WannaBlessedBe (WBB)
Writers: Amber Benson and Christopher Golden
Artist: Terry Moore with Eric Powell
Letterer/Colorist: HiFi Design
The person responsible of this atrocity of a review: Bill A.
CaBil@aol.com
Please feel free to distribute this everywhere. Just let me know.
Warning: I am doing a review, which means I will relentlessly spoil content here. Learn to live with my perfidy.
Summary: A member of the Wicca group that Willow met Tara at is interested in their abilities and relationship, and summons up Morrigan, a Celtic battle deity in an attempt to attract their attention. Oddly enough, Morrigan has issues of her own, and Will and Tara have to convince their old Wiccan group deal with it.
BTW, the online contingent that has been asking for tasteful Will/Tara shower scene? You can stop reading now.
In-depth:
The issue opens up with Will and Tara skipping class to have a picnic, with implied mutual grape feeding and fond reminisces of a spell involving oil the night before.....
Wha? I’m back. (Damn, along with shower scene contingent...)
No, really, the scene is not actually that bad (or good, depending on your definition) with Will and Tara’s hands meeting over the water bottle (for chuckle towards the SoCal obsession with bottled water, read the writing on the bottle,) just in time for them...
To be interrupted by Caitlin Macklin, a member of the Wiccan group that Willow met Tara at (during the episode Hush), which they both quit. Caitlin wants to know more about magic and real Wicca, and she realizes that Will and Tara do what everyone else in the group was just playing at. And she wants in, with what they have, and comments that “There’s magic in three.” However, Will and Tara decide to exit, stage left, explaining all the while that magic was just a phase for them. As they head off, Will admits that she is more enamored of the magic of two, leaving Caitlin forlorn.
Later, Willow goes to the Bronze with Xander and Anya, feeling a little bit guilty about the brush-off she gave Caitlin. That guilt turns to anger when she runs into Kelly, the leader of the Wiccan group, who feels free to mock Caitlin for thinking Wiccans can do magic. After chewing out Kelly, Willow goes back to feeling guilty (a really good skill of hers) about Caitlin, hoping she doesn’t anything foolish,
Caitlin, on the other hand, is doing something foolish, trying to show Tara a cool spell she found, and begins a impromptu recitation of it, only to be stopped by Tara before she can complete it. Unfortunately Tara says spells done by amateurs... And doesn’t get more past that, as Caitlin gets
upset over the implication that a) she is an amateur, and b) Will and Tara are not. She leaves, upset that Will and Tara are so selfish about that special thing between them. You know, their magic?
Caitlin, upset in the forest, stumbles (literally) across a spell in her book, and later (due to the clothing change) utilizes said spell to summon Morrigan. (I would think something about all the blood and death in the spell might have clued her that perhaps this may not be a good idea, but hey, she had been portrayed as a slight ditz so far.)
Aside: Morrigan is a far more complicated deity than is what presented here, with a role more analogous of the Fates. Though interestingly enough, her most popular myth has her acting in revenge upon someone who had scorned her advances. For more information about her, please check out http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/article ... rigan.html
Morrigan then fulfills that whole blood thing by summoning crows on Kelly, and pecking her to death. A previously unrevealed character is trapped by rapidly growing woods, grabbing her and snapping her.
Will and Tara go to class the next, with Will marveling at Tara’s psychic shoe senses, when they spot the crowd and rescue services, and the body in the treetops. Tara recognizes the body as another member of the Wicca group, and a bystander mentions that there was another freaky death, the victim being the aforementioned Kelly. Will and Tara look at each other, and not so idly wonder who ever could be responsible.
They knock on Caitlin’s door, enter to face a shell-shocked and apologetic Caitlin, who does little to reassure them by not having any idea what a ward is. Will and Tara step back out to the hall, and Tara fills Will on Morrigan, the evil skanky ho battle goddess who is protecting Caitlin in the manner most amusing to her.
Will can’t contact Giles, and with Buffy still in LA, they’re on their own. Will goes off to warn the other members of the Wiccan group, while Tara and Caitlin do the research thing.
