If you read my previous post, then you know that I finally picked up Buffy Season 8 last week (after a few months spent living in a cave). Volumes 1-4 rocked. I had to drive to three comic book stores to find all the remaining issues, but it was well worth the trip.
***SPOILERS***
Volume 5 tells the story of a nameless slayer who sacrifices her life to protect Buffy. It explores the whole chain of slayers thing, and reveals more about what Giles has been doing since Season 7. This is also the first time I remember seeing fairies in the Buffyverse. But that’s the cool thing about the Buffyverse: pretty much any magical creature you can think up fits.
Volumes 6-9 are told from Faith’s point of view. Six opens as Faith bails out Robin (former principal of Sunnydale High), only to be forced to stake a bunch of recently-turned vamp kids. Understandably freaked out by this encounter, she’s ready to accept Giles’ offer to grant her early retirement in exchange for one more job: to take out a rogue slayer.
The slayer, Gigi, happens to be a royal, so Giles and Faith have to go all My Fair Lady to prepare for the big ball (where Faith will assasinate Gigi). As it turns out, Faith goes native (at least for a while), keen on Gigi’s plan to kill the queen of the slayers (i.e. Buffy). But in the end, “faithful” Faith comes around to the good side.
Uber pissed, Gigi and her warlock puppetmaster turn on Faith. She holds her own for a while, but when she gets in trouble, Giles swoops in for the surprise rescue. I loooove the evolution of the Faith/Giles relationship here. Giles is like a less evil (sexier) version of the Mayor.
Volume 9 also reveals the identity of the big bad behind the whole Twilight thing. Well, okay, readers get a glimpse of a guy in a mask, but it’s a start.
The flying scene that opens volume 10 is very cool. Buffy and Willow head into the mysterious layer of Sephrilian, a reality-bending giant dragony demon. He explains that Twilight will mean the final triumph of humans over demons. Good, right? Not really, because if the demons die, all magic in the world will die with them. The slayers, witches, sexy vampires with souls would all die if this Twilight thing came to pass (okay, I’m elaborating a little here, but that’s what the text seems to suggest). In the end, Buffy and Will kill Sephrilian and live to see another day.
In volume 10, Buffy learns that her best slayer, Satsu, is in love with her, and she meets the new bad guy face to face (or face to mask). Yeah, so this guy can definitely fly, and, more importantly, he makes Buffy question her moral certainty. There’s a really hilarious (and frustrating scene) in which baddie almost takes his mask off…but, alas, no such luck.
The apparently infamous volume 12 is awesome. Yes, the Buffy/Satsu sex scene is the best part, but Andrew also returns, readers meet some well-dressed Japanese vamps (who steal Buffy’s scythe) and Dracula makes a reappearance.
The best part of 13 is definitely the whole Xander/Dracula dynamic. Readers also learn what the Japanese vamps plan to do with Buffy’s scythe, i.e. use it to kill all of the slayers with one blow.
Aw, 14, why did it have to end so soon? Anyway, 14 opens as Buffy discovers the body of a slayer hung from an office building with “Welcome to Tokyo” written in blood at her feet. Renee (Xander’s new love interest) plays decoy to bring the vamps out. It works. Satsu and Buffy have a fight, Renee and Xander finally kiss and Dawn goes Godzilla on the streets of Japan. Things look good, but of course, it’s a trap. The last panel shows a vamp running Renee through with a stake.
***SPOILERS***
These comics are so friggin shiny! I can’t wait to find out who this Twilight dude is. Is it just me, or does he seem kind of Wolfram and Hartish? (I seriously need to read Angel: After the Fall). Anyway, I’m trying not to read spoilers, but it’s so hard. I was reading the series breakdown on Wikipedia the other day, and I caught some stuff about a future arc involving Buffy and Fray! OMG, I really wish I hadn’t seen that! But after I did, the Twilight/Fray theories I also stumbled upon made a lot more sense. I mean Fray takes place in a future where the line of slayers has died out and all of the demons have supposedly gone extinct (okay, not really). This would make sense if the whole Twilight thing really went down.
Anyway, nice slow breaths, I can’t wait for 15 to come out. Is it June 4th yet?
DweebMeter: 5/5
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Apr 9, 2009 at 12:07 am
The Fray Band…
The Fray is a Grammy Award-nominated four-piece piano rock band. Started in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King, the Greeley-based band released their debut album How to Save a Life in 2005….