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A review by historyofjess
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 9 Volume 4: Welcome to the Team by Andrew Chambliss, Joss Whedon
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Okay...so there's some stuff in here that's fun...mainly, Illyria. Illyria is always fun, even if her portion of the story feels abruptly cut off. Truthfully, with this being the penultimate volume of the season, everything feels cliffhangery and unsatisfying. I like the "surprise" an extra Slayer has been hanging around this entire time. I like that Willow's back even if it isn't for very much time and she doesn't get to do very much. Really, most of the stuff with Buffy in the first few issues isn't that bad...except there's a lot of other stuff going on at the same time that takes away from it.
But then, there's everything to do with Xander. As a die hard Buffy fan that's also very much a feminist, Xander is one of those characters that it's very hard to stomach on re-watches and re-reads. He has some good moments, but it's hard to overlook his very bad ones and that's even more true now knowing what a cad the person that created him is. And this whole storyline in this season of comics where Xander keeps lashing out violently is very, very not good and I do not like it at all. And here, we finally get a bit of an explanation for it...and it only makes it worse. And then, it just keeps getting worse. I guess Xander is one of the few Scoobies that never went on the "betrayal" arc and so it's his turn, but yikes on bikes, does this just follow all of the worst storytelling instincts for this character and I want none of it. I think it betrays the best bits of his character, all resting on his love for Dawn, which I still have heeby-jeebies about. So yeah, I don't like it. I don't want it. And I need Xander to stop being a rageaholic piss baby that thinks he can save the world be fixing everything he doesn't like about it.
But then, there's everything to do with Xander. As a die hard Buffy fan that's also very much a feminist, Xander is one of those characters that it's very hard to stomach on re-watches and re-reads. He has some good moments, but it's hard to overlook his very bad ones and that's even more true now knowing what a cad the person that created him is. And this whole storyline in this season of comics where Xander keeps lashing out violently is very, very not good and I do not like it at all. And here, we finally get a bit of an explanation for it...and it only makes it worse. And then, it just keeps getting worse. I guess Xander is one of the few Scoobies that never went on the "betrayal" arc and so it's his turn, but yikes on bikes, does this just follow all of the worst storytelling instincts for this character and I want none of it. I think it betrays the best bits of his character, all resting on his love for Dawn, which I still have heeby-jeebies about. So yeah, I don't like it. I don't want it. And I need Xander to stop being a rageaholic piss baby that thinks he can save the world be fixing everything he doesn't like about it.