Will almost immediately finds someone half submerged into the earth, while Tara discovers that the spell Caitlin used was a “swing-both-ways thingy.” ‘Cause, you know, the spell was supposed to be used for both offense and defense. Caitlin, unlike most of the other characters on the show, gets the sub-text, gets close to Tara, and admits that she thinks playing for both teams is cool, and just wants to be where Tara and Willow are. Tara gently redirects her to the problem of their imminent and messy deaths, and moves Caitlin’s hand. Which pretty much guarantees that Willow will walk in at this point, and go all jealous/concerned/possessive. Which gives Tara an opportunity to reassure Willow that she is only person she would do spells with, because otherwise it wouldn’t be magic. (rephrase of dialogue there)
Reassured, they go back to tackling the problem, since Morrigan is going through the Wicca group like a Taglarin millipod (Taglarin mythic rites were the joke that fell flat in Buffy’s dorm room in “Family”), but hasn’t gotten around to them yet. But she will soon, so Tara has an idea which will involve her and Will. So of course Caitlin offers to assist also.
The remaining members of the Wiccan group are in a dorm lounge, having been called together by Caitlin. They are not willing to believe, but Caitlin convinces them they have to in order to stay alive. They are not sure what to make of their former members, Will and Tara all tricked out Wiccan style, but they make with the quips to convince them.
They gear up for the ritual, set up a pentagram in woods, with Will and Tara leading it. Morrigan gets a little upset, and send the birds in, who get magic circle zapped. Caitlin panics a bit, but Will gives the buck up and learn from this speech. Tara then quietly points out that Morrigan is there. And big. And apparently not dealing with her inner rage issues well.
But with Will and Tara guiding them, the group manages to bind Morrigan into the form of a crow shaped tree.
Full circle. Will and Tara are having a picnic, but now with all of the unnamed Wiccan girls, trying to finish off a picnic basket that Will cast spell on (which sounds like a cornucopia/horn of plenty spell and/or artifact from myth.) Caitlin arrives and apologizes for being all stalker gal, but
she just wanted someone to notice her. Tara and Willow are understanding, since they’ve had issues about loneliness also. But not to worry about Caitlin trying any more spells for a while, she’s the new Wiccan group president, and she has plans. Big plans.
Will and Tara look appropriately worried for the integrity of local space-time after that little announcement, but they have each other. Cute end panel, and even cuter heart shaped The End. (Just dive right through the sap and didn’t look back, and you’ll be fine.)
Character Interaction:
Heh, I really liked it. The characters actually interacted with each other, talking with each other rather than just at each other. The end result of the conversations did not necessarily seem predetermined with the characters merely working out a script. Artistic depictions matched
meaningfully with the dialogue in an interdependent manner, adding a subtlety to it. Even the colorist and letterer got into the act at one point (view through the open door into Caitlin’s room as Will and Tara discussed the problem.) I believed the conversations could have taken place. They all feel like they were from the show. Which is the whole point, right?
Timeline Wonkiness: Okay. When does this take place?
First of all, I am going to have to take the words said in the issue at their face value. Supposedly Fox licensing operates underneath the illusion that the comics appeal to a younger age bracket than the show (How a show that exists in the 8pm timeslot on national TV has a younger demo than the modern comic book, which overall has been inching to late teens, younger 20s for quite some time now is beyond me, but hey, they’re lawyers, I’m sure they know what they are doing.) So if they want to insist in the comics that Will and Tara are just ‘friends,’ well, then this can take place any time you care to.
But that way lies madness, and in addition, is no fun at all.
So I’ll do that later when my deranged giggling won’t disturb you all.
Anya and Xander know of Tara’s existence, so it’s post “Who Are You.” Willow and Tara are
‘best friends’, in Tara’s words. So I am going to assume this takes place before “New Moon Rising,” because of what we know of Willow’s character. I don’t think after NMR Tara would merely describe them as best friends, and I don’t think Willow would let her.
Aside: I don’t believe thoughts on the contrary that Will and Tara were involved before NMR. I’m sure Tara would have taken Will with any condition she cared to attach, but 4th season Will would not have done that. She was the sort that demanded intimacy (climb out of the gutter, this begins at romantic kissing, no need to go there yet) required love, and that would require acknowledging it. As she said to Buffy in the middling bits of that episode, she and Tara had something strong, but she wasn’t sure of it yet. A problem she seemed to discovered a solution for at the end of the episode.
