Set in season 4 and 5
Various writers and artists
Another mixed one. The volume starts with some short stories, which are generally enjoyable, even with the inclusion of Angel. Of note is the Jonathan story, set during that time period when he was uber cool leader of Sunnydale and possibly the world.
Punish me with Kisses is a Willow and Tara story with some adorable art - Willow becomes sort of pixie like. They have to banish an argumentative old ghost couple from a hotel. It’s sweet, and similar in feel to the story in volume 7 where they take Dawn on a tour of magic sites of America. Tara makes the most beautiful and suave butch!
Next story features the return of a typical comic book female villain. By typical I mean a horrifically, clichéd and sexist interpretation. She has pointy heeled stripper shoes*, pvc trousers with buckles on, lots of weapons (including mini arrows strapped to her legs), corset style lacing over her crotch**, bare shoulders but covered arms, and a cross shaped section missing from the front of her costume so we conveniently get a hint of boobs. I have no idea why her boobs aren’t making friends with gravity. Because usually bras are the only items of clothing that prevent that.
So, that ruins an otherwise good story. I mean, if I have to include a ‘misogyny’ tag to any posts concerning the Buffyverse the creators are doing something wrong.
Next up is a ghost/bugs/Giles on a date story which is pretty forgettable.
Then another Willow and Tara story, where the cover painting looks eerily like Willow and Amy. Another witch in the college coven wants to do real magic and inadvertently summons the Morrigan. I have some issues with how the Morrigan is portrayed, but other than that this story is good and the art is pleasing. Simple and uncomplicated, and the colours match the feel of the scenes really well.
Then there’s a 2 page story about evil video games. It’s not really worth mentioning. So, onto the Dawn story. This takes place shortly after Dawn has arrived and Buffy is agonising over what is real and what isn’t. We also see how Dawn fits into key events in Buffy’s past, like her first death. Dawn proves she’s got brains and identifies that there is a missing slayer from the Council’s archives. It turns out that the slayer was turned into a vampire. Since I’ve always wanted to know if this had ever occurred, and if not, why not, I was very pleased to see this development. And this slayer as vampire wants to resurrect the master. This is a brilliant thing to end the volume on.
Should you buy this omnibus? I’d say buy the last story in single issue format. It’s called False Memories. The rest isn’t too special.
*not a derogatory comment. I love stripper shoes but I don’t have any as I a) have nowhere to wear them, and b) probably wouldn’t be able to walk in them. More's the pity.
** which sometimes I like. Christina Aguilera had some trousers like that. But there's a world of difference between a rl woman picking out an outfit like that, and a comic character being deliberately given an outfit like that. Context, folks, context.
Showing posts with label buffy omnibus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label buffy omnibus. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
Buffy Omnibus volume 5
Writers: Various
Artists: Various
Set the summer after season 3 and also season 4.
Overall, this wasn't bad. One story I heart so much, and we will come to that, and others that are fairly enjoyable.
First up is Haunted. The Mayor has become a disembodied spirit and starts taking over dead bodies in order to haunt Buffy and kill her. Of course. She injured his Faith. The writer has captured his voice surprisingly well, so even before he introduces himself you know it's the Mayor. I've always found him an interesting character.
He is evil, obviously, but he also has old fashioned standards. He doesn't put up with Faith being rude, he likes manners and cleanliness and he wants the young around him to learn and be educated and fill their minds. He loves Faith. Really loves her. He may be immoral but he is (not yet) inhuman. He just so happens to also want to be turned into a giant demon so he gain lots of power. For the non Buffy fans out there, this may seem familiar, maybe it's been done before. If it has, fine, but the particular execution of this character within Buffy is pretty unique. Mayor Wilkins has his own flavour.
There's some great bits in this story where the Mayor takes over a dead crow and investigates other bodies. Buffy has to deal with regular humans coming to her for advice on how to cope with death. She also has to deal with prophetic dreams involving Faith and their relationship with each other. We see the initiative for the first time and learn the origins of Adam. I loathe the initiative, but this made me care more. So, I say good job.
