as everyone probably gets annoyed by all the ‘where are the Slayers?’ talk, it is a valid question.  Something of that large a magnitude, if on Earth, would simply have to draw the attention of both the real army and, of course, Buffy’s army.  If there isn’t some eventual bringing together of the two, I’m going to be thoroughly pissed (although Lynch does address this question in the letter pages of Issue 3, insisting it’ll all get worked out in the future, so I guess we just have to wait).  Although, the whole beginning to Issue 4 seems to pretty much clear up that question. Guess I really should wait until I’m finished reading said issues before starting to write the reviews of them, huh?

Anyway, a bunch of demon lords have divvied up the city and it’s like the mafioso, but with, you know, demons.  Cool.  But Gunn as a vampire?  Why does that feel so contrived?  Oh, wait . . . it is.

It’s a good set-up, though; definitely has that ‘opening’ sort of feel to it, taking a few issues to get the ball rolling, just like Buffy - Season 8 did.  It’s a style I generally enjoy.  But . . .

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Hey, so . . . ahem . . . over a year late on this one too, but, I’m now finally able to read and review the series, so, I don’t really care how long it’s taken.  It’s even getting its own archive!

I want this to be good.  Buffy - Season 8 has really thrown down the gauntlet in terms of how well that series has been carried on, and if AtF is not able to rise up to that same level of goodness it’s going to be MASSIVELY disappointing.  Already, before I even start reading, there are warning signs this could be the case; with BS8, the actual writers from the show are the ones doing it, including Joss himself.  With Atf, it’s some guy called Brian Lynch.  Now, granted, Lynch did write probably the best post-TV Buffyverse comic so far — Spike: Asylum — and it was that book that got Joss to anoint him the chosen one for AtF, but one book next to the eight years of experience of the BS8 crew writing these characters just doesn’t put him in the same league.  Joss did work with him on the plotting of the series, but the writing itself is all Lynch.

So we’ll see.

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