Buffy is not around because she’s in LA. Therefore making an argument that this happens just previously to “The Yoko Factor,” which would make it after NMR, which would make the whole previous argument sound, well, dumb. I don’t think so. From “Sanctuary” it seems that Buffy was gone for maybe a day or so. WBB takes place over three days and two nights. I guess it may be possible to jigger stuff to fit then, but then there is the whole emotional context thing that won’t be working, but that could be because of FOX licensing insisting on ostriching the whole issue...
Ugh.
Or we can just argue that the whole attempt to pin this to specific time a pointless exercise, and I just wasted a very small portion of your life kicking the concept around. In which case, you would be wrong, because in actuality I have wasted a meaningful portion of my own life.
Back to my point. If I am right, this takes place during the time they are engaged in that relationship dance, in which Tara wanted Will, Will was thinking she wanted Tara and getting comfortable with the idea, and both were getting a buzz from being in each other’s presence. I like that concept, it explains a fair amount, so that is what I will stick to until someone can convince me otherwise (or bribes me.)
(But the appearance of mouse in Tara’s room, under the bed while Caitlin is visiting, definitely proves that this pre-Miss Kitty Fantastico, since no sane mouse would stay in room with a kitten rampaging about. So it proves this happens before Yoko Factor! I am right! Take that you FOX lawyers! Hey, wait, a second, put that cattle taser away... ZOOORCH! ...i’ll move on now.)
Writer Comments: Let’s face it, a lot of people are going to give this title a try because it’s a Buffy book co-written by someone directly involved in the show. Re: Amber Benson, seen on the show portraying the character Tara. Admittedly not someone involved in the writing end of the show, and thus theoretically knows what they are doing, but on the plus size, the audience actually know who she is and what she looks like. And how hard can it be to write a comic book after all?
Bwah-hah-hah!
Sorry, couldn’t keep the straight face any longer (“how hard can it be...” classic)
She co-wrote this with Chris Golden one of the regular writers of the comics and also the fiction books. Now here comes the hard part.
I’ve met Chris at cons, and he seems to be a decent sort, but his writing tends to be more on the workmanlike end. He doesn’t suck, but neither does it strike any real chords in me. He tends towards reportage style writing, which just tells the surface story, leaving the depths untouched. He may have one or two moments per issue/story were you dip a little further down than that, but usually not.
WBB, on the other hand, is filled with such moments, little character flourishes that underscore Will and Tara’s relationship in this (hypothetical) time period in the show. I count @ 7 moments of either dialogue/actions that pop up in the issue. (See obsessive subtext list below)
So who was responsible?
In her favor, I did a little digging, and Amber Benson has done writing/directing of shorts herself, so she must have picked up the basic skills somewhere, and it is possible that she is responsible.
On the other hand, Chris Golden has been around for a while, and most of the time he was worked with licensed properties. It is possible that he has been hamstrung by licensing considerations, and the presence of Amber Benson allowed the licensing guys to slack off.
A lot depends on the script style also. There are two types of comic scripts, something that is called Marvel style which has the basic movements of the story, the artist does them, and then the writer comes back in and fills in the dialogue. In the full script style every little detail is mapped out and described. If this was done Marvel style, Terry Moore, the artist, who has done excellent work on Stranger’s in Paradise, could have been responsible for lot of this. I haven’t read enough of SiP to be certain if this fits into its style though.
But I subscribe to the WACKO (Writer As Creative King/Overlord) theory of comic book writing (for a full descriptions of this theory read But I Digress, Peter David from Krause Publications, pg 104) in which the writer is always the guilty party. And with some traumatic use of Occam’s Razor, if Chris Golden usually presents an average story with little subtext, and Chris Golden and Amber Benson together present a good story with some subtext, the simplest explanation is that Amber Benson is responsible for that change.
Chris Golden and Terry Moore may now carpet bomb my domicile at their leisure.
That being said, if anyone could accidentally send me a copy of the script, or the script of ‘Chance,’ Benson’s short, so I can have something for comparison purposes, I would a) really appreciate it and b) will blame it on those pesky voices in my head. (What, not you Kyle, I’ll blame it on Greg, he keeps on insisting that he had no choice but to channel a country-music station all day last week. )
Obsessive Subtext List
I’m a social scientist, so this is not really obsessive considering what I may have to do for my graduate thesis. Those bad habits carry over to all aspects of my life, honestly.
With my cover story firmly into place, we can hit just the Will/Tara subtext points. (There are more, see the overall summary, but since I will try to archive this review on Will/Tara sites, an explicit listing of just those will be probably most appreciated.)
