Dear Joss, please stop.

I just read a couple of new scans on the latest Buffy comic, and I've never been more glad that I never listened to peer pressure and spent money on them. Even with the gorgeous covers.

And this is not about the whole 'Buffy is now experimenting' thing from last issue, although that still makes me groan. No, this is about how, once again, one of Xander's girlfriends has ended up dead. Or, at least, impaled from behind with a very big spear.

Now, I'm pretty sure that Rene is not going to even count as a WiR, because that particular trope is not about just being a female character who dies, but you also have to be a female character whose death (or rape, or depowering) is used just to further a male character's story and let's be honest, Xander has never been one to get in the warpath because one of his girlfriends dies. And he's got some experience on that.

What pisses me off is that yet again there's another romantic relationship in the Jossverse that is doomed. And while I get that perpetual happiness won't sell books, coming this close to the whole Brand New Day mess, and with so many mainstream comics showing break ups and separations its getting tiresome.

Seriously, is there any romance in the Jossverse that hasn't ended in disgrace, death, or both members of the couple hating each other?