Omnibus reread

[Uncannyslayer]

Hi! I just want to check whether anyone would be up for a reread of the old stories printed by Dark Horse and IDW before Season 8 and After the Fall.

@artan42 ?

I am mostly reading them again, because I am on paternity leave and a bit bored on some days - I was not exactly overwhelmed with joy, when I first read them. I will be starting with the first Buffy Omnibus.

[artan42]

By a staggering coincidence I've been working on a project involving all the non continuation comics recently. I got the last Legacy edition and was significantly disappointed in their cheap slap dash approach so I've been making my own hybrids of them, the omnibuses, and upscaled IDW stuff. All in in-universe chronological order (like the omnibuses).


I've not been reading them as I've been working though so it'll be interesting to do so.

[Uncannyslayer]

That is a funny coincidence and an interesting project which I understand the need for given the content omitted from the legacy editions.

I am taking your reply as a yes, so should we just use this thread?

[artan42]

I think using this would make sense. More would clutter things up a bit.

And it was a yes. I have the Omnibuses physically so I'll dig them out tonight.

[Uncannyslayer]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 1 (Dark Horse 2007) - Spike & Dru: All's Fair (first released in 2000)

Fair warning, I was never really a big fan of Christopher Golden's writing or of Eric Powell's art, so this was never likely to be my favorite story. I generally feel that Golden's Spike lacks charisma and that Golden's Drusilla lacks mystery. I also think that his writing tends to be very safe and by the numbers, and this story was no exception.

This story sees Spike and Drusilla deciding to have a bit of fun during the World's Fair in Chicago in 1933, killing off some tourists and enjoying the scenery and coming across an inventor who claims to drain unlimited energy from another dimension before being ridiculed by his peers and the tourists, which makes Spike relate a bit to him. Spike’s and Dru’s pasts and the police catch up to them, while it turns out that the inventor’s machine has actually opened a portal to a demon realm with old demons that want to overtake “our” realm, which solves Spike’s and Dru’s immediate problems, before Spike decides to end the portal and cut off the demons once again.

This was a harmless oneshot with very little to it, except building up to a finale that was supposed to be an explosive climax, but it left me feeling nothing; I did not really root for Spike & Dru, and I did not root for the inventor-turned mad scientist. Spike and Dru could have been replaced by any other vampire couple without changing the story much, which is hard to avoid with these tie-in stories – but I guess that I would have been more invested in the story, if the inventor had been a bit more developed or felt a bit more original.

Rating: 3 out of 10

Spike & Dru: All's Fair

This is chronologically (sort of) the first of a extremely large number of Spike focused comics from both Dark Horse and IDW.

• The start of this story is the Boxer rebellion seen in flashbacks in the show.
• Apparently Spike and Dru both speak Chinese, something I don’t really buy Spike learning considering he couldn’t even speak German.
• Spike and Dru’s relationship is much more like their BS2 one (clingy Spike) rather than their flashback style (football hooligan Spike).
• The panel of the two lovers kissing and then Spike and Dru feeding is nicely done. The art doesn’t really get more interesting than that though.
• The Chinese assassins are, in particular, so badly drawn they look like vampires.

I also really liked the panel with Spike and Dru feeding on the couple that was kissing; it felt very much like something they would do, and I actually was a bit confused about the Chinese assassins at first, because they do look like vampires.

[Uncannyslayer]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 1 (Dark Horse 2007) – The Origin (first released in 1999)

As far as I remember, this adaption of Joss Whedon’s original screenplay for the Buffy movie is among the very best stories from the old Dark Horse comics – which along with Joss’ aproval of it have many fans considering this canon. Canon or not, I was and still am glad that there is a version of the story from the movie that fits with show and dials a bit down on the campyness of the movie, which I mosty find cringy. I also really like that they are opting for the likeness of Merrick from the show, which indicates that the writers/artist/editor actually care about this franchise.

Lothos is still not a very memorable villain, he is pretty close to a light-version of the Master, and Benny and some of the dialogue – especially when Pike and Benny are talking to Buffy’s group – just annoys me, some of it is due to the subpar writing, and some due to 90’s cringe alone.

I will try to limit my complaints about the vampires having green – and sometimes brown – skin in the old Dark Horse comics to saying that it was a bad choice that I did not like one bit or even understand at all. I guess the purpose is to make the vampire form stand out from the human form on page. I also really don’t like the look of Pike – the grey hair makes him look old enough to have a midlife-crisis, but otherwise the art is servicable, without standing out positively or negatively. It makes sense that they are not going for the likeness of actors and actresses, who are not known for their roles in the Buffy-movie and have had no ties to the franchise for seveal years.

All in all it is a pretty good adaption with the right length.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Buffy: The Origin 1-3

• I’ve never seen the film this is based on.
• The vast majority of DHs early Buffy comics made the unfathomable decision to make the vampires into monsters, some were green, some had scales, some had ape faces, etc. I hate this, especially considering the series already took a more monstrous approach with the vampires ‘game faces’.
• Lothos seems to be Dracula.
• The ‘dark ages’ ‘lite ages’ pun is funny.
• Pike has grey hair and a beard. I guess he got held back 20 years in school.
• Buffy seems more like Harmony than Cordelia. The flashbacks in the show always indicated Cordi was Buffy’s ‘path not taken’ but Buffy here is just thick.
• How old is Pike supposed to be? Somehow his interactions with Buffy come off as even more creepy than Angel’s do.
• Merrick is kinda cool.
• Like most of the DH comics this seems to have been released around BS3 which is probably where they got their art from considering the 15 year old Buffy looks about 20.
• The Guidance Councillor looks younger than Pike.
• Until Buffy sees Merrick kill himself and starts part 3 the dialogue is universally bad. But after that, Buffy’s alienation and confusion is played surprisingly well.
• It stretched credulity that people were able to write off vampire attacks on the show with ‘that guy’s face was all messed up on PCP’ but these comic vampires are not something one can ignore in a school. I guess WR&H must have cleared it up.
• The flamethrower deodorant can idea was simple and effective. I expect Buffy will use it all the time after moving to Sunnydale.

