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Date Posted: 09:08:23 04/25/07 Wed
Author: Age
Subject: Re: L.W.Look at 8.1 (Spoilers) Part Five.
In reply to: Age 's message, "Re: L.W.Look at 8.1 (Spoilers) Part Four." on 09:06:44 04/25/07 Wed

Okay, back to the page and its meaning regarding the idea of this being not a personal space, but an organization in which the work (remind anyone of a certain sentence spoken at the end of the Angel series; is central command then a contrast to Angel’s situation at Wolfram and Hart?) is paramount and all encompassing. The thing with organizing is that you’ve got to keep doing it; it’s an ongoing process and task to the detriment of other things. Xander suggests this through his narration in these three panels. He announces what he’s lost: his job as constructor, builder, literally and perhaps figuratively, lost personal time, lost choice, with the last being reinforced by the word ‘screen’: you can’t screen when duty calls, you just get to look at a whole bunch of screens instead. And, the organization seems to be world wide: a development comes from the Barcelona squad: quite a handful of work and responsibility. This is certainly the Scoobies a long way from home, even the earth is no longer theirs (personally) because the whole globe has become slayer business.

On the next page Xander deals with the problem in Barcelona, Renee, one of the seated assistants/secretaries/workers, actually uses the word ‘green’ to perhaps give the reader a clue that there may be meaning in the colour scheme of the comic. Still, Xander handles the problem easily, showing that he is capable, even injecting some humour into the proceedings. This isn’t just a nameless, humourless organization. The play on titles and names is meant to reinforce this, with Xander attempting to be less formal.

Quickly, I should note that Buffy has portrayed Xander as her watcher. However, Xander’s not performing the same role. He’s watching the screens and making executive decisions. He’s not here the instructor/guardian/controller that the old watcher would have been. He’s even doing more than simply watching Buffy’s back; he’s facilitating and commanding the mission in a more global and engaged way: the colonel to Buffy’s field commander, hence the humourous officer references. Still, again, Buffy and her slayer team are not in this alone as would be tradition for the one and only slayer: the Barcelona problem reminds the reader of this change by allowing central command to send in reinforcements, something only the death of the slayer could have achieved before activation of all the potentials. (And, jumping ahead a bit, Buffy’s mission has been planned meticulously in order to do the OPPOSITE of a traditional slayer mission, namely, to keep ALL the slayers alive. This is an important change, valuing the lives of the young women, rather than abandoning them to their fate. This point will be highlighted by the deaths of all the men that have attempted to kill the demons, but I’m jumping ahead.) This connection and its purpose are shown in the last panel of the page as Xander gives Buffy the go ahead. Uh, Xander gives Buffy the go ahead? They certainly are taking on roles and ceding power to one another in order to achieve their goals. They have to because it is dangerous work to be a militia that kills first that which would kill the living.

Turning to the next page, the reader is back with Buffy’s mission into the church; there is more blue amid the purple hue and the panels have adopted the more masculine vertical arrangement, except for one close up of Buffy’s determined and ferocious face that has been placed over the two panels containing the demons as a signal to the reader that this young woman and that raw wild face (a long way from sugar and spice…) have greater power than the three huge demons standing over the bodies of their male victims. Why is this? Her experience, her determination, her desire for none of her fellow slayers to come to harm; she’s not alone and is able to therefore act on a plan as her instructions to the other slayers to flank ‘em indicates.

The first panel, showing the entry, has a contrast between light and dark, the door, perhaps a lid being popped off a container of darkness. The title, ‘The Long Way Home’ came to mind as Buffy doesn’t put her feet up in personal space, but puts her boot up to do her slayer business. The appendage also seems somewhat phallic, a reminder that these young women are doing a traditionally masculine physical job. Whatever the imagery and its meaning, there’s no hesitation, and Buffy proceeds into the arena without hesitation.

In the second panel below, Buffy and the team see what they are up against. From the perspective of the reader this is the first glimpse of the enemy, but the slayers already know from intelligence and planning what they are up against. This is no walk through the cemetery patrol as back in high school days. There are three huge green demon monsters…which, I say facetiously, makes them real easy to kill because they look the role of nasty predators. They conveniently (I say again facetiously) have donned the costumes of monsters in order to provide the new slayers with a formidable and easily killable opponent in order to give them experience as Buffy’s narration in the face panel suggests they need. However, demons in this series should have metaphorical content because they don’t really exist; they are mythological creatures, the stuff of nightmares, down in the ground until they go bump in the night when we can’t repress the ugly feelings any longer and they come back to bite us in the ass…uh…neck and take us over. But for now, let’s assume that these demons have no metaphorical content. They are simply big nasty things that speak Englisssssssh like Gollum and are intent on destruction, destruction, destruction and killing too. You don’t have to look for meaning to want to get rid of these; it’s kill or be killed when facing them, the mantra of war or animal survival. There being no metaphorical meaning highlights the military aspect of Buffy’s mission, its humanitarian purpose as exterminator of the undead, a purpose that has been there since the beginning of the series. Except for a few cases, Buffy has had to slay demons, not rehabilitate them.

End of part five.

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