Whedon Graphic Novels

nicowa

Anyone here following/reading the Buffy GNs - Buffy season 8 & 9 officially. It brings the dramatics to a whole new level - global really. Season 8 does have it's drawbacks - it maybe goes a bit too over the top - but Season 9 brings it back to where it started I think. Though (and I'm only a few pages in to the 2nd volume) there does seem to be more talking than there was in the show - about stuff not relevant to the monster of the week I mean. Unless I'm missing something so far.

So, anyone else keeping up with them?

There's also Serenity (of which he has more planned), the Angel series and a new spin off from the end of Season 8 (which would be a bit spoilery to name).

nyarlothothep

I would read them but the artwork puts me off.

Earthhorse

I bought a collection of the Angel comics on my iPad and have to say I was really disappointed with them. The panels were often poorly laid out and with the complex plots Whedon is known for it was difficult to follow. The writing didn't reach the heights that the show often (though not always) did. Having said that, these weren't written by Whedon.

Fray and his run on the X-Men on the other hand, of which I have physical copies, are brilliant and well worth a look.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

I'm playing catch-up. Have read the first couple of volumes of season 8 before, but then went travelling and they fell to the wayside. Re-watching Buffy at the moment, so once I've done that I plan to jump back into the graphic novels. They're decent though. I enjoyed the ones I read.

Ring4Fea

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I would read them but the artwork puts me off.

As an artist with fairly concrete views on who sgould/should not be an artist adapting TV into comics, I would welcome you to tell us why. I won't comment on your critique; I merely wish to know ...

though I admit your username makes me infer that you might have an appreciation of art which is more Barry Windsor Smith than Ba.

nyarlothothep

The covers of the graphic novels look great, exactly as I would like them to appear on the inside. Instead we're treated to cartoonish drawings which bear no resemblance to the characters in the tv show with a cheap looking colour scheme. I remember looking at one panel, the colour used to represent the darkness of night was blue, this I did not like. From a young age I vastly preferred 2000 AD for it's more evocative artwork over other comics. I like colour schemes that don't use flats either, the Buffy novels probably don't use them, I'm not an expert but the colours resemble flats to me, they just look as I said, cheap. Whereas the artwork in Slaine is so much more rich and atmospheric. Or even The Dark Tower comics, the artwork was fairly good in them. I'm for artistic liberty/anarchism, there shouldn't be imposed rules as to what you can and can't do in any medium, this doesn't preclude guidelines of course but I much prefer it when rules are aesthetically transgressed.

Ring4Fea

nyarlothothep wrote: »

The covers of the graphic novels look great, exactly as I would like them to appear on the inside. Instead we're treated to cartoonish drawings which bear no resemblance to the characters in the tv show with a cheap looking colour scheme. I remember looking at one panel, the colour used to represent the darkness of night was blue, this I did not like. From a young age I vastly preferred 2000 AD for it's more evocative artwork over other comics. I like colour schemes that don't use flats either, the Buffy novels probably don't use them, I'm not an expert but the colours resemble flats to me, they just look as I said, cheap. Whereas the artwork in Slaine is so much more rich and atmospheric. Or even The Dark Tower comics, the artwork was fairly good in them. I'm for artistic liberty/anarchism, there shouldn't be imposed rules as to what you can and can't do in any medium, this doesn't preclude guidelines of course but I much prefer it when rules are aesthetically transgressed.

All excellent points and observations. A sad tradition in American comics is the cover art bait-and-switch as you described, going back decades. In fact it even goes back to X-Men #49 in the late 1960s where you had a beautiful Steranko cover, but insides that looked one step up from a "what to do in case of Communist Atomic Bomb Attacks" informational pamphlet. This also has to do with the practice of paying big for the cover artist and saving on the fees of the art of the interior pages.

Your comments RE flats versus psychologically rich colour work such as Slaine is also well taken and apt. Look at the amount of Fabry and Biz and Liam Sharpe type artists you find in 2000AD and see the dirth of them in most yank publications "until they get a fan base". The attitude is often "Don't show us this artsy fartsy stuff when we're doing a comicbook version of such and such... save that sh1t for Vertigo if you wanna put out pages like those." The people running the editorial depts. which hire and fire the artists often find words "nuance" to be - for them - a 4 letter word.

I thank you for your time and good taste. I hope my later work and those of my creative compatriots will be to your liking.

nyarlothothep

Thanks! I shall certainly check it out, thanks for the artist recommendations. I like Barry Windsor's style upon an initial viewing.

Ring4Fea

His work has gone from "aaaagh!" To competent to great to amazing. His work in the Avengers decades ago was only for die hard fans like myself since he'd tried to mix Druillet with Kirby. Which is like trying to make a dracula film starring Chris O Dowd.

Enjoy my mega butch dalek.

nyarlothothep

Awesome work! Now if only the Buffy comics were like that...

Ring4Fea

I know. Sadly DW and IDW and most adaptation publishers are mainly run by business guys more than comics guys and aside from BOOM studios they prefer to use artists living on the continental U.S.