I am really surprised that you have not seen the movie with your dedication to the Buffy-series, but I cannot really recommend it, the dialogue is truly bad for the most part - and in the movie Buffy is the archetype dumb blonde, with dumb friends too.

[artan42]

I will have some time for a write up this weekend. So far I'm working through The Origin.

[artan42]

Spike & Dru: All's Fair

This is chronologically (sort of) the first of a extremely large number of Spike focused comics from both Dark Horse and IDW.

• The start of this story is the Boxer rebellion seen in flashbacks in the show.
• Apparently Spike and Dru both speak Chinese, something I don’t really buy Spike learning considering he couldn’t even speak German.
• Spike and Dru’s relationship is much more like their BS2 one (clingy Spike) rather than their flashback style (football hooligan Spike).
• The panel of the two lovers kissing and then Spike and Dru feeding is nicely done. The art doesn’t really get more interesting than that though.
• The Chinese assassins are, in particular, so badly drawn they look like vampires.

There seems to be little point to this one-shot other than featuring Spike. The main premise of the story feels like an AS3 or 5 plot.
Unlike the other Spike and Dru (and just Spike) spin offs this is the only one from DH to be set before the series (IDW would do 5, Angel vs. Frankenstein I&2, Barbary Coast, Blood and Trenches, Spike vs. Dracula 1-4)






Buffy: The Origin 1-3

• I’ve never seen the film this is based on.
• The vast majority of DHs early Buffy comics made the unfathomable decision to make the vampires into monsters, some were green, some had scales, some had ape faces, etc. I hate this, especially considering the series already took a more monstrous approach with the vampires ‘game faces’.
• Lothos seems to be Dracula.
• The ‘dark ages’ ‘lite ages’ pun is funny.
• Pike has grey hair and a beard. I guess he got held back 20 years in school.
• Buffy seems more like Harmony than Cordelia. The flashbacks in the show always indicated Cordi was Buffy’s ‘path not taken’ but Buffy here is just thick.
• How old is Pike supposed to be? Somehow his interactions with Buffy come off as even more creepy than Angel’s do.
• Merrick is kinda cool.
• Like most of the DH comics this seems to have been released around BS3 which is probably where they got their art from considering the 15 year old Buffy looks about 20.
• The Guidance Councillor looks younger than Pike.
• Until Buffy sees Merrick kill himself and starts part 3 the dialogue is universally bad. But after that, Buffy’s alienation and confusion is played surprisingly well.
• It stretched credulity that people were able to write off vampire attacks on the show with ‘that guy’s face was all messed up on PCP’ but these comic vampires are not something one can ignore in a school. I guess WR&H must have cleared it up.
• The flamethrower deodorant can idea was simple and effective. I expect Buffy will use it all the time after moving to Sunnydale.

The story concept is actually good but I would have preferred to have seen it in the show itself (beyond the Buffy sat on the stairs bit).






Viva Las Buffy 1-4

• Thus starts the long drawn out instances of Angel always just being out of frame with Buffy for the next few comics.
• Buffy looks like she has Angel’s cross on.
• Having Dawn in these is interesting and indicates that Buffy is recounting these stories as Dawn didn’t exist until BS4.
• Hank is a dick.
• Now with Giles’ little Ripper under the surface. The show implied that it was his gradual increased use of magic and being an active Watcher that brought his past back to the surface. But these comics are playing on familiarity.
• The Summers family drama would be interesting in the show as a flashback or illusion attack or something, but in a comic it’s a drag.
• Well that outfit is all kinds of wrong, even if you lampshade it.
• Oh look Gwendoline is here, I guess Wesley has to show… ah, there he is. What a dweeb, I bet he never amounts to much.
• The time travel bits with Angel, again, feel like a plot line from AS2, 3, or 5.
• The artist is not doing themselves any favours with the posing and exaggerated focus on the aforementioned 15 year old Buffy.
• This arc is full of filler, 4 issues is too long.
• The half and half vampire/human twin is interesting if full of exposition.
• Angel using a computer is always funny.
• The Watchers parts of the story are just odd. No part of how the Council act really seems to match how they’re later portrayed. Deadly tests for the Slayers, sure, but not the Watchers.
• Holy Water sprinklers are a good idea, I bet they get used all the time.
• The twins were wearing half and half clothes, how come the human one is wearing a full costume now?

I was not overly keen on this story, the gem of the idea was good but there was just soo much filler it became boring.

[Uncannyslayer]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 1 (Dark Horse 2007) – Viva Las Buffy (first released in 2002-2003)

In my experience year one-stories often tell stories that did not need to be told, with some of them being based on throwaway-lines of dialogue with content that the original writer did not find worthy of developing further – and for me this story comes across as particularly unnecessary and drawn out.

Buffy already feels overpowered to me in the opening scene, successfully and very publicly attacking multiple vampires at once and spinning her stakes like revolvers.

Buffy’s confusion and lack of knowledge after Merrick’s dead is the strongest part of this story, adding some emotional weight that makes the story a relevant tie-in story.

I like the idea of Pike as a narrator, but I find the execution lacking, he is too bland a character, even if they’ve turned him a bit Owen-esque or Riley-esque, developing him a bit beyond being a standard Luke Perry-character. I am not an expert, but I find that a person fighting for a long-term relationship should tell the other person, if he/she is making a wrong choice, Pike´s stance is about short-term happiness in a relationship that he fears will not last. On the art-side they got rid of Pike’s silvery/greyish hair which I have mixed feelings about – he looks less like a middle-aged man shopping in the junior section, but it also makes the comics feel less consistent.

