Mathieu
Ensouled Vampire
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Post by Mathieu on Feb 8, 2009 0:52:04 GMT -5
I don't really understand why so many people hated issue 21 and I don't really get why so many people liked issue 22 so much. So I just wanted to know where everybody stands.
In my opinion... Harmonic Divergence didn't really take itself seriously and it's a story I can totally picture in the Buffyverse... Harmony having her own show and stuff. I liked it. Didn't love it but still enjoyed it. Swell wasn't horrible, it's just that I expected it to be more eventful.
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Post by wenxina on Feb 8, 2009 1:01:17 GMT -5
If anyone really cares as to why I liked "Swell" better than "Harmonic Divergence", check out my reviews in the respective threads. Both are long, and quite thorough, including random musings by yours truly, which means that it's not for the faint of heart, or the ADHD afflicted. Or... click here for the "Swell" review on my blog and here for the "Harmonic Divergence" review on said blog. Reviews are more or less identical to the ones posted here (I think the #22 one here is tweaked slightly to include the name of a member I have discussions with on a regular basis). PS: Can we possibly not have polls comparing just two issues in the future? If you're asking why people like either book better, I'd say that combing through either thread should give you enough insight.
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Mathieu
Ensouled Vampire
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Post by Mathieu on Feb 8, 2009 1:10:14 GMT -5
Yeap sorry about that. i understand it can get annoying if we start creating polls to compare just two issues... everytime a new issue comes out! But I just keep hearing issue #22 is much better than issue #21... and I like statistics.
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Mathieu
Ensouled Vampire
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Posts: 1,069
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Post by Mathieu on Feb 8, 2009 11:18:43 GMT -5
Wow, it's almost a tie. I'm impressed, I like that!
(if you guys need to delete this topic because you don't want this type of poll to be created every other day, I would totally understand).
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Post by wenxina on Feb 8, 2009 11:27:09 GMT -5
It's fine this time around, but I think we'd appreciate it if it didn't happen again. Mostly, it's a clutter thing. Thanks for understanding.
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Malsad
Descendant of a Toaster Oven
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Post by Malsad on Feb 8, 2009 14:44:29 GMT -5
no contest Harmonic Divergence hands down
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alycat7
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Post by alycat7 on Feb 8, 2009 16:23:50 GMT -5
I must say Harmonic Divergence was the better issue. My issue with it was that it featured no one I was interested in seeing (except Clem). Satsu is slowly becoming my favorite character so I chose Swell.
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Whedon Fan
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Joss Is Boss
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Post by Whedon Fan on Feb 8, 2009 17:36:36 GMT -5
Got to admit there are more votes for HD than I thought there would be. I voted for Swell, I just thought it was a better issue. IMO 21 has been the worst issue so far. I just didn't enjoy it which is weird becuase I like Harmony as a charatcer, I liked her centric episodes of both Buffy and Angel. But this issue just felt very lacking. Swell made up for it though, not to keen on the giant vampy cat seem like another one of the "we have nobudget so what the hell" thing. Still the dialogue was spot on and it covered the Buffy/Satsu thing niceley. It wasn't a BIG issue it was just a nice additon to season eight.
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Mathieu
Ensouled Vampire
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Post by Mathieu on Feb 8, 2009 19:02:39 GMT -5
It doesn't sound fair to me to say that Harmonic Divergence was the worst issue so far. Harmony is one of my all time favorite characters in the Buffyverse and anything focused on her is worth watching or reading in my opinion. And issue 21 was worth reading indeed. I really feel like it was more entertaining that following Kennedy on her mission to check on Satsu. And it brought us the mini-webstory or whatever you call it, which was so much fun to read.
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Post by Wyndam on Feb 8, 2009 19:06:57 GMT -5
I enjoyed both issues well enough, but Swell was the superior issue, imo. #21 was pretty good once you got past the first 8 pages of odd thought bubbles and disjointed pacing. After that, the story opened up more and I liked the mini-arc with Soledad. #22, on the other hand, was good from start to finish. Loved DeKnight's script, and I have been waiting for more Satsu development (wasn't a fan of her development early on), and we finally got it. Some great Kennedy dialogue was an added bonus, and I absolutely loved the Vampy Cats. Great baddies.
