Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 vol 1: The Long Way Home

Collects Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #1-5 written by Joss Whedon with artwork by Georges Jeanty and Paul Lee.

Let me start by confessing to this: I abso-bloody-lutely love Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I was there when the show started its seven year run, I bought the DVDs and I have watched the entire run of the series at least seven times. While the show is not the most perfect run of any TV-show in the history of television, it is among the most original and addictive. Much has been said about creator and all around evil genius Joss Whedon’s feminist agenda and reinvention of the female hero as well as the high school teen-show, so I won’t repeat any of that here. But I love Buffy. So now that is out in the open.

The last season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer ended perfectly. It had the kind of ending that any great TV-show should have: One that brings the essence of the show, the metaphor, if you will, to the front of the story and wraps everything up nicely within an episode that feels like the ultimate episode of the show. So many shows have tried doing something different in their final episodes (like the sitcom Friends that wanted you to cry instead of laugh in the finale… a very bad idea), but Buffy and Joss Whedon stuck to their guns and delivered an amazing finale. The RIGHT finale.

So when it was announced that Whedon would executive produce and sometimes write an official in canon season eight in comic book form, I was both insanely excited and a little worried. Because how do you continue on from the perfect ending?

I needn’t have worried, as Whedon knew exactly what he was doing. Season Eight opens in a much different place than where we last saw Buffy. It even brushes off some annoying bits of information about Buffy’s life after the show that we got in the spin-off show Angel within the first few frames. And then Buffy jumps out of a helicopter and kicks some demon butt. Buffy never jumped out a helicopter on the show. Except maybe that time when she did, but I think that was on Angel, so it doesn’t count. My point is that Whedon embraces the endless possibilities that the comic book form provides him with. No more bad CGI, no more rubber monsters. Instead you get an army of the undead (and who doesn’t love an army of the undead these days?) and Willow the witch flying through the air like that dude from those DC comics.

Buffy now has an army of vampire slayers and the American government is not impressed. This story arc was written before Barack Obama and his Dreamamerica (a term I have shamelessly stolen from the great Jon Stewart) became a reality, so the US government is still evil and sees terrorists everywhere. You know, the bad old days? So it seems that Buffy is going to war with the US military or maybe even the entire human race. Buffy and her army of slayers, mystics and witches is seen as a threat to humanity, and I guess you can’t really blame us dumb humans for getting a bit jumpy when an army of superhumans suddenly appears and seemingly acts outside the law.

Is Buffy losing touch with the world? Is her army of slayers really in the best interest of the world? This theme seems very familiar, especially if you are at least a semi-regular reader of any X-Men book, but Whedon has never denied having lifted many ideas or themes from X-Men in just about everything he has ever done (okay, maybe not Toy Story), so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to regular fans of the Buffyverse.

Some have complained that the world of Season 8 is too far removed from the TV-show, but I really don’t see that as a problem. The show ended perfectly, so why continue down that road? This is in many ways Buffy Vol. 2, and thus it should be different. Whedon does seem to have lifted something a bit more problematic from the X-Men books, though: The comic book series is burdened by an insane amount of continuity. You really do need to have watched the show, if you want to understand ANYTHING that’s going on in this book. Then again, that’s not really different from picking up most books from Marvel or DC these days. But Season Eight issue 1 is really Buffy issue 145. You need to have watched the other 144 episodes if you want to understand this.

The book ends with a stand alone story, which is probably the greatest single issue Whedon has ever done. Buffy is nowhere to be seen in this story, but Whedon explores a corner of his newly created comic book version of the Buffyverse and creates a whole new world. In 22 pages. It’s a great story.

The artwork in this volume is done by series regular Georges Jeanty. While he is no Bryan Hitch or John Casseday, he does get the job done. His style has the exact right mix of realism and cartoon-style that a book like this needs. Buffy has always mixed real and raw emotions with the lightness of the classic superhero comics, so Jeanty is a fitting artist. He has also designed a version of Buffy that doesn’t really look that much like actress Sarah Michelle Gellar, but still looks like Buffy Summers. He has made the character his own. Towards the end of the main arc in this volume the panels do get a bit messy, but that might just be Whedons script that is a little too busy. But overall the book flows nicely.