We'll come to Take Back the Night at the end.
Killing Time is about soriety girls initiating the new girl into the group by summoning Ragginor the Destructor. Therets some cute dialogue and the demon is dispatched. Now, I can't work out if Buffy is particularly bright or just average. Historically, I think Slayers generally rely on their strength rather than their cunning, and Buffy has no time to do academic study, which is the reason she fails her classes. She did get a higher grade than Willow once, which is pretty darn good, but in season 7 Willow tells Kennedy that Buffy is "a sweet girl, but not so bright". She does think 'outside the box' (hate the phrase), and she does use her surroundings, assets and friends to best advantage, but I can't work out if she's clever or not. What do y'all think?
Next is The Blood of Carthage'. This is good. It has lots of flashbacks to Willow and Xander's childhood, the art in which is adorable. Willow is revealed to be far braver than previously thought and saved Xander's life when they were little. In the present day, things get misunderstood, mistakes are made and the apocalypse has to be averted again. At the start of the story Buffy feels out of sync with college life, she's totally apathetic. By the end she's got her motivation back. There are also Spike and Dru flashbacks and thousand year old Romans. And a ghost slayer. Which is awesome - I love other slayer stories.
One of the bad things about the story is the 2 vampire twins dressed in spandex. Awful superhero costumes shouldn't be allowed near the Buffyverse. It's demeaning, disrespectful and completely out of place.
The Heart of a Slayer features yet another slayer! Oh, how they spoil me. This is an eleventh century armoured slayer chasing a demon through time. I cannot give away any more or it will spoil it, so just believe me when I say that this story is fantastic. It adds more to the slayer mythology, it adds depth to Buffy's character and Giles' role as Buffy's Watcher and it complicates the relationship between them.
Cemetary of Lost Love has Baron Samedi.and a quite effective skeleton outfit.
Oz is about what Oz got up to in the himialyas, learnign to control the beast. The art doesn't look like Oz but he does have a flame haired lady friend on his travels, who is mostly cool, apart from the abundant breasts. There's a twist I didn't see coming. It's not a bad story.
Now, Take Back the Night. Oh I heart this! There's horrible frat boys leching on the women and declaring them lesbians when they don't respond. There is Maggie Walsh compering a Reclaim the Night rally! She declares, and I quote:
'Rape is an act of violence and power. Never of sex...Together we will show these beasts that the night belongs to us'.
Damn right! How often do you see popular culture actually getting this right? How often do you see the media stating that rape is about power, and not sex? Fuck all is how often. I am so pleased that the comic stated this. The more people that understand this, the closer we will be to stopping it.
Then there is some demon fighting, and Buffy kills the demon, while army boys are a bit frazzled I might add, and the last panel is this:
Oh she is my hero! Isn't one of the appeals of Buffy, that she's an ordinary slip of a girl but she's not threatened by anybody and she can't beat anyone up? That just cause we're female doens't mean we have to be at threat of attack by the rest of the world? This is one of the few popular culture things which has women taking care of themselves. We're not delicate, we don't get attacked as soon as we step outside of our house, and we're not gonna be framed as victims anymore, dammit.
Heart heart HEART!!
Artists: Various
Set the summer after season 3 and also season 4.
Overall, this wasn't bad. One story I heart so much, and we will come to that, and others that are fairly enjoyable.
First up is Haunted. The Mayor has become a disembodied spirit and starts taking over dead bodies in order to haunt Buffy and kill her. Of course. She injured his Faith. The writer has captured his voice surprisingly well, so even before he introduces himself you know it's the Mayor. I've always found him an interesting character.
