So, I got caught up on Boom Buffy again.
And, for the first time in ages, I’m now caught up on Boom Angel, now that I know that it continued with Angel & Spike.
At first, I sort of felt like Buffy had kind of lost the plot with this Silas arc--and maybe didn’t really know where it was going, or what it wanted to do--but I don’t know. I really got into it again with the last two volumes. I’m excited to see where it goes.
I do kind of feel like Angel’s lost the plot, though? Part of me wants to say what was the point of all the Bangel set up if we’re not doing it yet. And are doing Angel/Kate instead. But ehh. I guess we’re probably waiting to do Bangel until Buffy’s an adult in this AU. Still a little weird, though, to almost bait and switch.
And about Angel and Kate... I don’t know how to feel about it. Not so much Angel/Kate or anything about Kate herself. But the weird thing they decided to do, where Kate is apparently the reincarnation of Angel’s former vampire lover “Mara.” What?
I get that this an AU, of course. And there have to be changes, and they can’t just tell the same story over.
But I just... I don’t know.
I feel like I kind of get what they were going for with it? Kate was so anti-vampire in the original show. So how about in this AU, she was a vampire in a previous life, and is having vampire-like desires again, as a sense of irony. And maybe to fix some of the problems people had with her before. As her issues with Angel got old pretty fast in AtS. (I also know that Kate was originally supposed to be a love interest for Angel, something that the show dropped, that they’re clearly going for here).
But I just don’t know if it works? I feel like if they go into this too deeply, they’re going to change her character too much. And I know that sometimes you have to make characters do the opposite of what they would usually do to develop them (that’s what happened with Angel all the time in AtS), but I feel like there’s a line.
But back to Mara... I feel like she’s sort of a cross between Darla and OG!Drusilla? So far we’ve yet to see or hear anything about Darla, so I’m assuming for the moment that she doesn’t exist in this universe. Mara’s name is similar to hers--and is a blonde like she was--and was Angelus’ lover. So, points in that column (but instead of Darla or Mara changing him, he changed her. Because, again, this is an AU). And that’s sort of how the Drusilla ties come in. Because in this, while Dru exists and Angelus did change her... he didn’t drive her insane. So he must not have tortured her (as much, anyway?). And she’s not his biggest accomplishment/regret. He sees Mara as that. He thinks he destroyed her, because she was some sort of vampire hunter--and was trying to kill him--before he changed her, and he destroyed all that she was.
And there, I can kind of see some of the connections to Kate, I guess, and why they did this. But I still don’t think it works for me.
I also just... I don’t know if they planned this all along when they came up with the idea of Mara. I just don’t feel like they did, for some reason. But I could be dead wrong, of course.
Another issue I have, though, is I feel like this is getting into some Buffy/Angel(us) territory somewhat. And now I’m afraid that that story might not be as good as it could have been in this universe, if the Angel/Kate relationship hadn’t come first, but we’ll see, I guess.
I do feel like the Angel/Kate relationship is going to be destructive (again; even though Angel is trying to do right by Kate!Mara this time [which sure sounds like his attempted Darla redemption arc, when Darla came back as a human in AtS to me]), sadly--Spike seems to think so, anyway--whereas Buffy will once again be Angel’s guiding light. So maybe that’s how it will be different?
I’m also confused about Oz. I thought the preview made it sound like he was from an alternate universe--where all his friends were destroyed--and he’d come to this universe to warn them of that same danger coming after them, so the same thing wouldn’t happen to them... But so far, that hasn’t come up. Is he just waiting to tell them. Now that we’ve seen a second Angel and Spike from another universe, will Oz finally spill the beans. Or is there going to be another Oz that shows up, who is the Oz from the preview, where that happens?
I also... don’t really like all this weird stuff going on with Fred. With all the different voices and stuff in her head, and all her different powers (also, the part where she was tricked into letting a demon possess her to save her friends, and then became the lead of Wolfram & Hart). I know this is an AU, and they have to make it somewhat different, but I sort of wish they would have just had it be Illyria who possesses her again. -shrugs-
...Man, this is a lot of rambling and ranting about the recent Angel & Spike comics. And it probably sounds like I hate them. I swear I don’t. There’s definitely some good there. I guess I’m just more confused than anything. And curious about where they’re going with it all, and really praying they have a solid direction for it all... hopefully they will.
Edit: And am I the only one who finds it really weird that we don’t see Angel’s reaction to anything that happened after he got possessed by the Hellmother in the Hellmouth crossover and had to fight Buffy at all?
Edit 2: Even though I was the one who said I wanted Oz on Team Angel (but that was more in the OG story), I kind of don’t know why they put him there? But if they can come up with some interesting stories, I’m all for it. That one preview idea, sounds solid. But, like, there are really no guys in the Scoobies right now, so you’d think that maybe he would have gone to Sunnydale. But nope. Oh well...
Speaking of, it was funny when Oz mentioned that he was from Sunnydale and Angel just frowned and said, “That town is Hell.”
See? I swear I’m not totally ragging on the Angel & Spike comics!
I also feel like Spike is kind of the shining beacon in these comics, as of late! He’s just so funny! As always. Haha.