(the lack of page numbers in this comic is just another reason Dark Horse needs help)
1.) Implied Willow feeding Tara a grape
2.) A discussion of spells involving oil with hands meeting over a water bottle
3.) Willow being interested only in the magic of two
4.) Willow’s comments about Tara’s shoe psychic abilities. (In other words, Tara pays attention whenever Willow removes an article of even innocuous clothing.)
5.) A parting hand hold in front of Caitlin.
6.) Tara reassuring Willow that there is a special kind of magic that is only between them and the sequences that follow, with the head tap being a nice touch.
NOT 7.) I won’t count the handhold in the dorm lobby. That was just spell preparation.....
7.) Will/Tara head/shoulder touch on the last page
This obsessive list brings up an interesting point on the inherent fascination and relative acceptance of female relationships (as compared to male relationships). I could go into a long discussion about the evolutionary, social, and psychological causations of it, but instead I’ll merely just apologize for it, and promise to seek gene therapy as soon as it becomes available.
Art:
I’m also a writer (but not of anything you would recognize, I work in a field even more
marginalized that comics, role-playing games), so what I usually focus on is the story, and my concerns on whether or not the art serves the purposes of the story. That being said the realist approach serves the story well, grounding the relationships in the comic, making them real as well, rather than fantastical. Facial expressions, well, are clear and express what the characters are feeling. The artist, Terry Moore, has done the indy series Stranger’s In Paradise for a while, and transfers the deft handling of subtle female interactions that is displayed in that title here. In other words, pretty pictures that add to the story makes a good comic.
An Aside: For a more in-depth discussion about the role of art/words in comics, read
Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, especially chapter 6, pg 153-155, but the whole book is quite frankly indispensable.
The one thing is that I would have suggested woud have been to make Caitlin body style/hair color/arrangement substantially different than Tara’s. She was the major guest star of the comic, shared a lot of scenes, and she looked just close enough to Tara that it was not quite unconscious decision to separate the two, and that every now and then in the story there was a tiny jolt out of the flow of the story as you reminded yourself who each character was. Nothing major.
Nitpicks:
Thespia:
Why with the invoking Thespia in casual conversation? (When Caitlin goes into the woods, and on the last panel of the comic.) Thespia was mentioned just once in the series (supposedly there was a second mention in a deleted scene in Buffy vs. Dracula, but I can’t confirm), in the failed demon seeking spell of “Goodbye Iowa.” In this time period Tara is still thinking she is a potential demon, so I would think she would be desperately blocking anything that brings up that subject. Buried in a spell, sure, but casual conversation? Thespia is/was a daughter of minor river god, Asopus, and appears to have no defined role in the mythic pantheon, and whose sole claim to fame is that Thespiae, sister city of Thebes, was named after her. My gut instinct is that the original writers of the episode made up the name, not knowing that there was an actual Greek deity attached to it, or thought it was connected with thespians (which seems logical, but I can’t find a link to it. Thespian comes from Thetis/Thespis, an Attic Greek poet that introduced role of the actor to drama, by speaking directly to the chorus of the ancient Greek tragedy. For more on him, and the history of Greek tragedy, see http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=73980 , and other articles found on www.britannica.com )
Could she be currently in style among Wiccans? No idea, it’s been a while and several states since I’ve known any. But the concern and focus on the goddess I think is more accurate and believable.
Last panel of page 16:
While waiting for the rest of the girls to show up, in the lobby of an dorm Will and Tara set up an altar, with burning candles, books, and spell ingredients? And they didn’t notice it until they spoke? Only to have the “gearing up” sequence immediately after and moving everything outside? The scene was there for an emotional raising of the stakes for the other members of the Wiccan group. It would have been just as effective with a doorway frame, Will and Tara holding huge books, holding candles, spell ingredients in hand on the way, with the whole “Come with me if you want to live” vibe, and been more logically consistent..
Ending Scene:
The ending scenes had a touch of “happy enditis,” you know, all’s well that ends well, with a chuckle at the end. Except the chuckle was a little bit forced. To have made it humorous, they should have raised the stakes of what Caitlin was planning as the new club president with specifics, not just that she was going to be it, but that she had grand plans so Will and Tara would have something specific to react against, so the wry concern would seem more in place.
