Dracula's characterisation in the comics... by Unseen

BUFFYVERSE

Dracula's characterisation in the comics...

POSTED BY: UNSEEN
UPDATED: Wednesday, June 4, 2008 12:02
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Thursday, May 8, 2008 11:47 AM

Just curious but does anyone else find Dracula in the season 8 comics to be really "off character" compared to how he was in the show? For the second issue in a row it's more or less completely distracting to me to the point of annoyance. The Buffy vs Dracula episode was one of my favourites, but the comic version seems to "speak" and act nothing like him. Having all the other characters very much `in voice` as they were from the show it really seems to stand out to me. I just cannot imagine Dracula as he was characterised in the show speaking the lines the comic version does or being as constantly talkative and almost casual...
Or am I the only one seeing this..?

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 12:10 PM

CHARLIEBZ

Well, didn't he have his mojo stolen? One thing hasn't changed: Xander is still his adoring minion.

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 1:39 PM

EMBERS

I thought he was being subtlety ridiculed in BtVS S5 when he first appeared, and now they've just upped the anti by ridiculing him more openly (after all Buffy defeated him then, which made him less imposing, and he has had his mojo stolen...)

so actually it is working for me. He isn't an important character in the Buffy verse (though I think it is too bad Spike isn't around to demand that money Dracula owes him), and I think they are being consistent to use him for comedy...

New Firefly fans should check this out: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=15816

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 5:24 PM

BSCPANTHERFAN

There was a mini-series (in 2006, I think) called Spike vs. Dracula that explained the whole "11 pounds" deal and also resolved it. There was also a one-shot story in one of the Buffy comics that had Dracula "kidnap" Xander for a while because he was lonely, and Buffy has to go "rescue" him. I think they are playing on the whole "lonely old vampire" shtick, which kind of fits in with his line in the TV show that he and Buffy are alike because they are "always alone".

It still works for me, mainly because they play Dracula for a few laughs, but he's still Dracula, so you don't want to get too comfortable with him around.

My big problem with this week's Whedonverse comic offerings is in the latest Angel:After the Fall, where Wesley threatens to "ring" someone's neck. How the @#*! did THAT get past the editing process?

(It's "wring", in case anyone's wondering)

So who is he?
He's my husband.
Well who in the damn galaxy ain't!

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Thursday, May 8, 2008 6:25 PM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by BSCPantherfan:

My big problem with this week's Whedonverse comic offerings is in the latest Angel:After the Fall, where Wesley threatens to "ring" someone's neck. How the @#*! did THAT get past the editing process? (It's "wring", in case anyone's wondering)

yeah, IDW (who publishes the Angel comics) really needs some better editors! I don't know if the mistake was Brian Lynch's or the letterer's but it should have been caught and corrected.

Someone had mentioned it at Whedonesque:
Chris inVirginia saying:

Quote:
*Ahem*, but one "wrings" a neck, one doesn't "ring" one.
Unless it's a musical neck, I suppose.

and Brian Lynch responded:

Quote:
Wow, Chris inVirginia, you really got me. I better hobble together a list of fixes for the collected edition. I'm gonna wring Ryall right now and tell him.

(because someone else had mentioned that Kate saying, " "hobble something together"
is also incorrect (should be 'cobble something together')

It is a fun thread... here:
http://whedonesque.com/comments/16272

New Firefly fans should check this out: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=15816

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Friday, May 9, 2008 8:18 AM

GROOSALUGG

I love the way Drac's being written in the comics... probably because I hated him in his one appearance in the show, so he's at least entertaining now.

I don't think he's so much being written differently than it's just that we're seeing a different side of him--the "Dracula behind the curtain". Who he really is when he's not trying to be the vampire rockstar. I have a feeling he was pretty much past his prime already in S5, and being so soundly trounced by Buffy finally made him realize that fact, and ever since he's been, "Oh, the hell with it--I'm not even gonna bother anymore."

But, just for the sake of argument, let's say he IS being written differently. Is one appearance, in one episode, enough to define a character and dictate that they have to be written that way forever after? If you think so, then I challenge you to go back and compare Anya in her appearances in "Doppelgangland", "The Prom", and "Graduation Day, Pt.1" in S3 with what she was like in seasons 4 through 7...

