Product Description: Seventeen-year-old Buffy Summers is not like other teenagers. She's been chosen to save the world from the vampire plague, no easy task when you're still expected to get good grades in school. For Buffy, slaying vampires is as common as doing homework -- except she sometimes has better luck fighting the undead than writing term papers! Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a mixture of action, chills, and laughs that has captured readers young and old. Here's proof that great television can make for great books! Included is the hard-to-find Dark Horse Presents 10-page adventure, published in color for the first time.
Good Addition for the Buffy Fan I didn't realize this was a comic, and not a paperback book, when I ordered it, but it was still pretty entertaining. For fans of the show who also like comics/graphic novels, you'll really like this one!
Bears Little to No Resemblance to the Series This trade paperback is made up of three one-shot comics and a bonus ten-page short.
Wu-Tang Fang: The writing is horrible. Buffy, Willow, and Xander are out of character, and Giles is used for nothing more than nagging Buffy and for expository scenes. The villain--a bat-like vampire who has, for hundreds of years, challenged martial artists--is ridiculous. His appearance (he looks more like a bat demon than a vampire) muddies the mythology of the series and how he is defeated is not only laughable, it's pointless. This whole issue was pointless, and even the original character--Xander's sensei--is so over-the-top that you'll be rolling your eyes too much to even look at the art, which--by the way--isn't much to look at.
Halloween: Each of these stories are written by Andi Watson and penciled by Joe Bennett, so don't expect a huge jump in quality in any of these. However, this one is a tiny step forward from "Wu-Tang Fang." What this story has is a strong start. The transitions between panels are awkward throughout the entire issue, but the beginning actually wasn't bad. But as the story trudged on, each page got increasingly worse. Oz is laughably out of character, bearing absolutely no physical resemblance to his television counterpart. Even his dialogue is almost comically out of character. However, what got to me most about this comic is the blatant disregard of the Buffyverse mythology. Vampires do not turn into disfigured green monsters when they are fighting. Never. It goes against the mythology established in the show. Why the artist and writer would choose to do this escapes me.
Cold Turkey: This is probably the best full issue in the book. The dialogue between Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Oz is interesting in the beginning. Things deteriorate a bit when the `main plot' of the comic kicks in: Buffy faces off against a vampire that escaped her in the previous issue (Halloween). The fight is awkwardly paneled, and I can't get over the fact that the vampires are being portrayed as green, red-eyed monsters. Other than that, it was a mediocre issue at best, but also the best of this collection.
MacGuffins: This short little ten-page story is very Season Oneish, but it's also a bit of fresh air. Though most people will probably see it as extremely hokey.
2/10
It gets better Everything has to start somewhere. Unfortunately for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic-book series, it started here.
"The Remaining Sunlight," written by Andi Watson, is the first collection from the Dark Horse series featuring everyone's favorite Calfornia slayer. Unfortunately, Watson -- who I already know did better work further along in the series -- had not yet hit her stride with this book. The dialogue fizzles, sounding little like the characters we know and love from TV. Pacing is awkward and plots are dull. And the action scenes, which look so effortless on the small screen, are uninspired and unexciting.
"The Remaining Sunlight" begins with "Wu-Tang Fang," in which Xander strives to learn martial arts just as a martial-arts devoted vampire comes to Sunnydale looking for worthy opponents. "Halloween," which introduces the villain Selke, is another tired look at the holiday when vampires sleep in -- in this case, with Willow and a few other people in the basement for snacks. In "Cold Turkey," Buffy tries to go shopping for a Thanksgiving feast while Selke seeks her revenge. "MacGuffins," a bonus tale by J.L. Van Meter, is a pointless attempt at being cute, in which Giles sends Buffy a pair of annoying gremlins to test her problem-solving abilities.
Plots are developed and resolved far too quickly to generate much interest. Fortunately, I peeked ahead and can assure you the series does get better.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor
Welcome to the Holidays - Hellmouth Style. Many of us tend to write off the BTVS comic series as simple spin-offs of the television show. The truth is that they are a creative force of their own and are composed of their own original stories. Of course, the comic style is far more action oriented than either the Buffy novels or even the show itself, but these are quite good and deserve some attention. For those people who do not have ready access to the comics themselves, these graphic books are a convenient way to experience this side of Buffy without the embarrassment of having a comic book fall out of your briefcase.
'The Remaining Sunlight' is a collection of the first three Buffy tales to appear in the comic series and an extra tale (possible from an issue of Dark Horse Presents). The tales are based in the Fall of the third season. Much of the early artwork in this series comes from the pencil and pen of Joe Bennett and Rick Ketcham, who together have a very crisp and balanced style. Add in the writing of Andi Watson and you have a attractive combination.
Wu-Tang Fang - Buffy and the gang run into some kung fu vampires on the way to the Bronze and are threatened by a shadowy figure in a straw hat. A vampire is eating the black belts of Sunnydale.
Halloween - On the night before Halloween Willow vanishes. Could some party vamps have picked her up for an appetizer?
Cold Turkey - Buffy has to do Thanksgiving shopping and a vengeful fang-face decides that stuffed slayer is the perfect holiday dinner.
MacGuffins - Buffy gets a present from Giles - a test in the shape of two troublemaking green critters (this story is by J.L. Van Meter with pencilwork by Luke Ross).
The artwork isn't incredible but it is an important trade This trade collects issues 1-3 of the Buffy comic series. The artwork is rather messy and seems hurried at times but the characters look fairly like they should (allthough no one seems to be able to capture Buffy as well as they should). The first issue is "Wu-Tang Fang" where Xander takes martial arts classes to be a better help in the Scooby gang. If there's one thing the comics get right its the friendly banter between the characters. I don't know why the vampires are all green skinned though. Next is "Halloween" where we meet Slke the vampire for the first time (she's important in later issues and trades). Willow and her mom have an argument about Oz and she leaves the house in the dark of the night only to be picked up by Selke and her friends. Buffy stakes Selke and her friends but somehow Selke survives. The issue finishes off with poor Xander dealing with a candy overdose. :) Then we have "Cold Turkey" (the comics love to have these holiday themes, I guess) where Buffy must shop for thanksgiving AND fight a vampire. Lastly there is a short story called "MacGuffins" which is rather pointless and about some test Giles sends Buffy in the form of annoying little creatures. Good for the serious collector who doesn't have the original appearance of the story. The writing is almost always good and that makes up for the artwork. It is really hard to capture characters that we already know every aspect of so thumbs up for the attempt.
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