Scan barcode
A review by alexampersand
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 Library Edition, Volume 3 by Georges Jeanty, Doug Petrie, Steven S. DeKnight, Drew Z. Greenberg, Karl Moline, Jane Espenson, Joss Whedon, Cliff Richards, Jim Krueger
3.0
Season 8 still manages to not be quite as pleasing as the show, but this time I think it was a combination of storytelling devices and plot points that just combined to leave it stuck at the 3 star mark.
To start with, the first half of this volume is all standalone stories, and some of them are slightly ridiculous. Harmony gets a reality television show... It rubs me the wrong way immediately when vampires are suddenly in the public consciousness, and being paraded as the 'good guys'. I can get on board with the Slayers being presented as evil in the previous volume. I could even get on board with vampires being public knowledge, if it is handled in the right way. But I don't think it is here. The comics seem to shrug it off as part of their light-hearted handling of Harmony's character, but that doesn't feel like the same atmosphere that the show had. Sure, it poked fun at Sunnydale residents being mildly aware, or perhaps not being aware enough, of what goes on in their town. But when it came down to it, it was fairly serious, and vampires weren't seen as the good guys.
Following on from that is a story about a killer cuddly toy. I can't decide whether it's so ridiculous that it is cute, or if it is just ridiculous.
Then we have standalone stories featuring Buffy & Andrew, and Giles & Faith, and while individually these are okay, as part of 5 standalone stories that are barely connected to the main arc, they get a little bit tedious. Maybe this is just a problem with serialised comics - knowing that it is serialised, I am happy to read a big story quickly, but then the standalone issues irk me. If I were just reading the comics as a series of standalones (like the original run of Buffy comics) these would just be seen as cute little miniature Buffy-tales. But as it is, I'm judging it within the context of Season 8, and that is where they fall flat.
Living Doll, however, is quite a nice conclusion to the Dawn storyline, even if her thricewise didn't look particularly terrifying at all.
Retreat is the major storyline here,and I'm not sure how I feel about this one either. It is nice to see the return of Oz, and I actually like what they have done with his character since leaving the show. I feel like it fits him. Generally most of this issue was nice and enjoyable, mostly because I felt like it was believable. The ending was slightly odd, though, and it wasn't until I read the bonus material of Georges Jeanty's sketch notes that I realised what it was meant to represent. (view spoiler)
Let's ignore the fact that there was more silly business with Harmony in the end. Those stories really do not need to exist, and I will continue in my headcanon believing that the world is not aware of the existence of vampires.
I am interested to (re)read the final volume of Season 8, because so far I have enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first time around (and the problems with this issue I think WERE more storytelling medium issues, rather than actual plot issues).
To start with, the first half of this volume is all standalone stories, and some of them are slightly ridiculous. Harmony gets a reality television show... It rubs me the wrong way immediately when vampires are suddenly in the public consciousness, and being paraded as the 'good guys'. I can get on board with the Slayers being presented as evil in the previous volume. I could even get on board with vampires being public knowledge, if it is handled in the right way. But I don't think it is here. The comics seem to shrug it off as part of their light-hearted handling of Harmony's character, but that doesn't feel like the same atmosphere that the show had. Sure, it poked fun at Sunnydale residents being mildly aware, or perhaps not being aware enough, of what goes on in their town. But when it came down to it, it was fairly serious, and vampires weren't seen as the good guys.
Following on from that is a story about a killer cuddly toy. I can't decide whether it's so ridiculous that it is cute, or if it is just ridiculous.
Then we have standalone stories featuring Buffy & Andrew, and Giles & Faith, and while individually these are okay, as part of 5 standalone stories that are barely connected to the main arc, they get a little bit tedious. Maybe this is just a problem with serialised comics - knowing that it is serialised, I am happy to read a big story quickly, but then the standalone issues irk me. If I were just reading the comics as a series of standalones (like the original run of Buffy comics) these would just be seen as cute little miniature Buffy-tales. But as it is, I'm judging it within the context of Season 8, and that is where they fall flat.
Living Doll, however, is quite a nice conclusion to the Dawn storyline, even if her thricewise didn't look particularly terrifying at all.
Retreat is the major storyline here,and I'm not sure how I feel about this one either. It is nice to see the return of Oz, and I actually like what they have done with his character since leaving the show. I feel like it fits him. Generally most of this issue was nice and enjoyable, mostly because I felt like it was believable. The ending was slightly odd, though, and it wasn't until I read the bonus material of Georges Jeanty's sketch notes that I realised what it was meant to represent. (view spoiler)
Let's ignore the fact that there was more silly business with Harmony in the end. Those stories really do not need to exist, and I will continue in my headcanon believing that the world is not aware of the existence of vampires.
I am interested to (re)read the final volume of Season 8, because so far I have enjoyed it a lot more than I did the first time around (and the problems with this issue I think WERE more storytelling medium issues, rather than actual plot issues).