Buffy, Season Eight

Throughout the past two years, this one Iraq correspondent, Jaime Tarabey, has covered the most personal and harrowing stories of the war that I have ever heard. One of her stories was about the sharp rise of anxiety and depression since the war began, in which she profiled a high school girl whose two best friends had been killed at school.
She also did story about how the war had increased both poverty and unemployment, and how many young women were now seeking jobs as corpse washers because it was the only source of dependable employment. Her reporting has always stood out in my mind, and I really respect her. So I was happy to hear her voice the other day as part of a series where NPR people read essays about a fictional character that has inspired them in some way.
Well, come to find out that the character who kept Jaime going during her years in Baghdad was Buffy!
You can listen to her essay here.

There have been Buffy comics for several years, and they haven't amounted to much more than geeky fan fiction, if I do say so myself. Now, however, Joss is involved, and actually the comic book IS Buffy Season Eight. Joss wrote a comic book called Frey, about a future Slayer, which was good not great. But the new Buffy comics are a different story. The art is good, the writing is good, and the story lines really have the genuine feeling and depth of the show. There are two trade paperbacks out now, and the second is even better than the first - there's a story arc with Faith that was as complex as anything on the show. Its a little harder for me to relate to Buffy in the new situation, since Sunnydale went from being "an outie to an innie" as Faith said in one issue, but then again Buffy was always a little distant. I never got as into it as you did, Zoe, when it was on TV, so I could imagine you not liking the comics because they are different from the show, or maybe you just don't want to go back to getting that into Buffy again, I don't know. Comics in general take some getting used to - the feeling is different, I think its written for a geekier audience, and I get annoyed with some of the sleazy fantasy cover art, but these really are good comics. Its different from the show, but on the other hand, Joss has complete creative freedom now.

Now Joss has taken over from my favorite comics writer, Grant Morrison (of Invisibles infamy), writing the Justice League of America comics. This is his new career, so check out the Buffy comics and let me know what you think.