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Friday, May 9, 2008 1:21 PM

MISSTRESSAHARA

So, they took the character that basically CREATED the genre' that Buffy and Angel are based around and piss on him and make him into a joke? I saw that episode. I wasn't impressed. If your going to make Dracula a joke why not go the whole nine yards and put him in his cloak and suit?

My OWN opinion..... but I think it's an insult, and Dracula fans would agree.

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DON'T FREAK OUT

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Friday, May 9, 2008 4:01 PM

WTE

You can mock things you like, MistressAhara. It's good-natured fun-poking, not malice.

HONKS

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Friday, May 9, 2008 6:08 PM

GROOSALUGG

Quote:
Originally posted by Misstressahara:
So, they took the character that basically CREATED the genre' that Buffy and Angel are based around and piss on him and make him into a joke? I saw that episode. I wasn't impressed. If your going to make Dracula a joke why not go the whole nine yards and put him in his cloak and suit?

My OWN opinion..... but I think it's an insult, and Dracula fans would agree.

To quote the great Sgt. Hulka: "Lighten up, Francis."

It was a parody. Just like "Buffy" itself is a parody of the standard horror-movie staple of a blonde girl going into dark alley and getting killed by some horrible monster. The show never took any of the old classic horror mythology all that seriously, so why should their interpretation of Dracula be any different? If you're too sensitive to appreciate the joke, then maybe "Buffy" isn't the right show for you...

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Sunday, May 11, 2008 3:54 PM

MISSTRESSAHARA

Your right, it isn't for me, thats why I don't watch it. And serious or not, it was a crappy portrayal of an icon.

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DON'T FREAK OUT

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Thursday, May 15, 2008 10:55 PM

WYTCHCROFT

well - i sorta agree with everyone! season 5 of buffy is my fave (yeah yeah whatever) but the drac episode? suck city. mainly coz of the casting of drac - dark shadows style.

as for the current comic incarnation - yes, good natured fun (as was the episode) - except... without the fun.
After one great joke in the first part of goddard's arc, this is the first story from season 8 that i can't wait to be over. And Drac? He may try to be funny but he's just trying. I aint laughed once... and i've chuckled plenty elsewhere in season 8.
The writer's choices throughout the arc - have been wrong, wrong, wrong. the only nifty is the great looking (i'm a sucker for bowler hats) vamp assassin grrl (who is the spit of gaiman's Death).

But not Buffy herself - her story (although that has detractors) is no problem to me - in fact whedon's last one shot was great. and it was all about the buff stuff.

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Friday, May 16, 2008 7:09 AM

GROOSALUGG

I haven't been excited about Dracula's return, either. I mean, I loves me some Drew Goddard, but he's got this Drac fetish that I don't really get. On the other hand, having the Japanese vamp cult have his powers makes them a cool and interesting threat, and I'm willing to put up with Drac if we also get some vampires who are dangerous again out of the deal (it is called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", after all, and there haven't been too many vampires around lately). To have them share the same powers, and not bring Dracula back into the story somehow, I think would leave too much of a plothole.

And the scenes between he, Xander, and Renee last issue were pretty funny, I thought ("Tell your moor to watch her tone, manservant"), so it was worth having him back just for that...

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Tuesday, May 20, 2008 8:27 AM

DESKTOPHIPPIE

Quote:
Originally posted by Misstressahara:
serious or not, it was a crappy portrayal of an icon.

That's exactly what most Romanians say when their national hero is associated with a depraved, blood drinking monster.

That aside, Buffy wasn't created to continue the genre of horror. It was created the tear it apart and come up with something new. The whole premise is a new twist on the old cliches.

There's no doubt Dracula *is* portrayed differently than he was in the series. Although the episode itself was tongue in cheek, Dracula's portrayal was fairly serious. Now he's become a much whackier charcter, borderline Andrew in some places. Still, it doesn't bother me. Truth be told, I've laughed out loud at almost every one of his scenes. The whole page with Xander and Dracula chatting over tea while Renee fights total mental breakdown was absolute gold.

Banners, Avatars, LJ Icons and other fun stuff at www.desktophippie.com

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Wednesday, June 4, 2008 12:02 PM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by Misstressahara:
Your right, it isn't for me, thats why I don't watch it. And serious or not, it was a crappy portrayal of an icon.

oh Misstressahara I hope you get issue #15 (just out today)
it has some amazing plot twists which really go a long way to putting Dracula back up on that pedestal!
I'm serious... some really awesome, moving moments!

New Firefly fans should check this out: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=15816

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