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iloveromy
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Post by iloveromy on Feb 8, 2009 20:22:56 GMT -5
I'm going to go with Swell. I wasn't really all that into the different narrative structure in Harmonic Divergence. The two stories that were being told - one from a vampire side and one from a slayer side, didn't deserve to be mixed into the same issue. If they want to use Harmony the way they are using her then she needed a whole issue from her point of view to get the ball rolling. I don't think we needed a pity slayer story. It could have been a random slayer getting into the party and getting murdered and it would have worked just as fine. Soledad's story just didn't fit. I liked Soledad, but this wasn't the time for her. Wolves at the Gate was a good example of using a new slayer for a couple pages and then off'ing her. We didn't need a back story on the slayer that was murdered by the Japanese Vamps and we didn't need one here either.
The only real complaint I have about Swell is, well, Swell. I thought it was an interesting character but I wanted to know more about it. It had a gripe against females and I want to know why that was. Why does a plush toy have a gripe against powerful women? Ya know?
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El Diablo Robotico
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Post by El Diablo Robotico on Feb 9, 2009 13:45:08 GMT -5
#22 is my favorite issue since WatG ended, because I love Satsu. :heartsatsu: In fact, I'd want her to marry me and have my babies if she wasn't, y'know, a gay fictional character. (Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but she is pretty cool... )
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Post by wenxina on Feb 9, 2009 14:12:26 GMT -5
#22 is my favorite issue since WatG ended, because I love Satsu. In fact, I'd want her to marry me and have my babies if she wasn't, y'know, a gay fictional character. Well... all you need is a Vampy Cat... and then... you have a few days I guess... before she's dry as a corn husk.
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Post by Emmie on Feb 9, 2009 14:26:58 GMT -5
I voted I liked them equally as much.
I think Harmonic Divergence had a more ambitious and deeply thoughtful story that resonated on multiple levels.
But Swell had a tighter script and stronger character development. Harmonic Divergence struggled for it's first view pages and didn't fit the comic medium as effortlessly as Swell did. I think this is partly due to DeKnight have some directorial experience which Jane attributes to being necessary when considering how to write a comic script.
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Post by AndrewCrossett on Feb 9, 2009 14:31:14 GMT -5
I disliked Harmonic Divergence slightly less than I disliked Swell.
But they're the first two issues of season 8 I disliked at all, so... I guess that's a good record.
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Post by tms on Feb 9, 2009 15:05:47 GMT -5
Swell, hands down
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patxshand
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Post by patxshand on Feb 9, 2009 15:13:11 GMT -5
Swell is way better, I think. Harmonic Divergence was awkwardly written, but Swell flowed nicely.
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Post by eco on Feb 12, 2009 9:32:06 GMT -5
I enjoyed Harmonic Divergence because it's the typical Buffy world where the Hero of the story gets killed really easily, which is always really good to see because it's a wake-up call that a fight between a Slayer and a normal Vampire can still go either way, even if there are alot more Slayers around, they're still getting killed. Also, I really liked how they played on how gullible and stupid the general public is - another reccuring theme with good 'ol Buff. Although I agree that it was a 'lil weirdly written... Swell was just uber cool - my favorite characters, the gayness, the subs, the profanity, the gore, the banter between Kennedy and Satsu and the kick ass line of "before I destroyed them with my gayness" Definatley one of my favorites of the season.
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Spiked
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Post by Spiked on Feb 12, 2009 15:57:28 GMT -5
To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of either of them. But I definitely prefer Harmonic Divergence. I liked the Kennedy/Satsu interaction in Swell, but it didn't close the open ends that were left at the end of Harmonic Divergence and Satsu gave up on her love for Buffy way too easily. Plus, it was just kind of ridiculous. As for Harmonic Divergence, it was a bit silly, yes, but I could definitely imagine it as an episode of the TV show.
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Post by AndrewCrossett on Feb 12, 2009 16:03:06 GMT -5
I liked the Kennedy/Satsu interaction in Swell, but it didn't close the open ends that were left at the end of Harmonic Divergence and Satsu gave up on her love for Buffy way too easily. I thought the same thing.
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