I also have mixed feelings about the inclusion of Dawn, I would probably have preferred comics set in the early season to be Dawnless. Her inclusion just reminds me that I am reeding tie-in comics that I rarely enjoy enough that I should be buying them at all.

I think that it was a nice touch to have Joyce and Hank at least show up top fight for Buffy to be allowed to stay at her first own high school, but of course Hank is letting Buffy down at the exact moment that things get hard to deal with.

I am annoyed that both Angel and the Watcher’s Council seems to be forced into the story, adding pages to a story that was already too long. It should have been one or the other. And I do not see any need for a time travel plot being in a story that has already become unfocused.

Despite being conjoined twins, the casino owners are standard bad guys waiting to be killed off. There is nothing to them except for being evil.

And Buffy is completely overpowered again in time for the climax.

There were a few nice details throughout, but this story was overstuffed and filled with inconsistencies between this story and the show.

Rating: 4 out of 10

Viva Las Buffy 1-4

• Thus starts the long drawn out instances of Angel always just being out of frame with Buffy for the next few comics.
• Buffy looks like she has Angel’s cross on.
• Having Dawn in these is interesting and indicates that Buffy is recounting these stories as Dawn didn’t exist until BS4.
• Hank is a dick.
• Now with Giles’ little Ripper under the surface. The show implied that it was his gradual increased use of magic and being an active Watcher that brought his past back to the surface. But these comics are playing on familiarity.
• The Summers family drama would be interesting in the show as a flashback or illusion attack or something, but in a comic it’s a drag.
• Well that outfit is all kinds of wrong, even if you lampshade it.
• Oh look Gwendoline is here, I guess Wesley has to show… ah, there he is. What a dweeb, I bet he never amounts to much.
• The time travel bits with Angel, again, feel like a plot line from AS2, 3, or 5.
• The artist is not doing themselves any favours with the posing and exaggerated focus on the aforementioned 15 year old Buffy.
• This arc is full of filler, 4 issues is too long.
• The half and half vampire/human twin is interesting if full of exposition.
• Angel using a computer is always funny.
• The Watchers parts of the story are just odd. No part of how the Council act really seems to match how they’re later portrayed. Deadly tests for the Slayers, sure, but not the Watchers.
• Holy Water sprinklers are a good idea, I bet they get used all the time.
• The twins were wearing half and half clothes, how come the human one is wearing a full costume now?

I was not overly keen on this story, the gem of the idea was good but there was just soo much filler it became boring.

I also found that mentioning her age before sexualizing her poses was such a funny, wrong detail.

[Uncannyslayer]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 1 (Dark Horse 2007) – Dawn and Hoopy the Bear (first released in 2003)

To me this feels like a perfectly fine story that should have been part of a horror anthology but was instead written with Dawn as placeholder for the main character so that it could be published as part of the Buffy-series.

I really like the story concept with a demon-imbued teddy choosing to protect its owner, and I actually prefer Hoopy to the misogynist cat-toys from Season Eight.

Dawn’s description of Buffy’s changed behavior is a bit on the nose, “I guess she didn’t think fighting monsters was cool anymore”, which is such a shame when there are so few Dawn-centered stories, and the delivery scene is also a pathetic attempt at explaining/justifying how Hoopy ended up with Dawn; she could just have opened the package, because she was curious and Buffy was not home.

Hoopy looks a lot like Winnie the Pooh.

Rating: 5 out of 10


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 1 (Dark Horse 2007) – Slayer, Interrupted (first released in 2003)

I like Buffy thinking about her opening line needing work, it is something that would absolutely be among her thoughts in this situation, and I also thought that it was a nice touch for the vampire to make fun of it.

I did not remember this story very well, but I really like Normal Again, so I should enjoy a story with Joyce and Hank worrying about Buffy’s mental health after the events of The Origin and after finding her diary.

But I do not for one second believe that Buffy would ever write a diary with her thoughts on being a slayer, especially not during her time as an airhead becoming a slayer or during a trip to Vegas with Pike, which kind of makes this story fall apart for me, despite Buffy being very much in character when she analyses another patient in the mental institution and brushing her off, when she is seeking help.

Buffy mentioning the most common metaphors from the show specifically to the psychiatrist is a bit much, but I really liked that the psychiatrist is a former watcher. It was a twist that I did see coming, and I think most readers will - it makes sense for the watcher’s council to keep tabs on mental hospitals.

I do not enjoy the parts of the story that it centered around Giles’ immediate past, it feels underdeveloped and unnecessary, especially after seeing better stories about Giles’ past in Angel & Faith, and the same goes for the parts of the story that is centered around Angel and Whistler. I will admit that Giles’ reaction to hearing Buffy’s name was very enjoyable though.

There is a lot that I like, and a few things that drag the story down, but this feels like a more relevant story to tell than Viva Las Buffy, and the story feels very Buffy to me.

