Exactly. Knowing Joss, this whole Saffy thing goes much deeper than the sex or sexuality. After all, the sex bit was just thrown in at the last minute. My guess is it will affect Buffy’s feeling of being “disconnected”, and set up whatever major role Satsu will play near the end.

And the L wasn’t for Lawyer.

Hmmm…

My best guy friend is an uber feminist. Sometimes I think he’s a closet lesbian.

David, just a few more days ’til issue #13!

I disagree. Having had hints of some nebulous or explicit bi-ness from Buffy would have ruined the Page 4 ZOMG effect. What happened isn’t necessarily about Buffy’s sexuality. Everyone is getting worked up over this and I get the feeling it’s the wrong thing to be talking about. There’s a deeper issue here that all of this talk is scratching at but not getting to.

By the end of Season 8 I’ll be able to point at it and say “See! There it is! While all of you were tripping over yourselves to wax prosetic about her sex life, it was really about THAT.” Until such time I’m simply left with a vague notion that it’s something else and not who or what she’s stroking with her silky fingers or kissing with her …

… Okay, moving on.

“Men+ Buffy=Slayer kryptonite the need to make a strong woman weak.”

The Men + Buffy equation was not to make a strong person weak, but rather to make a strong person normal. Without the relational angst Joss put the character through we’d have boring tales of Monster of the Weak. That’s what made Buffy something above the regular soap operas on television at the time. An audience was drawn to the Blonde Girl Who Kicks Ass but we became obsessed when we could relate to her humanity. We go on and on about it even today years after it’s off the air because the character inspires us to overcome obstacles – even (or maybe especially) when it means going through them rather than around.

“She must be angst driven even when there is no need.”

Buffy (the show, not just the character) would have been pointless without the characters’ angst to drive them.

“Like the straight things worked so well.”

Buffy’s hetero sex life has been completely normal. That is, if you take away the fact that two of them were vampires and the one was a super soldier. Relationships and the sex they come with aren’t perfect, and rarely the first few partners. The best many of us can hope for is finding someone we can connect with. We may want it to last but it won’t always work out that way. I would have thought it anomalous if she and Angel were still dating.

(And the L wasn’t for Lawyer.)

Slayer laying vampires stupid, because the straight thing never worked for her, but hey force her to be straight.

You have a very good point right there about the page’s non-leakage. It would have been very convenient, but it would’ve been too cheap, and definitely not Joss.

Another thing I actually wanted to add to the article is that Buffy is already Dark Horse’s best-selling comics since it started a year ago. Check out the figures here: http://www.comichron.com/ - The Buffy comics hovers at the Top 10, with about 100,000 copies sold for the first month of every new issue. It’s certainly the best-selling non-Marvel or DC comics. Quite an accomplishment, I should say.

Well, there’s our solid evidence. I wish I was a lawyer, too.

I’m not logically convinced this was the right move, despite my overtly maleness fantasizing about this kind of thing with Buffy. Were this under my control and not Joss’ I might not’ve taken this road. (Of course, no one else would have ever heard of Buffy because it would be a snorefest.) As with all things, I trust in Joss; he’ll make this right and in that not what we expect way he loves.

“Frankly, Buffy has already resorted to sex as anti-depressant before with Spike. … Some people assert that this latest plot twist is no more than a marketing tactic to boost the comics’ sales”

I think I understand Joss enough to assert that he doesn’t do marketing ploys. Joss is as Joss does and by that I mean he thinks this is where the character needs to explore. Were this a marketing thing, that page 4 panel would have been “leaked” generating first buyer sales. It wasn’t, it’s word of net that’s spreading all over, and I dare say it seems very insular in that only the people who know are talking about it. Your mileage may vary, as that’s my experience with this hullaballoo. I’m buying the issues sight unseen and only discussing it with others who are doing the same, go figure. My other point is that I want to speculate that what’s happening here is counter to what Buffy and Spike had or did. If Spike is the bad example of how to use sex/love/feeling/connecting Buffy exploring the flip side with Satsu may have some benefit (for her, for us, the world etc). I don’t know what I’m driving towards there, it’s stuck in the back, under my useless algebra memories, sorry.

That’s all I felt I needed to add, otherwise I agree with you or have no idea to redirect/reassert what you’ve already said. This was a fantastic article that addressed my discontent/surprise/lol with this fantastic issue. Thanks for being so thorough and thoughtful! (And for saying it.)

IANALBIWIW(S)