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Last month Titan seemed to
have dispensed with what passed for a spoiler system, and even the editor
admitted that the magazine was "a minefield of spoilers."
This month it seems as if
this is the magazine's new policy, unless they simply forgot/couldn't be
arsed again. While last month gave away the Buffy
season finale (and the Sound Bites section repeats it
again this month), this time around Titan have decided to spoil the rest of
the season as well. Anyone who didn't know of her existence before
picking up this issue will have had the final moments of Buffy
vs. Dracula spoiled. If that wasn't bad enough, they've also given
away whooping great spoilers about the character herself. Basically,
if you're watching BBC2 and want to discover things as they're revealed on
screen then don't read the Michelle Trachtenberg interview.
It's easy to knock Titan for
this sort of thing, but I honestly believe the criticism is entirely
justified. Just saying "this interview took place during Buffy's
fifth season" really isn't good enough. And when this is clearly
the issue's main feature, you really have to wonder why they
didn't hold it back for a couple of months. But since there are also
spoilers in the quiz and the preview of next month's issue, they've
obviously decided that spoilers aren't an issue these days.
The interview itself is no
great shakes, although that's probably due more to the actress's age than
anything else. Most of the non-spoilerish questions seem to revolve
around her age, such as being a Buffy fan before
joining the cast and the difficulties of balancing schoolwork and acting.
A couple of short features
from the US magazine follow. Doug Petrie is the subject of Writer's
Block, while Amber Benson crops up in Random Access,
although the problem of US pop-culture references occur in the later -
how many readers outside the US will be able to relate to her comments about
the Three Stooges?
As has been the trend over
recent months, the cover photo doubles as this month's "free"
poster. Having the three actresses against a white background looks
less than convincing, almost as if Titan have put the whole thing together
themselves. Any older fans who don't find the poster a waste of time
might also feel slightly uncomfortable at having one that features a
15-year-old actress.
The Blood
of Carthage comic strip concludes this month, but the bad news is that
Titan are persisting with the multi-part Buffy
reprints from the Dark Horse series, as Heart of a Slayer
starts next month. Oh well...
The behind the scenes feature
is on the show's editing team, and yet again I'm forced to wonder why MVP
and Titan think it's a good idea to pad out these with whopping great photos
of those involved in the process. Anyone who wants a more in-depth
feature is going to be disappointed at a fairly basic overview, while those
with little or no interest aren't really going to be impressed with a two
page photo and some dodgy image manipulation.
Titan's attention to detail -
or complete absence of it - is also shown up in the reviews section, with a
needless reference to a certain season five character. Oh, and if your
main reviewer is using the same reviews that appear on his website, it seems
rather daft to retain the references to that site in the magazine's version of
the review, as it's only likely to confuse the average reader.
Anyone who's been following
the reviews of the UK magazine will have noticed that the marks have drifted
downwards a couple of points over the last 25 issues. That shouldn't
be taken as a sign that the magazine has actually got worse, but it reflects
a belief that the magazine should be getting better over time. After
all, there are now 144 episodes to cover against just 66 two years ago, and
Titan should have been able to see what works and what doesn't. But
unlike some reviewers who judge of what Titan are allowed
to do (and how many of us know that), the majority of readers can only
compare what they're getting for their money against their expectations.
And my expectation is of a magazine far better than the one Titan are
currently serving up.
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