Rating: 6 out of 10

Slayer, Interrupted 1-4

• This is what I mean about terrible art. It seems early 2000s comic book artists just can’t resist drawing 15 year old girls three cup sies larger than the adult version of the character.
• The internal dialogue is convincing though for a novice Buffy.
• Buffy having a diary is not convincing.
• Buff’s LA house doesn’t have a porch, or it didn’t in Dawn and Hoopy the Bear.
• Synne Head doesn’t exist (as far as I can tell) but Slyne Head does, it’s a lighthouse on an island off the coast of County Galway.
• All this additional Watcher lore is still pointless.
• Ripper here seems to be Giles’ fears of Ripper rather than what he was actually like. AS7 showed he’d more or less grown out of it by his early 20s and the occasional petty crime and some light daemon summoning was basically the extend of his dark side (oh and the deaths related to said summoning).
• Classic comics Captain America just casually walking around the shopping centre.
• What a soft neck the daemon has, to be decapitated with a shard of glass.
• Buffy is currently covered in daemon blood that’s bright blue. That would be convincing evidence that she’s not mad.
• What’s with the one random page flash to Sunnydale to see Willow rejected from sitting with Cordi? And why would she bother, they’ve always disliked each other.
• Apparently now ‘Synne Head’ is in Northern Ireland.
• I’ve never been able to work out how old Giles is supposed to be in the show. Ripper looks to be in his 30s here which would make Giles 50 in BS1 which seems a little old.
• ‘Bullocks’, you might have a typo there.
• Oh goodie, genuine authentic English slang…
• The crux of it all, Buffy doesn’t want the role. Combined this with the parental drama and there’s another solid flashback episode here that was never made.
• Angel remains pointless.
• The twist with the head doctor and the Brides is not a twist.
• Those bedrooms are massive for an asylum.
• Gloricus? Some daemon is trying to big themselves up there.
• Now the psychologist being a Watcher is actually a twist.
• Ha, Doublemeat®.
• Giles only just becoming a Watcher at such an advanced age is probably a result of neither the show or any comics really getting straight what the Council actually does or what the Watchers that don’t have the Slayer or a potential actually do.
• Ha, Buffy is a silly name.

I would not call the art terrible, except for the increased cup-sizes which is a general problem with most of these comics. To me Cliff Richards is actually among the best artists on the old series, drawing characters with some likeness and so they are able to be told apart by readers, and some pretty dynamic fight scenes.


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – Angels We Have Seen on High (first released in 2002)

A silly and pointless short story that exaggerates the trademark humor and is drawn very stylistically, but does not have any real plot to speak of.

Not rated

[artan42]

Dawn and Hoopy the Bear

• There’s some cunning trademark bypassing here with the bear.
• The artwork is very reminiscent of some of the guest work from BS10, solid colours, defined backgrounds, lack of stylisation. Most of the Classics have incredibly ugly art.
• The bear is apparently a D’Jinn. I don’t think these have appeared canonically outside of ‘The Broken Bottle of Djinn’ in ‘Tales’.
• Buffy’s LA house is huge. Not that their Sunnydale one is small, but this one is at least twice the size.
• I don’t think there’s ever been a hint in the show that either Dawn or Buffy were gamers.
• The misunderstanding is contrived but would fit fine into the campy-er BS1 or 2.
• The wish granting monster being bound to a child and having to fulfil the banal sorts of wishes children have is quite an amusing story.
• It’s odd the bear isn’t killing the victims.
• I hope we see that poor bear again.

Not too bad a story. Note really a necessary one but fun. I’m still not too sold on the idea of having Dawn around as stories centred on her when Buffy has run away don’t make sense as Dawn doesn’t exist yet so this time Buffy cannot be recalling what happened as she wasn’t there for it.




Slayer, Interrupted 1-4

• This is what I mean about terrible art. It seems early 2000s comic book artists just can’t resist drawing 15 year old girls three cup sies larger than the adult version of the character.
• The internal dialogue is convincing though for a novice Buffy.
• Buffy having a diary is not convincing.
• Buff’s LA house doesn’t have a porch, or it didn’t in Dawn and Hoopy the Bear.
• Synne Head doesn’t exist (as far as I can tell) but Slyne Head does, it’s a lighthouse on an island off the coast of County Galway.
• All this additional Watcher lore is still pointless.
• Ripper here seems to be Giles’ fears of Ripper rather than what he was actually like. AS7 showed he’d more or less grown out of it by his early 20s and the occasional petty crime and some light daemon summoning was basically the extend of his dark side (oh and the deaths related to said summoning).
• Classic comics Captain America just casually walking around the shopping centre.
• What a soft neck the daemon has, to be decapitated with a shard of glass.
• Buffy is currently covered in daemon blood that’s bright blue. That would be convincing evidence that she’s not mad.
• What’s with the one random page flash to Sunnydale to see Willow rejected from sitting with Cordi? And why would she bother, they’ve always disliked each other.
• Apparently now ‘Synne Head’ is in Northern Ireland.
• I’ve never been able to work out how old Giles is supposed to be in the show. Ripper looks to be in his 30s here which would make Giles 50 in BS1 which seems a little old.
• ‘Bullocks’, you might have a typo there.
• Oh goodie, genuine authentic English slang…
• The crux of it all, Buffy doesn’t want the role. Combined this with the parental drama and there’s another solid flashback episode here that was never made.
• Angel remains pointless.
• The twist with the head doctor and the Brides is not a twist.
• Those bedrooms are massive for an asylum.
• Gloricus? Some daemon is trying to big themselves up there.
• Now the psychologist being a Watcher is actually a twist.
• Ha, Doublemeat®.
• Giles only just becoming a Watcher at such an advanced age is probably a result of neither the show or any comics really getting straight what the Council actually does or what the Watchers that don’t have the Slayer or a potential actually do.
• Ha, Buffy is a silly name.

The Watchers part of this doesn’t make much sense for the reasons pointed out above. I can’t really imagine pre-AS3 Wesley surviving the Blackshed.
This has been the best story from the pre-BS1 era so far though.

[artan42]

I am really surprised that you have not seen the movie with your dedication to the Buffy-series, but I cannot really recommend it, the dialogue is truly bad for the most part - and in the movie Buffy is the archetype dumb blonde, with dumb friends too.

From all I've heard of it there's just no part of it I really like the sound of. The tone seems wrong and the familiarity and offness of it would be disconcerting. If I'm ever bored enough one day, I might give it a go, but I'm not a massive fan of camp or horror parodies where that is the entirety of the work.

