Greetings:
I was browsing at a comic book message board I regularly frequent and
I came across a statement by a fan on the current state of Marvel
superhero comics. I quote:
"I read the latest Daredevil today at lunch.
It was incredibly well-written.
But I'm dropping the book.
I've come to the realization that nothing good is ever going to happen
to Matt Murdoch.
And I don't want to keep watching an endless series of horrible things
happening to a character I care about.
Upon thinking more about it, I realized that's the way I feel about
the entire Marvel Universe.
There's no heroes in Marvel anymore, only survivors.
Nobody triumphs, they only win the latest fight.
Nothing gets better for anybody.
Nobody is happy.
There is no joy in Marvel."
I must say that gave expression to a great deal of my thoughts and
feelings toward BtVS post Season Six. The senseless whacking of Tara
and Willow's subsequent descent into nerd-flaying marked the end
of both the sense of the Scoobs as a family (you know, what the series
WAS ABOUT), as well as any real sense of fun or joy in the series.
All that happens anymore are these endless series of horrible things
happening to people I care deeply about, there are no heroes , no
triumphs, nothing ever gets better, nobody gets any happier and there
is no joy to be found (and no I don't believe for a second Whedon ever
intended to resurrect Tara).
I realize a lot of fans respond to this and that a lot the time this
is how "real life" is Yet, I am kinda of the opinion that art or literature (especially escapist fiction like Buffy) is under NO obligation to reflect "real life" to that soul-killing extreme. If anything I believe what of the
key purposes of art is illuminate and even REDEEM our bleak, crummy
world totally absent of time travel and jet-powered apes.
The most recent issue of Season Eight has kinda confirmed this
suspection. Whedon seems to have no interest in healing the divisions
between Buffy and Willow and only furthering the rift. I highly doubt
they will even be friends anymore by the time issue 25 comes out.
I'm going to continue with the fandom for as long as I can, but I'm
starting to think it would be less and less of a major loss to get off
the bus at any point.
I could be entirely wrong about this. Opinions?
edit-I am. Thank you all for pointing that out.