Buffy Season 8 - Intro

So my latest project idea, hopefully one I will finish, is to, now that I've read all of Buffy season 8, to reread it and take note of what I notice this time through in light of how it ends. Mostly I'm doing this to try and make sense of the story to myself. I have read it, but I'm not certain I understand it, so I want to revisit the whole thing and try to form a coherent picture. And blog it as I do it.

My experience with the Buffy comics has been on and off again. I started the new series by subscribing to it through TFAW, and I would receive each issue as it came out. And at first I read it as I got it. Then I fell behind. Then I realized I couldn't afford to buy it every month and stopped subscribing and reading. I started picking up the trades when they came out. And I read up to Fray's issue. Then I stopped, thinking I should reread Fray first. And I never got back to it. And then came Buffy's 30th birthday and the release of the last issue. And I, having been spoiled on 2 major events already, decided I'd better catch up. So I read everything up through #36 before Wednesday, January 19th, then picked up the last 4 issues the following weekend.

I had a long gap in between. I reread the first couple of trades in the midst of it, and I ended up reading the majority of the work in the last couple of weeks. So it's fresh in my mind, but I also read through it really quickly, so I need the reread. And I really am not sure I understand it fully. I get the chronology, and the basic plot, but I'm having trouble feeling the thematic points and, for lack of a better word, the moral of the story.

Part of the problem is that it took me most of the way into the story to realize that it was a superhero comic. It was strange for me to realize how different the world was in comic form. It's not just about being able to fight hordes of demons and do awesome stunts, there's a whole new attitude that comes from the change of medium. I'm not that accustomed to comics, and I loved it so as a television show, so it really did take me some time to make the transition. On this reread, I'll go into it knowing that already. I think it will help.

Anyway, that's the "plan." I decided I should not only reread, but I should blog about it. Mostly for the exercise of writing, but also just to flesh out my thoughts a little more concretely than would occur if I was just thinking to myself or occasionally tweeting something as I thought it. Also, it's going to be spoilery, so I should keep anything major off twitter. I will be comparing things from the very first issue to things that happen at the very end and all the way through.

Onward, ho! (Wow, that sounded different in my head.)