[Uncannyslayer]

From all I've heard of it there's just no part of it I really like the sound of. The tone seems wrong and the familiarity and offness of it would be disconcerting. If I'm ever bored enough one day, I might give it a go, but I'm not a massive fan of camp or horror parodies where that is the entirety of the work.

That makes perfect sense, and I am defenitely not among its' fans - I kind of wish that I could unsee it, but I was too curious to not see it.

[artan42]

Angels We Have Seen on High

• Bad art.
• ‘What is your malfunction’ was funny when Cordi said it once, to have it show up more than once stinks of ‘hey you guys, remember that bit you all liked…’.
• Angel saving Dawn is a contrived coincidence and I think, the only instance of the two ever interacting in person (they may have spoke to each other in the cross overs in BS10).
• Vanished like an angel? Painful.

Of all the comics I’ve read, that was one of them.


A Stake to the Heart 1-4

• The art is good again. Both the opening chapter pages and the main story.
• Oh goodie, more Angel and Whistler.
• A law firm!? Gosh, I wonder if that’ll come to much?
• Very jumpy of Buffy there considering vampires can’t get in.
• The nightmare stuff is well done for a comic, exactly what you’d expect from the show but more creepy without limitations of budget or actors.
• Sunnydale has an airport? I thought it’s main hub was the bus station or the docks.
• I wonder where in LA Buffy lives and if it’s near any of the action in Angel.
• The house is different again.
• The metaphors playing out here are actually quite good and a more sophisticated storytelling than I had considered would come out of the Classics.
• Buffy falls for the attacker/victim switcharoo the audience will in ‘Welcome to the Hellmouth’.
• Hmm, I guess this comic was made before the network switch and IDW getting the Angel rights because I didn’t expect WR&H to actually show up in person.
• Whistler trading Angel’s name to WR&H for a solution doesn’t seem to actually contradict anything from the show but it doesn’t really match up with much. Though Whistler in AS7 is portrayed as having to work both sides and Angel’s whole role in the prophecy is being dragged between both sides so it somewhat works.
• Hey, Jesse.
• I’ve always liked Giles’ flat, it’s more interesting than most of the other residential sets.
• Dawn vanishing makes no sense, she is either there or not.
• Now she’s back.
• Dawn isn’t in any of the tapes? She’s in photographs, why wouldn’t she be in the tapes?
• Angel doesn’t have his tattoo here. The comics are really inconsistent with his and Faith’s tattoos.
• The spell gave Angel a double polaroid? That’s equal parts hilarious and disturbing.
• I don’t think I ever need to see a apparition stuff a person inside themselves.
• Angel trying to persuade the vamp to move on the Mayor is funny.
• I think I love the painting styled pages, the artwork is genuinely good beyond just comicbook art.
• Angel picking his name here feels like it contradicts something but I can’t think what. It might be ‘Why we Fight’.
• ‘I could die right here’ Wowser. Though this indicates the comics were written after BS5 which was after IDW got the rights I think so how come DH can use WR&H?

Thus endith the last of the pre-BS1 Classics comics and this last one has been the best. Tonally it feels much more like the continuation comics (what’s the one in BS10 where they move into the haunted apartment and get stuck in their own pasts?) but spread out over 4 issues instead of compressed into 1.

Really this was the only one of this first batch that was necessary and actually led to a lot of things. Though Dawn could be done without.The lead up to why Angel and Giles are in town is reasonable and not contrived this time and showing us the lives of Cordi, Harmony, Jesse, the Mayor, and Xander and Willow worked well.

[Uncannyslayer]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – A Stake to the Heart (first released in 2003)

I remembered this story as one of the best stories among the older Dark Horse series and I was glad to return to it. The opening panel was beautiful and the following comparison between springing an attack against an unknowing prey during a hunt and telling your children that you are going to be divorced was apt. These factors convinced me that there could be more to this story than to most of these tie-in stories, and I also enjoyed the use of simply writing blah, blah, blah during the explanation phase. Buffy is too shocked to listen to the details and it is conveyed magnificently.

It is also a very Buffy reaction to go on vampire hunting sprees to vent, and I could see Dawn following her and discovering that she is in fact a slayer.

I do not mind Angel’s and Whistler’s presence, when they are contributing to the story, and the malignancy demons or spirits – Angel’s calls them several different names throughout – are incredibly scary adversaries, pushing the title closer to horror territory than most episodes, while all of Buffy’s negative feelings are explored very efficiently and convincedly.

Involving Wolfram & Hart in the story may be taking Angel’s involvement a bit too far, but I am neutral towards the Giles, Xander, Willow and Cordy parts.

Despite not being pro-Dawn in these stories, I really like to see Buffy taking so much care of her during these trying times.

This story is a great example of a very good tie-in story, giving a shot at telling an untold story about an important time in Buffy’s life that we have heard very little about. A great story and good art, and those painted panels are gorgeous.

Rating: 7 out of 10


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – MagGuffins (first released in 1998)

Dark Horse’s first Buffy-story seems to be more of a fun little sample of what they were going to do with the comic than an actual story – Giles tests Buffy by sending her two annoying sort of Gremlin-behaved creatures. Shenanigans.

Not rated


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – Spike & Dru: The Queen of Hearts (first released in 1999)

I think that Dark Horse’s 2nd Spike & Dru-story was released around the time that I stopped buying the classic Dark Horse-series due to its’ general lack of ambition, and I can see why, it is another story written by Christopher Golden and the artist is Ryan Sook, whose style I absolutely abhor.

In this nonsensical oneshot, Spike and Dru comes across an old steamship turned casino and win a lot of money by using Dru’s powers repeatedly, which leads to a fight against some nasty sea-themed demons.

I did not enjoy it at all and found the script and art confusing – much of the time it was unclear to me, what was going on.