He is evil, obviously, but he also has old fashioned standards. He doesn't put up with Faith being rude, he likes manners and cleanliness and he wants the young around him to learn and be educated and fill their minds. He loves Faith. Really loves her. He may be immoral but he is (not yet) inhuman. He just so happens to also want to be turned into a giant demon so he gain lots of power. For the non Buffy fans out there, this may seem familiar, maybe it's been done before. If it has, fine, but the particular execution of this character within Buffy is pretty unique. Mayor Wilkins has his own flavour.
There's some great bits in this story where the Mayor takes over a dead crow and investigates other bodies. Buffy has to deal with regular humans coming to her for advice on how to cope with death. She also has to deal with prophetic dreams involving Faith and their relationship with each other. We see the initiative for the first time and learn the origins of Adam. I loathe the initiative, but this made me care more. So, I say good job.
We'll come to Take Back the Night at the end.
Killing Time is about soriety girls initiating the new girl into the group by summoning Ragginor the Destructor. Therets some cute dialogue and the demon is dispatched. Now, I can't work out if Buffy is particularly bright or just average. Historically, I think Slayers generally rely on their strength rather than their cunning, and Buffy has no time to do academic study, which is the reason she fails her classes. She did get a higher grade than Willow once, which is pretty darn good, but in season 7 Willow tells Kennedy that Buffy is "a sweet girl, but not so bright". She does think 'outside the box' (hate the phrase), and she does use her surroundings, assets and friends to best advantage, but I can't work out if she's clever or not. What do y'all think?
Next is The Blood of Carthage'. This is good. It has lots of flashbacks to Willow and Xander's childhood, the art in which is adorable. Willow is revealed to be far braver than previously thought and saved Xander's life when they were little. In the present day, things get misunderstood, mistakes are made and the apocalypse has to be averted again. At the start of the story Buffy feels out of sync with college life, she's totally apathetic. By the end she's got her motivation back. There are also Spike and Dru flashbacks and thousand year old Romans. And a ghost slayer. Which is awesome - I love other slayer stories.
One of the bad things about the story is the 2 vampire twins dressed in spandex. Awful superhero costumes shouldn't be allowed near the Buffyverse. It's demeaning, disrespectful and completely out of place.
The Heart of a Slayer features yet another slayer! Oh, how they spoil me. This is an eleventh century armoured slayer chasing a demon through time. I cannot give away any more or it will spoil it, so just believe me when I say that this story is fantastic. It adds more to the slayer mythology, it adds depth to Buffy's character and Giles' role as Buffy's Watcher and it complicates the relationship between them.
Cemetary of Lost Love has Baron Samedi.and a quite effective skeleton outfit.
Oz is about what Oz got up to in the himialyas, learnign to control the beast. The art doesn't look like Oz but he does have a flame haired lady friend on his travels, who is mostly cool, apart from the abundant breasts. There's a twist I didn't see coming. It's not a bad story.
Now, Take Back the Night. Oh I heart this! There's horrible frat boys leching on the women and declaring them lesbians when they don't respond. There is Maggie Walsh compering a Reclaim the Night rally! She declares, and I quote:
'Rape is an act of violence and power. Never of sex...Together we will show these beasts that the night belongs to us'.
Damn right! How often do you see popular culture actually getting this right? How often do you see the media stating that rape is about power, and not sex? Fuck all is how often. I am so pleased that the comic stated this. The more people that understand this, the closer we will be to stopping it.
Then there is some demon fighting, and Buffy kills the demon, while army boys are a bit frazzled I might add, and the last panel is this:
Oh she is my hero! Isn't one of the appeals of Buffy, that she's an ordinary slip of a girl but she's not threatened by anybody and she can't beat anyone up? That just cause we're female doens't mean we have to be at threat of attack by the rest of the world? This is one of the few popular culture things which has women taking care of themselves. We're not delicate, we don't get attacked as soon as we step outside of our house, and we're not gonna be framed as victims anymore, dammit.
Heart heart HEART!!