Reviewer’s disclaimer: It’s always easier to critique than actually do something. I do not point these things with glee, or to prove I can do better (I doubt I could) but merely to point out what weaknesses in the story that I could detect. If this was a bad story, I wouldn’t be able to suggest minor tweaks since the problems would be far more fundamental. In other words, it’s only because that it’s good that I can say this.
Overall Rating:
Oh yeah, I should tell you if it’s good or not.
For the typical Buffy book, this is one of the better ones to come out in the last year. If you want to pick up a Buffy comic, and never have before, and have no familiarity of comics at all, this is a good one to pick up. Complete in one issue, the panel layout relatively easy to follow, effective art (clear and expressive), good story, and it reveals stuff about the characters. Heck, even the page turns (the last panel of each page) are spot on (only three of them were weak), making you want to turn to the next page. The Spike and Dru specials are fun, and I have a soft spot for Lovecraft inspired fiction so I liked the Giles special more than I should have, but WBB is probably the best of them.
Now, how does this stack up against other comics? This is no Planetary or Promethea, but it compares well to the average comic out there. With 5 being average, WBB rates as an 6 or a 7, depending on how bitter and jaded I feel toward the comic industry as a whole that day. For comparison purposes, this would be about equal in entertainment value as one of Kurt Busiek’s latest reboot of Avengers (but not his Astro City, which rocks).
It’s good, but not in the whole rush out right now and get some way. For people that already go to comic shops, give it a browse the next time you go in, even if you already have tried looking at some Buffy titles before. For Buffy fans, it’s probably the best Buffy comic available right now. It’s okay to go into a comic shop to go get one. They are just as afraid of you as you are of them, (in actuality, the perception that comic shops is a haven of adolescent boys who will relentlessly punish outsiders that wander into the shop is one that many comic shop owners are working hard to overcome.)
For a local comic book shop near you, I suggest The Master List, a volunteer project. Their web page can be found at http://www.the-master-list.com , and check out some of the titles that Amber Benson suggested at the end of her article. In addition, I would suggest checking out
Warren Ellis’s Planetary, a comic book exploration of history of modern myths, from Sherlock Holmes, to the pulps, and beyond, a personal favorite of Joss Whedon (he recently contributed an opening essay of the second Planetary collection.)
Reviewer’s thanks
Well thank you for listening to little ramble. If you have any questions, comments, or other concerns, email at CaBil@aol.com, with the subject line being “WBB review” please.
Important Links
The Master List http://www.the-master-list.com/
If you care to be a lackey of multinational media corporations you can try the Comic Book Store Locator Service: http://csls.diamondcomics.com/
Amber Benson’s Closing Essay (Being a Girl)
Interesting discussion on why girls don’t get interested in comics. (One word. Spandex.) For comics fans, reading it will flash inform you why most people don’t give it a try.
Just one thing. “The hallowed halls of Dark Horse”? The halls that produced the
Aliens/Terminator/Predator/Starship Trooper/Mask series of crossovers can never be hallowed without at least a visit by the Pope and the discovery of a potato chip dispensed by the snack machine there in the shape of St. Francis of Assissi. Sorry.
But she should (not merely ‘could’) do this again. (Well, she asked in the last paragraph.) Remember, indy comics are cheapest form of visual entertainment to create out there, with a relatively open distribution system. No rules, no limits, no execs, no lawyers, no networks. (Well, she did just do a short, which according to a website she paid out of pocket for. But with a comic, you can do a much longer form of story within a far more reachable budget. Remember folks, most actors get paid, well, not crap, but far less than what we peons like to think. Or she could just do more mainstream stuff.)
For people interested in finding out more about comics, creating them, and the industry that surrounds them, check out the Warren Ellis Forum on Delphi. While it started out as a forum to a specific writer (Warren Ellis, remember, I mentioned him earlier as writer on Planetary...) it is now the largest English speaking comics forum in the world. While it does discuss a wide variety of topics in addition to comics, it’s a relatively friendly forum, with most people willing to answer questions, direct you to the good stuff, and point out where you can learn more. Just be polite, or you’ll anger the Stalin. It can be found at www.delphi.com/ellis with either guest access or free delphi membership. And yes, there is a lot of Buffy and Angel fans there, so it will be reasonably safe. I am going to set up a discussion there, just search for WannaBlessedBe discussion once you are in it. It will be Comics Reviews and Discussion folder. Hope to see you there!
I really need too find this comic somewhere.