Rating: 2 out of 10


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – Ring of Fire (first released in 2000)

This is another story with art by Ryan Sook, so I do not like the art at all. It is one of the few stories set in season two, and features Angelus, Dru and Spike, while he is bound to a wheelchair. It is written by Doug Petrie, but I do not think he is getting the voices of any of the characters right at all and the story is all over the place, with the vampires betraying each other yet again.

What the comic gets right is providing a bit of an opportunity to delve into Giles’ grief after the murder of Ms. Calender and giving Kendra another opportunity to be a part of the story, but neither of these factors get enough space to actually become the natural focus of the rushed story.

I like the idea about a Samurai Demon, so I think Kelgor is great as a concept, but he does not stand out from the Judge at all. He is basically another demon summoned to end the world and he gets very little page space.

A rushed story with a lot of missteps and art that I find very bad.

Rating: 3 out of 10


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – Spike & Dru: Paint the Town Red (first released in 1999)

Yet another story with art by Ryan Sook, this time with Christopher Golden and James Masters as writers. This story takes place shortly before Spike and Dru leave Sunnydale after season two and depicts their clash with a necromancer, after a fallout between the to of them due to Drusilla’s dreams about Angel.

I find it utterly uninteresting, except for the fact that the comic was allowed to reveal that Spike was sired by Drusilla, before it was confirmed by the show, at least according to some wiki that I have read recently.

Rating: 3 out of 10

[artan42]

MacGuffins

• This is apparently the first Buffy comic ever made and it shows.
• All the comments I’ve made about the ugly over-sexualised art applies right from the start.
• That is not Buffy’s house.
• I’m sure Buffy never has hair that short early on.
• Whose house with a pool is Buffy in right now?

There’s only one interesting thing about this story and it’s that it’s one of only three that are from BS2 (the other two being the next two). The High School Years fill in BS1 but this is second to only BS7 (in which only Spike: Into the Light takes place) for lack of comic content.


Spike & Dru: The Queen of Hearts

• Somehow, this art is even worse.
• It’s like there’s supposed to be a quota of Spike comics to be met.

I have no notes on this. Nothing really happens except Spike and Dru are on their way to ‘School Hard’.


Ring of Fire 1-3

• The Kelgor stuff is reminiscent of the Judge stuff.
• Giles grieving is oddly touching.
• Buffy working out in the school gym rather than the library. That actually makes sense and I assume the reason it never happened in the show is that the library is a set and the gym was filmed in a real school.
• Hey, Oz.
• I don’t know why Angelus really thought Giles would give the location away under threat of his life. Especially as he’s spent all that time making Giles into a man with nothing left to lose. But then again, Angelus’ genius has always been implied not directly shown.
• I do like Spike and Angelus sniping at each other.
• ‘…It can’t move’, ‘well neither can you’, ‘at least I’m living’. Okay, that was poor. Spike can move, it’s walking he can’t do, and he’s not alive either.
• Why can’t Buffy break out? She’s penetrated the bullet-proof glass and now there’s just wire.
• Hey, Kendra. I guess this is her only comic appearance ever. She’s not in ‘Tales’ or even in the continuation comics (not even in ‘The Chain’ from what I can remember).
• Though she seems to be acting more like Faith here.
• Looks like the comics are getting the same mileage out of Ripper as the continuation ones do out of Dark Willow.
• Has Dru done magic before, I feel she has but I can’t remember where.
• Sunnydale has a train station? And one that uses steam engines? And has Victorian style vaulted roofs?
• That is also not Buffy’s house.
• I’m almost certain Kendra was supposed to be Faith in this comic. No accent and a very Faith streak of temper.
• Come on, as if either Faith or Kendra would have just set a human on fire.
• Why has Angelus taken his shirt off?
• The fact that Giles actually makes contact with Jenny is interesting.
• Kendra has Faith’s tattoo. I think that settles it, the comic was written with Faith in mind but changed last minute.

Other than ending abruptly and the fact the whole storyline is a clone of the Judge one it wasn’t too bad. Being 4 parts with more focus on Giles would have helped it I think (maybe fewer Spike and Dru comics and more ones that actually matter.

I wonder where the whole Faith/Kendra confusion came from as it’s clearly a BS2 story from inception, surely the tapes would have been available for the writers.






Next up is the BS3 comics which make up the vast bulk of the classics and are only rivalled by the number of AS5 ones from IDW.

[Uncannyslayer]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 2 (Dark Horse 2007) – The Dust Waltz (first released in 1998)

I used to have a soft spot for this story, but it has sadly become the kind of story that I have found worse with each reading, and all the changes to the vampire mythos have not done the story any favors either. I cannot find heads or tails in the mythos surrounding The Master, Maloker and Archaeus and that is without trying to include this story’s villains, Lilith and Cecil, who come with their own mythos, werewolf servants and magical powers.

This story was the first story to be more ambitious than having Buffy quickly beat up a monster of the week within 24 pages or so, but it is also one of the stories that were hurt by the art being bad enough that you could mistake Cordelia and Willow for each other, if you did not cross-reference their clothing or stopped to think that Cordy would be the one to show more skin of the two. And there is a lot of cleavage and increased cup sizes again too. And Xander is also too athletic.

I like the idea of Giles’ niece, Jane, so there is a character present that can be altered by the events of the story, but she is not really developed or used enough and is never seen again, and she is a bit too Indiana Jones-y, “deathwish spice”, is a fitting nickname.

I liked the idea of this story a lot more than the execution - the stakes actually seems a bit higher than in most of the classic comics, but it is all a bit too much and the pieces do not fit together, if the broader mythos is taken into account.

