Buffy: "Fine. You can keep the island. Now give me back my nerd."Synopsis:
Andrew rushes into Slayer Central with news that he has a lead on rogue slayer Simone Doffler; Simone's lieutenant, Nisha, has gotten ensnared in the trap of a Ragna spider demon.
Buffy and Andrew take planes, trains and automobiles to Italy. Andrew natters on about geek stuff constantly during the trip. When he finally hits on Daniel Craig as James Bond, he and Buffy have something to talk about. I thought she'd kill him, but no. Buffy has finally adjusted to Andrew.
They find Nisha in the spider demon's iron and steel web. Buffy discovers that there actually are no Ragna spider demons any more; Andrew had bred them back into existence and set up this whole situation with Nisha to catch Simone, because he was Simone's watcher and felt that her rogue state was his responsibility. The trap works, but backfires; Simone shows up, using Wicca transport, and leaves with the spider demon as well as Nisha.
Andrew is able to track the spider demon he created to an island off the coast. Simone has taken over the island, thrown the residents out, and trashed it. She plans to use it as a base for attacking pretty much everything. Buffy and Andrew find Simone and her gang of slayers at the opera house. Simone offers to give Buffy the demon spider in return for Andrew; Simone wants revenge on him because he was her watcher and she seems to have a problem with authority figures. Buffy says no.
Big Buffy/Simone battle, with fencing foils, even. Simone is losing, so she pulls a gun on Buffy. Simone still wants to trade the spider for Andrew, and Andrew offers to sacrifice himself, taking responsibility for his own failure with Simone. Again, Buffy says no.
Just as it looks like everything is lost, Andrew's slayers arrive to save their watcher. The tide of battle turns. Buffy, Andrew and the good slayers leave and Buffy shoots the lock off the spider demon's cage as a farewell present to Simone.
Buffy assures Andrew that screwing up is part of being a Scoobie. Andrew realizes that he is now "one of the family."
Review:
This one was fun, for (again) a stand-alone episode that wasn't about the Scoobies. Although, to be fair, Andrew has slowly morphed into a semi-Scooby. And at least Buffy was in the entire issue, even though she was Andrew-adjacent.
It certainly does raise (or technically, re-raise) an important question. How do you solve a problem like Simone and her band of very bad slayers? Buffy couldn't take that Island back; a gang of slayers are nearly unbeatable. Twilight may actually sort of be right about slayers, except for the evil and the misogyny.
This issue was about Andrew finally being fully accepted for himself. Despite his geek-i-tude, Andrew has grown up, manned up, and taken responsibility for the slayers in his care. Unfortunately, they can tell us Andrew is a Scooby until the cows come home, but I want issues about Buffy, Willow, Xander, and Giles. I also want them to wind up the Twilight arc, because it's taking forever. And are we ever going to see Spike?
Bits and pieces:
-- Simone Doffler going rogue and committing crimes was mentioned in issue 11, "A Beautiful Sunset." I honestly didn't remember who she was.
-- Simone and sixteen slayers. Good name for a rock group.
-- The cover is Buffy and Simone with foils. Simone is the one with the purple mohawk.
Quotes:
Xander: "Forgive her. We're up to our eyeballs, or, for some, eyeball, in Harmony fallout."
Some of Andrew's funnier lines during the road trip:
"...which is why I always thought Vanity Smurf was kind of misunderstood..."
"...but the worst part was that Lee got really fat, and Dualla was probably all, Come back, Billy, but he couldn't come back, because he was dead, so now she was stuck with Fat Lee, and that was NOT what she signed on for, believe me..."
"...so I say if you have to do another movie, fine, I get it, but who cares about Ahnold, you gotta bring back Linda Hamilton, that's who people want to see..."
Buffy: "Oh! and that thing where he's running on rooftops and cranes? I've done that, and I was *still* scared for him."
Andrew: "Right! I know! Gritty, real, and vulnerable!"
Buffy: "And those swim trunks. Hello, daddy."
Andrew: "Yeah, I have no opinion about those."
Buffy: "Andrew, are we geek-bonding? You and me? Who'd have thunk?"
Andrew: "I know. Oooh, what about Pierce Brosnan? Did you like him?"
Buffy: "In what? Mrs. Doubtfire?"
Andrew: "We might not come out of this alive, and I want to make sure I've said everything I need to say to you. And now I have. Wait, no, also, now that I've met Angel, I have to say, Spike was so much edgier, you definitely traded up, I'm totally team Spike. Also, I know I'm in the minority, but I liked it when you cut your hair. There. Now I've said everything."
Andrew: "I'm just one. The needs of the many outweigh the needs..."
Buffy: "Andrew, I've been hanging out with Xander for eight years. I've geek-bonded with him, too, and I'm familiar with the book of nerd quotes. I'm not moved."
I liked this one. Didn't love it,
Billie
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Billie Doux reviewed all of Buffy and Angel, so she knows the plural of apocalypse.
Given that Andrew is my least favourite character, any issue where he's centre stage isn't going to fill me with enthusiasm but this was alright.
ReplyDeleteThe geek bonding was a bit much in places but I did like Buffy's contribution to it. More of an Angel than Spike myself.
Buffy and Simone's fight was fun enough I guess. Might have been better if it was Faith and Simone.
Every time I read the word "Twilight" in one of your recent Buffy Comic reviews my mind first jumps to those Twilight books that the kids are reading. It makes for a strange secondary-comic-reading experience. Especially this sentence:
ReplyDelete"Twilight may actually sort of be right..." Gasp, shudder, disbelief, brain-quake, relief. Whew, close one.