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Buffy Omnibus volume 4
Various writers and art teams
Set in season 3
There's a lot of Angel in this run, you all choose whether that's a good or bad thing. The first story is about Buffy becoming a model, and sees the return of Selke, a villain from an earlier collection. She obviously wasn't very memorable as I couldn't quite place her. The art is very average with some of the characters unrecogniseable at times. and the vampires are green and bat like. Oh and Spike and Dru feature. On the whole though, it's not a very good story.
And then we are on to the short stories. Bad Dog, where the inker went a bit nuts, yet does provide good atmosphere, and Oz escapes from his cage. Hello Moon features a non-monsterific monster and is a bit trite. Cursed tells us of Angelus back when he was newly turned. Dead Love sees Buffy reading an old watcher diary and realising her life ain't so bad. Stinger is a demon who feeds on fear. Mall Rats is a two page simply drawn wonderment! Y'all need to find the comic this was originally published in and buy it up.
Then there's a Spike and Dru story titled Who Made Who? covering the period where the mad couple broke up because Drusilla boinked another demon. It's evil and far too heavy on Dru associating pain with sex. She's more complex than that and reducing her to a caricature is not good writing.
Next up is the Hollower. More crap art and flashbacks to Angelus. Back to the present day and there's a big demon draining all the vampires and about to wreck Sunnydale. It's ok but too Angel heavy for my tastes.
Lastly is Graduation day. Featuring a bat winged Alien type demon, focusing on the Angel/Buffy break up.
Overall opinion? Find the comics with the short stories in and buy them off ebay.
Set in season 3
There's a lot of Angel in this run, you all choose whether that's a good or bad thing. The first story is about Buffy becoming a model, and sees the return of Selke, a villain from an earlier collection. She obviously wasn't very memorable as I couldn't quite place her. The art is very average with some of the characters unrecogniseable at times. and the vampires are green and bat like. Oh and Spike and Dru feature. On the whole though, it's not a very good story.
And then we are on to the short stories. Bad Dog, where the inker went a bit nuts, yet does provide good atmosphere, and Oz escapes from his cage. Hello Moon features a non-monsterific monster and is a bit trite. Cursed tells us of Angelus back when he was newly turned. Dead Love sees Buffy reading an old watcher diary and realising her life ain't so bad. Stinger is a demon who feeds on fear. Mall Rats is a two page simply drawn wonderment! Y'all need to find the comic this was originally published in and buy it up.
Then there's a Spike and Dru story titled Who Made Who? covering the period where the mad couple broke up because Drusilla boinked another demon. It's evil and far too heavy on Dru associating pain with sex. She's more complex than that and reducing her to a caricature is not good writing.
Next up is the Hollower. More crap art and flashbacks to Angelus. Back to the present day and there's a big demon draining all the vampires and about to wreck Sunnydale. It's ok but too Angel heavy for my tastes.
Lastly is Graduation day. Featuring a bat winged Alien type demon, focusing on the Angel/Buffy break up.
Overall opinion? Find the comics with the short stories in and buy them off ebay.
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Buffy Omnibus volume 1
Writers and artists various.
Set pre season 1.
This provides a number of stories, all pretty well done. The first is a comic adaption of Joss Whedon's original screenplay for the Buffy movie. The studio made him change ithe screenplay, but then again I don't know how much the comic version has lost in it's adapation, especially as it isn't too dissimilar. At any rate, it's a good introduction to Whedon's vision of the Buffyverse. My only complaint is that, sadly, there is no disgusting yellow jacket.
Story number 2, Viva Las Buffy, features a more history. There's some Dawn, which I think is a nice touch, a small bit of Giles on his way to becoming Buffy's official watcher, Angel (who is very creepy and stalker like in all his pre first meeting appearences) and Buffy taking a trip to Las Vegas with Pike.
The bad guy is actually 2 people - conjoined twins, 1 of whom is a vampire. It's a great idea, both in theory and practice.
Next up is Dawn and Hoopy the Bear. I won't spoil any of this, just trust me, it's wonderful. And Dawn's not remotely annoying.
