Buffy: Season 8 #19 Comic Discussion

[Lior Knight]

Buffy and Fray take on a powerful foe, who's lasted hundreds of years just so she can bring down the last two Slayers.

Pub. Date: November 26, 2008

[R. Slayer]

WOW!
This was REALLY, REALLY good. I loved this issue.I don't want to post any spoilers, but it was awesome. I wanted to understand Dark Willow's agenda, though.

[Customizer452]

Wow #19 was intense. It was pretty weird how it ended.

[Jinxieman]

I don't know...Not everything is black and white. One thing is for sure, we can cross him off our list of Twilight possibilities. I still think it is Ethan.

[MsBig]

If you haven't read the comic yet, watch out for SPOILERS!

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I liked this issue, but I'm a bit confused. What was Willow's agenda? It seemed to me that she was making it all up and just wanted to commit suicide by Slayer, because she knew Buffy had the strength to kill her. Am I mad?

Riley??? No! He can't be a baddy. Yes, it could be Ethan under the mask. He was last seen with the Initiative, wasn't he?

[Jinxieman]

That's right and Riley was there when he was taken into custody. I'm not saying they were plotting back then but you never know what has transpired since we last saw Riley. He would have had access to Ethan and maybe the military went to Ethan when they first started noticing the Slayer problem because they knew the connection he had to Buffy then gave him all the resources he needed to gain the power he has now.

[Can I Be Anne?]

SPOILERS BELOW:
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If this is the end of this "arc" I am so disappointed. Someone has to tell me WTF is going on with Dark Willow? How did she get to the future? I mean Willow and Dark Willow are the same person - it makes no sense whatsoever. And even if they wank up an explanation to that part, WHY was she there? I thought I was missing something, so I went back to read the arc again - still no explanations. Blah!
AND...Riley! No fricking way. He simply would NOT betray Buffy. Ever. He has to be playing double agent man!

Someone HELP with the Dark Willow thing!
Anne

[Jess]

Spoilers below

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I'm also confused about the Willow situation. I'm going to have to go back and reread a couple of things.

As for Twilight I don't think he is Ethan Rayne. Ethan was killed in an earlier issue.

I really wasn't surprised to see Riley there. I don't know why, but something tells me that he could be on the bad side if he were persuaded enough that it was the best thing, and that it was for the greater good (or so he thought). I mean the guy hates demons, and maybe he was persuaded into thinking that having all these slayers around was really going to royally screw up something. I dunno, but it should be interesting all the same.

I really want to know who Twilight is already. My first guess of who he was is Caleb. There were a few lines in an earlier issue that made me think him right away. I know Caleb's dead, but dead isn't really dead in the Buffy world all the time. I don't think it could be Ethan though.

I've also had suspicions of Andrew, but Twilight seems to be too tall and buff to be Andrew. But you really never know since it is a comic.

[Jinxieman]

Dec 11, 2008 10:42:19 GMT -5 @theotherben said:

Its been a year or more, but wasn't Ethan killed in first few issues?

Yes...he was. Personally I think that was a trick of magic used to throw us off the idea of him being Twilight. It has bothered me since that issue that Ethan would be re-introduced into the Buffyverse only to be killed off so quickly.

Also, Dark Willow was the Willow of the future, she had been alive for 200 years. I don't think everything was clear in this arch because there are answers yet to come.

I think it is possible that Riley is on the side of Twilight if he thinks that Twilight is working for the greater good and cleansing the earth of demons and magicks would be in Riley's value system. Also think about what Riley learned when we last saw him on the show. The fact that Buffy was in a sexual relationship with Spike could play a role in the why part of Riely's thinking. Maybe Samantha left Riley after she met Buffy because she was jealous of their relationship and he blames her. I think there are a lot of reasons that Joss could come up with that would both explain it and be in Riley's character.

I'm excited to see where this season it heading and how everything will wrap up.

[Can I Be Anne?]

Jinxieman wrote:
"Also, Dark Willow was the Willow of the future, she had been alive for 200 years. I don't think everything was clear in this arch because there are answers yet to come."
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In order for Dark Willow to exist in the future, then something must transpire with Willow in the "present" to turn her back to Dark Willow, which would explain her ability to live for over 200 years. So, Buffy has her work cut out for her in the present. Now, if Buffy does indeed change events in the "present" to stop Willow from turning into DW, then how come Fray's World remains the same when Buffy goes back to her time? Boy, they have some "splaining" to do!

As for the Riley issue, still not buying it. Riley seems to have come to terms with the Buffy/Spike deal, as he told his men to help "Ass-Face" with the chip, by telling them to do whatever Buffy wants. I'll stick with Riley playing "double agent man" until proven he's turned againt B.

Interesting Arc. My favorite so far, except for the one-shot "The Chain". Loved that one!
A.