Rating: 4 out of 10

[artan42]

Spike & Dru: Paint the Town Red

• Yet another Spike comic.
• Yet more awful art.
• Spike speaks Turkish (or possibly Arabic), this also is as unbelievable as him speaking Mandarin.
• Necromancy affecting vampires is something I can think of happening only once with Haynes (I think that’s his name) in AS5.
• The art is distractingly bad.
• I’m sure the architecture is not authentic. I’ve not been to Türkiye but I’m sure it’ll mainly be the mosques that are made with domes and spires and not normal houses.
• Oh, it’s over. That was short.

More pointless Spike and Dru stuff. No character development, no connected plot, terrible and distracting art.



The Dust Waltz

• I think this guy might be the only New Zealander in the entire franchise.
• More green monster vampires. With Giles’ arm position it looks like he’s supposed to be holding the string of a teabag but it wasn’t drawn in.
• It’s always been very confusing what Buffy and co are supposed to be doing in the Library all the time and what leeway Giles has as a member of staff.
• That’s Willow? I thought it was Cordi.
• The art is more generic early 2000s superhero style, narrow waists with massive chests/breasts, faces of little importance.
• His face is hardly ‘crawling with tattoos’, he has one over his left eye and one across his left cheek.
• Angel looks like he’s wearing Spike’s coat not his own.
• Ha! Old Ones. That’s been known as the name for powerful pure blood daemons since ‘Welcome to the Hellmouth’.
• The. Heart. Is. Not. Under. The. Left. Pec. It’s in the centre where the helpful bit of metal plating in on his armour. The left lobe is larger giving the heart more mass on the left side but nobody’s heart is so large the left lobe extends to the nipples, and if it is you would probably have soon to be fatal cardiomegaly.
• I guess Lilith is the Masters sire (as the other minion also calls her ‘mother’).
• ‘Demoness’? Angel knows she’s a vampire not a daemon.
• Ah, the famous Sunnydale storm drains.
• Ha! ‘Death Wish Spice’.
• Not-ha, more ‘what is Xs damage’. Stop trying to make a catchphrase.
• Giles falling foul of a sprinkler is funny.
• Those wolf people don’t act like the werewolves from the show.
• I’m getting really confused over what’s an ugly vampire and what’s a daemon.
• Wow. Overly dramatic reaction to the use of the word ‘bitch’.
• I guess the New Zealander has magical tattoos because he’s not wearing a shirt and clearly doesn’t have any on his chest until he takes his coat off.
• Azogg-Mon, now that’s more like an actual Old One.

I guess the titular Dust Waltz is a ritual to summon an Old One but I assume this is the first time it’s been a success. There’s a gem of a good story here but there’s too much fluff. Giles’ niece does nothing and never appears again. Giles also doesn’t have any siblings.
The story feels very BS2 to me.




Wu-tang Fang

• Issue 1.
• What is The Bronze doing with massive statues? What a weird choice.
• I’m not a shoe-ologist but are heals normally made from wood?
• The gist of this story is Xander’s inferiority complex, something that isn’t overly present in BS3.
• Okay, the school doesn’t look like the school either. Do the artists watch the show or are there some complicated legal issues with making things look like the tings they’re supposed to look like?
• Xander and Buffy’s back and forth is good though, very show like dialogue.
• They can’t even get the library right.
• I wonder why, now it’s been pointed out, none of the other Scoobies ever learnt martial arts from Giles or Bufffy. It wasn’t until about BS4 or 5 the writers made the decision to change the shows fighting from martial arts to brawling so BS1-3 Buffy is supposed to have actual martial arts skills she could have taught the others.
• Oh, it’s over.

These stories are often very basic and are really only supplemental to the show (unlike the continuation comics which replace it) so I need to lower my expectations a bit in terms of the intracity of the plots and character development. But even looking at this story in terms of a comic it feels too rushed.

[Uncannyslayer]

Sorry for the break, both me and my daughters have been dealing with COVID again.


Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 3 (Dark Horse 2008)
This Omnibus contains a lot of single issues and a double issue with one thing in common, they all feature monsters of the week and are based on the attempt to tell worthwhile stories by taking the standard behavior and mood of each main character in the third season and building the story around that without deciding when each of the stories takes place within season three, which is an uphill battle. None of the main characters are static.

Choosing a favorite story or a least favorite story mostly comes down to deciding which of the story concepts that are closest to one’s personal taste – the quality or lack of quality of most of these stories are mostly the same, but I think that The Latest Craze stands out positively and could have been a decent Ethan Rayne-based episode.

Most of these are drawn by Joe Bennet and Hector Gomez, who are both pretty weak when it comes to likeness and tend to use sexualized poses and looks.


Wu-Tang Fang (first printed in 1998) is about Xander being tired of needing to be saved, which makes him start practicing martial arts under a master who reminds me very much about John Kreese from Cobra Kai, while Buffy faces a vampire obsessed with fighting the best fighters.

I liked that they opened with the in every generation there is a chosen one…-bit and a lot of the banter, and it would make sense for Xander (and would make sense for Willow and Cordy too) to learn martial arts or self defense.

Rating: 4 out of 10


Halloween (first printed in 1998) Well, it is Halloween and Willow is kidnapped by a group of vampires. Buffy saves her, but one of the vampires gets away, due to the fact that Buffy only manages to stab her with a knife. It is a straightforward and pretty boring issue.

Rating: 3 out of 10


In Cold Turkey (first printed in 1998) The stabbed vampire is trying to get her revenge by capturing Buffy on thanksgiving. I find it pretty funny that the vampire is actually expressing anger that Buffy massacred her friends, like they were innocent creatures watching TV, and not kidnappers of human beings that they wanted to kill.

Remembering that this story actually continues, it is a bit funny that we see Buffy watching the vampire burn. Xander is even more obnoxious around Cordelia in these comics than he ever was on the show, and I feel that they are overdoing it more and more with the Buffyspeak with each new issue.