Last is Slayer, Interrupted. This was good and a bit emotional - although how much of that is down to my personal history i'm not sure. In this we see how Buffy gets to be hospitalised. It comes about becasue Dawn has read her diary and tells their folks. Within the asylum Buffy has to work out what's real and establish which world she wants to live in. It's a nice prequel to the season 6 episode where she thinks she's back in there and needs to work out whats real.
Overall, this is a good omnibus.
Set pre season 1.
This provides a number of stories, all pretty well done. The first is a comic adaption of Joss Whedon's original screenplay for the Buffy movie. The studio made him change ithe screenplay, but then again I don't know how much the comic version has lost in it's adapation, especially as it isn't too dissimilar. At any rate, it's a good introduction to Whedon's vision of the Buffyverse. My only complaint is that, sadly, there is no disgusting yellow jacket.
Story number 2, Viva Las Buffy, features a more history. There's some Dawn, which I think is a nice touch, a small bit of Giles on his way to becoming Buffy's official watcher, Angel (who is very creepy and stalker like in all his pre first meeting appearences) and Buffy taking a trip to Las Vegas with Pike.
The bad guy is actually 2 people - conjoined twins, 1 of whom is a vampire. It's a great idea, both in theory and practice.
Next up is Dawn and Hoopy the Bear. I won't spoil any of this, just trust me, it's wonderful. And Dawn's not remotely annoying.
Last is Slayer, Interrupted. This was good and a bit emotional - although how much of that is down to my personal history i'm not sure. In this we see how Buffy gets to be hospitalised. It comes about becasue Dawn has read her diary and tells their folks. Within the asylum Buffy has to work out what's real and establish which world she wants to live in. It's a nice prequel to the season 6 episode where she thinks she's back in there and needs to work out whats real.
Overall, this is a good omnibus.
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
Buffy Omnibus volume 2 review
Writers: various
Artists: Various
Set pre season1 to season 3
Awesome mixed with downright misogynistic
This started really well. Two of the stories feature Dawn, which is a nice touch. The first one is fabulous, 7 pages long, and I'm, wrestling with whether it's ethical to post all of it. It's a good ad for the book, it might convince some people to buy the book, but is it right for me to post all of it? How about some of it? What do any industry professional types think?
The second story is about Buffy's folks divorcing and the 3 women moving to Sunnydale. Angel is a creepy stalker (perfectly in character then) and attempts to draw off Buffy's pain into himself in soem sort of secretive romantic gesture, (seriously, wtf?) but manages to conjure up demons instead. It's a good way of seeing how Buffy, Dawn, Joyce at all coped at this time. The art's not bad and there's some lovely painted scenes.
Next story features Buffy being tested (again). It's just good fun and she turns the tables on Giles at the end.
Next features evil Angel summoning a Kelgore - I was reminded of the Kilgore (spelling incorrect I know) from the early issues of Wally West's run of the Flash - Kendra turns up and Giles deals with Jenny's death. S'okay.
Next one is a Spike and Dru story, horrible art but at least the characters are recognisable, so my beef is just that it's not to my taste. Not bad art per se. Not like volume 3. This showcases how fucked up Spike and Dru are, how obsessed they are, how they're not human, how they are in fact evil, something I tend to forget sometimes. I always think it's good writing when we see aspects of personality that flesh out the characters, give us a reason for believing they are evil. All too often we are told some dude is evil but there's actually no evidence for it.
The last story, well it's just dire really. The art is foul (like Volume 3's art) and it ends up incredibly misogynistic. Not what I expected from a Buffy comic. It features Lilith as the mother of all the demon spawn.
A little background - Lilith is supposedly the first wife of Adam. She may have been created from filth and sediment, not dust as Adam was. There are lots of stories about her, one is that she was thrown out of Eden for not obeying Adam. Another is that she bore Adam lots of demon children. Some say that when she left Eden she then slept with the demons on the shores of the world and birthed their children. Others say that she murdered children to get her revenge - either for being thrown out of Eden or for being forced to return.