The artwork in the final, stand alone chapter is by Paul Lee who’s style is not quite as organic as Jeanty’s, but is still perfectly fitting for a fill in artist. Credit should also be given to regular cover artist Jo Chen and her elegant covers. The front cover to this collection is especially iconic.

Buffy Season 8 is off to a great start.

8/10

Secret Invasion

Collects Secret Invasion #1-8 written by Brian Michael Bendis and drawn by Leinil Yu.

This is it. The Marvel mega-event that everyone and their grandmother have been talking about for what feels like an eternity. The brainchild of Brian Michael Bendis, the infamous writer who have set forth to change the face of the Marvel Universe, one universe-spanning event at a time. This is his magnum opus (in a Marvel context, anyway), and this is most likely what he will be remembered for the most once the dust has settled and everything's back to normal (ohh, the cynicism of long-time comic book readers...). And let me start by saying that it's actually pretty good. Not in the "Holy shit, I need a new pair of pants!"-kinda way, but more in the "Hm, not bad, not bad. Pretty good actually."-kinda way. I enjoyed it.

I won't bother with a detailed explanation of the story, lets just say that Earth is invaded by Skrulls and the heroes need to get together to save the world while not being able to trust each other or, in some cases, even themselves. Pretty much every corner of the MU is represented in some form or another in here, although obviously the main focus is on the Avengers cast of characters. The main strengths of the script is the massive scale of the event and the spectacularity that automatically comes from having every major Marvel character in the story. There's a bunch of cool plot twists that you will probably already know about if you've been anywhere near an active internet connection within the last year or so, and plenty of action to spice up the whole thing. This book has been accused of being just one long outdrawn fight scene, but I have to disagree with this. There is a lot action, maybe even more than in your average monthly, but the plot moves along at a nice pace and the action only helps to increase the feel for the gravity of the situation. The finale doesn't disappoint either, as was the case with Civil War to some extent, and of course it has a suspenseful ending that leads into the next big universe-spanning event, Dark Reign... Ah, will it never stop?

The main problem with this book is that it does not read as a complete story. It has a beginning, a middle and an end, so you'd think that it's a complete story. But the problem is that there are so many unanswered questions remaining after turning the last page, that it makes the X-Files seem pretty self-explanatory. I assume all or most of these questions will be answered in the numerous Secret Invasion tie-in books, which I will be getting like any other Marvel-addicted junkie out there, but at the end of the day I'd be hard pressed to call this book a complete story in and of itself. It seems to me that Marvel wants to put it out as a stand alone book while also benefiting from the added sales of tie-ins, and that does compromise the overall quality of the main title.

Yu is one of my favorite Marvel artists these days. His quirky style has given personality to a book like New Avengers, but unfortunately he has chosen to change that in this book to a much cleaner style. Personally I prefer his usual style to this one which seems a bit more, well, anonymous. Still, his compositions and ability to bring out the personality of every single Marvel character on the page, does put him a head above the rest.

One thing I want to praise Marvel for is the speed at which this book was put out. The last issue of the series was put on the stands in December (if I'm not mistaken) so it's only been a month or so until this book came out. This is in stark contrast to earlier publishing fiascoes where books of the same series came out in wrong order because one of the books has to come out in a HC version first. Lets hope that Marvel keeps up this good publishing policy, although I've been told that it's only something they do for major event books.

Yes, I'm quite pleased with the way this book came out and I recommend it to anyone who wants to know what the fuzz is all about or if their specific Marvel idol was a Skrull all along. If you're planning on getting this book, you might also consider getting the latest New Avengers book and the New Avengers: Illuminati book which both function as prologues to Secret Invasion. Now all we can do is sit and wait for Dark Reign...

7/10