Rating: 4 out of 10


Dance with Me (first printed in 1998) is another short story that seem to be more of a sample of what would happen in these issues than an actual stories that would add meaning.

Not rated


White Christmas (first printed in 1998) is another holiday-themed issue (it is actually a bit much at this point) which sees Buffy getting a job in order to earn money for buying a dress and Buffy and Angel going ice-skating, before Buffy and the gang fight snow-demons.

Surely the watcher’s council would have a insurance though it probably would not cover trashing a car like this, and the Sunnyvale-part should really have been corrected.
Angel looks exactly like Buffy’s new boss, except for the removable face tattoos.

Rating: 3 out of 10

[artan42]

Sorry for the break, both me and my daughters have been dealing with COVID again.

Hopefully you're coping with it okay.


Halloween

• I’m sure Willows parents just ceased to exist after BS2 in the show. I can’t recall ever even seeing her house past then either.
• Willow does not look like Willow.
• Is that supposed to be Snyder?
• I really wonder if these artistic differences are a deliberate choice to make the comics an original universe or if there was some unseen rights thing to all but he basics of the story and characters.
• Can’t they just chain Oz up and have him transform and sniff her out? Or Angel, if he can track through sewers, I’m sure a street will be simple.
• The decision about schools and pigeonholing is unusually erudite for Buffy. I like it.
• I forgot ‘Band Candy’ wasn’t BS3s Halloween episode.
• Buffy as a Slasher is funny, I’m sure we’ve had vampires telling Slayer stories before.
• The vampire dialogue is quite funny and feels like an in-show back and forth.
• Selke survives. I’m sure that’s not important.

This is only the second main issue of the series by publication order so it figures they wouldn’t really have much of a plan or vision and this story is basically a truncated version of what would be a pedestrian of a BS1 or 2 episode in a similar vain to the previous one. As it seems to be so dependent on the show for the characters I doubt we’ll see much in the way of character arcs specific to the comics (or at least these ones set during the show) but I hope to be surprised.


Cold Turkey

• ‘Neck’. Hmm.
• When awakening from this nightmare Buffy, make sure to stick your chest and bum out as far as possible and shove that leg as close to the reader as possible, don’t worry about the spine, it’ll heal. Even the Aftermath comics in AS6 weren’t as cringey as these and I spent a lot of page space mocking them (and at least Dez, Kate, and Gwen were adults).
• Buffy references the last issue, I didn’t know these actually formed a proper continuation with each other, this might be interesting.
• I don’t think Domestic Science (or whatever they call this subject in the US) appears or is mentioned in the show at all. It’s in one of ‘The High School Years’ comics (‘Glutton for Punishment’) though.
• I find it unlikely Xander would be allowed that apron in a school.
• What’s the point of the hats if they’re all going to leave their hair loose? Cordie is the only one with hers sensibly tied back.
• Xander’s ribbing of Oz feels genuinely cruel here.
• On the other hand, everybody’s excuses to leave Willow and her terrible cooking are funny.
• Buffy has noticed Selke possibly survived. Though what remains was she expecting. Vamp dust normally dissipates quite easily and quickly.
• Medieval Survivalist Monthly. I wonder who actually writes those periodicals, LARPs?
• However, the implication that the mismatch of bizarre and impractical weapons that litter the library in the comics and the show are a result of Buffy’s impulse shopping rather than Giles’ choice is a really good moment.
• How odd, Buffy does sometimes wake up like a normal person.
• ‘A one Starbucks town’ despite all evidence to the contrary. Sunnydale in the show is inexplicably large, the one in these comics is basically a suburb of LA.

This story felt like there was a lot more going on than the last and I may have been wrong, it’s clear there are elements carrying over with their own internal continuity so there might be some actual development.


Dance with Me

• What’s this? Is that a normal looking vampire?
• Willow still does not look like Willow however.

Well, that was short and pointless. Like a cold open to an episode of little note.


White Christmas

• Out-N-in Burger. It’s hardly Doublemeat Palace
• Does Sunnydale have a shopping centre? I recall The Judge in one but I can’t picture it after that and you’d think they’d spend a lot of time there if it did exist.
• Considering these comics came out first, I wonder if there’s any pulling from them into the show when Buffy gets a job in BS6. Some of the jokes feel familiar.
• Angel in a tee-shirt with rolled up sleeves and no jacket. I don’t think he’s ever had that look.
• The ice skating and musing is a good sequence that could have come from the show. I seem to recall SMG was some sort of semi-professional ice skater or something.
• Willow now has more redish hair, though she had darker hair in the early show so it’s not too far off now. At least I can tell her apart from Cordi.

Again, other than a little excess (i.e. the massive ice monster) this feels like a low ambition episode of the show with some pithy dialogue and Buffy’s life drama.


Happy New Year

• Willow being somewhat upset with Buffy is a realistic touch.
• ‘If the apocalypse happens, beep me’, I think this is the only time I’ve seen Buffy with an actual pager. Weren’t the olden days fun.
• I forgot how well Buffy and Oz got on in their limited interactions in the show. They probably would have had more time to play off each other if it wasn’t for the late ‘90s ‘boys and girls can never just be friends’ trope that saturated the show and continued into the ‘00s and ‘10s (lest we forget Angel and Illyria suddenly hooking up, even though I will always try to forget it).
• Giles’ concern for his books over their lives is very Giles.
• Cordie being nicely assertive and cool under pressure is a nice call forward to her changed character in Angel.
• I’m surprised Oz is still in a sling, I thought the transformation healed things like that.
• This will not be the first or last time the library is broken into because of the books. Giles probably should have had some supernatural defence.
• I’m sure the school will be paying for the windows, not Giles.
• Ah, the famous Sunnydale clocktower.

More than the others so far, this feels like a BS1 episode (despite the Oz bits) especially with the Buffy/Willow tension.