There are more, and combinations of the above. Google Lilith, and Lilth demon, and Lilith vampire and see what you find.
Anyway, I find the stories about Lilith quite misogynistic, given that quite a few start with her being punished for disobeying Adam (the shame!) and others seek to show her evilness by talking about how she likes having sex (women, know your place and curb your desires!). Mind you, I also find Eve's story misogynistic (the evil in the world is all down to women), which probably tells you why I'm not Christian. That kind of shit hasn't come from the Gods, it's come from old men many years ago trying to form some semblance of control over their lives.
I digress.
For a Buffy comic to feature Lilith, when Buffy is generally considered to have some feminist sensibilities, I'm quite offended. Especially when she is literally the mother of all vampires in the story. And yes yes I know, the writers were drawing on current vampire legends, like they did with Dracula, they didn't invent it out of thin air, they're just drawing on mythological sources, yadda yadda yadda. Doesn't mean they had to include it. Certainly doesn't mean that had to put her in something slashed to the thigh that is comparable, bust wise to this Arisia costume, but in blue and spikier around the boob bits. I mean, what the hell? Since when has the buffyverse had superhero costumes? God, this would be crappy even in a superhero world, but in Buffyland, people and demons dress normally.
Jesus, this story sucked. If this wasn't so bad I'd reccomend buying this volume, but it's just crappy and means the 18 quid price tag is relay not justified. I'd buy the volume if it were 12 pounds, because the rest of the stories are worth it. But The Dust waltz juts ruins it for me. God bless the library for letting me try it out for free.
Artists: Various
Set pre season1 to season 3
Awesome mixed with downright misogynistic
This started really well. Two of the stories feature Dawn, which is a nice touch. The first one is fabulous, 7 pages long, and I'm, wrestling with whether it's ethical to post all of it. It's a good ad for the book, it might convince some people to buy the book, but is it right for me to post all of it? How about some of it? What do any industry professional types think?
The second story is about Buffy's folks divorcing and the 3 women moving to Sunnydale. Angel is a creepy stalker (perfectly in character then) and attempts to draw off Buffy's pain into himself in soem sort of secretive romantic gesture, (seriously, wtf?) but manages to conjure up demons instead. It's a good way of seeing how Buffy, Dawn, Joyce at all coped at this time. The art's not bad and there's some lovely painted scenes.
Next story features Buffy being tested (again). It's just good fun and she turns the tables on Giles at the end.
Next features evil Angel summoning a Kelgore - I was reminded of the Kilgore (spelling incorrect I know) from the early issues of Wally West's run of the Flash - Kendra turns up and Giles deals with Jenny's death. S'okay.
Next one is a Spike and Dru story, horrible art but at least the characters are recognisable, so my beef is just that it's not to my taste. Not bad art per se. Not like volume 3. This showcases how fucked up Spike and Dru are, how obsessed they are, how they're not human, how they are in fact evil, something I tend to forget sometimes. I always think it's good writing when we see aspects of personality that flesh out the characters, give us a reason for believing they are evil. All too often we are told some dude is evil but there's actually no evidence for it.
The last story, well it's just dire really. The art is foul (like Volume 3's art) and it ends up incredibly misogynistic. Not what I expected from a Buffy comic. It features Lilith as the mother of all the demon spawn.
A little background - Lilith is supposedly the first wife of Adam. She may have been created from filth and sediment, not dust as Adam was. There are lots of stories about her, one is that she was thrown out of Eden for not obeying Adam. Another is that she bore Adam lots of demon children. Some say that when she left Eden she then slept with the demons on the shores of the world and birthed their children. Others say that she murdered children to get her revenge - either for being thrown out of Eden or for being forced to return.
There are more, and combinations of the above. Google Lilith, and Lilth demon, and Lilith vampire and see what you find.
