Welcome to another installment of Buffversity, where we discuss the latest goings on in the Buffy Universe! This week: Buffy Season Nine #13!
Written by Andrew Chambliss
Illustrated by Georges JeantyActing as bodyguard for her first-ever client, Buffy has found herself entangled in some nasty demon business with ties to Angel and his time in LA. Through the social network Tincan, some demons have been able to connect to our world, and any attempts to sever that connection will lead Buffy and her client into increasingly dangerous territory.
- Executive produced by Joss Whedon!
This week “Guarded” came to a close, standing out as the shortest arc so far. In this issue, our new buddy Koh was decidedly not on Team Buffy, as he was ok with killing her client, the creator of the Buffyverse’s premiere social network for demons across dimensions, courtesy of everyone’s favorite devil law firm: Wolfram & Hart. Who just so happen to have bribed Koh into killing the creator so he can get what he wants: the identity of who trapped him in our dimension.
Some people just can’t catch a break, and Buffy has the worst luck of them all.
One of the most important moments in the issue came from an altercation between Buffy and Willow’s former beau Kennedy, who threw Giles’ death in her face. Giles, even post mortem, continues to be very important to this story, and gets mentioned several times across all series. What part Giles plays remains to be seen, but he may have had something to do with Koh being marooned here.
But while Giles is obviously important to the story, might have known something about Koh, and will likely come back by season’s end, the most likely culprit who stranded Koh on Earth at this point is The Whistler. The Whistler is more important in t+9+his season than he’s ever been, and we know he’s doing something to facilitate his repairing of our plane of existence. He has to bring balance as it were. Koh while…upset…that he’s stuck here, is still an ally of Buffy’s and is very possibly here because Whistler wanted him here for that very reason. That’s his whole schtick. He’s like Marvel’s Watcher or DC’s Monitors, but he’s more hands on than either of them.
In addition, there’s there line the lackey for Wolfram & Hart said:
“We know who is responsible for Eldre Koh’s imprisonment. Someone whose betrayal should not surprise us; and the perpetrator is still on Earth.”
This also happens to fit the Whistler M.O. Since he is always about balancing good and evil, he must have likely assisted evil at some point, and who is more evil than Wolfram & Hart? Plus, he’s literally old as Hell. Angel could have been involved, but he’s not nearly millennia old.
Anyway, Buffy and the team succeeded, despite Koh’s betrayal. Tincan was destroyed, Theo is alive, and Wolfram & Hart are stuck in their Hell dimension until they peek back through. It seems silly to write them out so quickly, since they were THE big bad on Angel for so long.
After it’s all over, Buffy expected to be fired. She’s never been one really able to hold down a job longer than a few weeks anyway do to weirdness following her wherever she goes. Instead Kennedy offers her a check with more zeroes than Buffy thinks can fit on a check and a promotion, but Buffy turns down both because she feels it’s selfish to use her abilities for personal gain.
Like a girl can’t have a day job while she’s not slaying? Buffy, please.
We’re just at the halfway point in this season, and both books are moving toward each other, albeit slowly, but surely. After “Spike” and “Willow” conclude everything will probably start moving at a breakneck pace to our inevitable conclusion.
This issue, however kind of got buried by the announcement of the next arc: “Billy the Vampire Slayer.” It will be interesting to see how this new character fits in with the Scoobies. Gay is nothing new to the “Buffy” canon, and he definitely has an important story to tell. I’m looking forward to it, but they still could have done more. However, more on him next month! See you next week with “Spike” #2.
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments!
