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Date Posted: 09:00:45 04/25/07 Wed
Author: Age
Subject: Long Winded Look at 8.1 (Spoilers) Part One.

Hi Everyone,

How are you doing?

It’s been great reading comments again on the board about the continuing adventures of our favourite heroine; they reminded me of the good old days when after the latest episode I could find an in-depth analysis posted here and then add a couple of ideas myself…. Well… in an insane fit of nostalgia, I decided to do a page-by page examination of the first issue, not that I claim to know what’s going on, but at least with Joss Whedon, there’s always ample metaphor and never the chance of over analysis. Over analysis and a Joss Whedon work, am I crazy?!

This long winded look at 8.1 begins with a summary and then follows the text. It contains spoilers for the comic, the TV series and ‘Angel.’ Each framed picture I’ve called a panel. Finally, be aware that it’s pretty long so, you might want to take that into account before you invest your time in the long wade through… Here goes…

The first issue can be loosely divided into antithetical halves: the first is obviously focused on the title character, partly because she is such, and partly because both halves have as their subject the consequences of the activation of the potentials and the destruction of Sunnydale, with the mission to the old church the first logical consequence given that it is populated by the newly made slayers; the second half introduces the reader to the negative reaction to the new slayers by the male establishment in the person of General Voll, repeating elements from the first but in reverse order to illustrate that while Buffy’s movement is forward to the future, the reactionary movement is, obviously, backwards, as illustrated ultimately by the return to the depths of what used to be Sunnydale to find a relic of that ‘museum,’ as it’s called on one of the pages, Amy, an adolescence symbol through her association with the use of unnatural magic as the easy way out.

The two halves are as different as night and day: literally in the imagery and of course figuratively: Buffy’s mission, from a helicopter, takes place at night in a purple glow full of stars, a more feminine, more inclusive image to match the variety of Buffy’s international team, without the bigger moon that would symbolize one with more power among the many (stars); while Voll’s mission begins in broad daylight, a yellow/golden colour, the sun singular behind the helicopter that is way above to represent a more masculine power structure located in one, not the many. The slayers, up close and personal, in the sky of Buffy’s mission, actual persons, are contrasted by the emptiness of the sky in the panel showing Voll’s helicopter, implying that in the latter there are no persons or at least no women doing traditionally men’s jobs, but only one powerful sun god who makes the rules up for what constitutes ‘American interests.’ Buffy is moving forward, as her body position and that of the slayers illustrate in her helicopter mission panels; whereas the general is seated, the helicopter going back to Sunnydale, back in time so to speak.

The day and night imagery works also to show how one of the consequences of the activation of the potentials and the destruction of Sunnydale is that the Scoobies’ have become outsiders, where they had once been the ultimate insiders, knowing how and effecting an important change in the world; the night mission implies relegation to the fringe; while Voll’s mission takes place during the day, the time of normal business; this contrast is reinforced by Buffy’s exile(?) in a desolate, isolated, off-US hideout/headquarters; while Voll’s mission takes him not only to the US, Buffy’s home country, but to the site of her ex-home.

At first when contemplating what the title of the issue meant, ‘The Long Way Home,’ I assumed it meant what both Buffy and Xander, but especially Buffy had lost through the activation of the slayers and the destruction of Sunnydale, that instead of actually gaining more opportunity to live as a person, and perhaps become a more part-time slayer, Buffy has taken on a great deal more responsibility. She’s thus a long way from home in the sense that home is where you have your personal space; whereas Buffy’s life seems more now slayer business/duty than ever. She’s constantly at the office, so to speak, the castle, (appearance of a dilapidated prison) which has become command central (whose interior is reminiscent of an office) and is not so much with the hilarious as Buffy herself says to the reader in narration. There’s that old saying about a man’s home being his castle; well, Buffy’s only got the castle…and it’s a far, far cry from the fairy tale version.

The loss of the promise of a more personal life may indeed be one meaning behind the issue’s title, but there’s another. It has to do with Buffy becoming an outsider. Elements of the story may be intended to remind the reader of the events of 9/11 in the US. The first panel of the comic shows dawn over the globe with the caption about how changing the world makes it different. The idea that the world was different following the attacks on the World Trade Center Towers was put forward at the time. This is not to equate the destruction of Sunnydale with the events of 9/11; they are opposite; however, the idea may be to show how Voll disingenuously uses what has happened to Sunnydale as a means of outlawing Buffy and her ‘hard-line’ ideology by implying that she as leader has, given the ‘evidence’ of the huge crater, weapons of mass destruction and will stop at nothing to get her way, heck look what she’s willing to do to her own town. (Both Buffy and Xander lament what they’ve lost and miss due to the events of the final episode of the TV series, reminding us that it wasn’t their intention to destroy, but to protect, and that they are paying for doing just that. That in fact they weren’t outsiders who callously destroyed, but like the other citizens/human beings of Sunnydale were hurt just as much through the loss of their homes.) Instead of being the saviour of the human race through the destruction of the uber vamps, Buffy’s actually portrayed by Voll as an un-American terrorist who has to be stopped, and stopped sooner rather than later so that, I assume, another ‘attack’ on American soil doesn’t happen, when in fact Voll knows about the existence of the unnatural/magic and must therefore, I assume again, have some idea why Sunnydale was obliterated. Buffy is therefore a long way from being home because she’s been branded as one of ‘them,’ and, it seems, this will stay the case for some time.

End of Part One.

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