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
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
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2 comments:
At the end of one season Buffy appears to have some sort of ADHD that made her hallucinate she slays vampires but in fact she was hallucinating even the separation of her parents.
At the end of another season Buffy & Faith are together and Sunnydale is perfectly destroyed, where once existed Sunnydale existed a deep city area trench.
In the later season Buffy became a social worker at her old high school, and Sunnydale is all fixed up like nothing happened in its underground.
Can you please inform this confused watcher how did each happen reversed? And why is Xander wearing an eye-patch
Nice redesign for the blog guys, I like it
It's really been a while since your last review, one year & one month. What happened? No more TPb's interest you?
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