Anyway, I find the stories about Lilith quite misogynistic, given that quite a few start with her being punished for disobeying Adam (the shame!) and others seek to show her evilness by talking about how she likes having sex (women, know your place and curb your desires!). Mind you, I also find Eve's story misogynistic (the evil in the world is all down to women), which probably tells you why I'm not Christian. That kind of shit hasn't come from the Gods, it's come from old men many years ago trying to form some semblance of control over their lives.
I digress.
For a Buffy comic to feature Lilith, when Buffy is generally considered to have some feminist sensibilities, I'm quite offended. Especially when she is literally the mother of all vampires in the story. And yes yes I know, the writers were drawing on current vampire legends, like they did with Dracula, they didn't invent it out of thin air, they're just drawing on mythological sources, yadda yadda yadda. Doesn't mean they had to include it. Certainly doesn't mean that had to put her in something slashed to the thigh that is comparable, bust wise to this Arisia costume, but in blue and spikier around the boob bits. I mean, what the hell? Since when has the buffyverse had superhero costumes? God, this would be crappy even in a superhero world, but in Buffyland, people and demons dress normally.
Jesus, this story sucked. If this wasn't so bad I'd reccomend buying this volume, but it's just crappy and means the 18 quid price tag is relay not justified. I'd buy the volume if it were 12 pounds, because the rest of the stories are worth it. But The Dust waltz juts ruins it for me. God bless the library for letting me try it out for free.
Monday, September 07, 2009
Buffy Omnibus 7 review
Writers and artists – various
This was everything volume 3 wasn’t. :-)
Lots of different artists, but all good. All caught at least some of the nuances of the actors, and the characters were recognisable 90-95% of the time.
This volume is set in season 5/6 after Joyce has died. The first story is titled Night of a Thousand Vampires – you can guess the gist of it, but the interesting part if the familial relationship aspects of it. We also have stories about jealousy, with Tara being rather demanding, for once, not sure I like that aspect of her, but there we go. There’s some really great examples of comic layout in this story – I can’t provide a scan or I’ll spoil it. Spike is very human in this story.
Then we have a time travel story, with the redneck cowboys, vampire scoobys and the creepy puppet. They’re always fun. The whole redneck family is along for the ride this time.
The original slayer turns up a couple of times, her art is wonderful. Her first appearance opens a Dawn story occurring shortly after Buffy’s death. It looks at how she feels about her sister and the rest of the gang and highlights the crap method of dealing with Buffy’s death, that the others employ. Dawn recognises that Spike is the only one who’s pain is close to hers. There’s also a demon that looks peculiarly like the silver banshee from DC.
Let’s see what else – a Spike short dealing with his punk days, Willow and Tara take Dawn on trip to see the magical sites of the USA and while doing so meet some angry forest spirits, the group get inspired to fix up the Buffybot and Willow decides to bring Buffy back. Buffy heads off to see Angel and Xander, Anya and Dawn speculate on what they got to up to (not in a filthy way). Then we move on to the Buffy and Spike boinking/Xander and Anya planning a wedding stage. There are some beautiful bubble butterflys involved. Last story is with Pike, Faith, Angel, Cordy and an old villain.
The characterisation and dialogue is spot on. A lot of it was very touching. Some particular favourites relates to the stuff dealing with how the gang decided to bring Buffy back, how Spike is treated by the others, and how Buffy and Dawn interact with Spike. The stories compliment the TV shows and add something extra to the mythos, without detracting. What else could you ask for in a spin-off such as this?
There was nothing to fault with this volume, except maybe the price (£18/£19 – ouch), but I think I shall be purchasing it anyway. Definitely recommended.
This was everything volume 3 wasn’t. :-)
Lots of different artists, but all good. All caught at least some of the nuances of the actors, and the characters were recognisable 90-95% of the time.
This volume is set in season 5/6 after Joyce has died. The first story is titled Night of a Thousand Vampires – you can guess the gist of it, but the interesting part if the familial relationship aspects of it. We also have stories about jealousy, with Tara being rather demanding, for once, not sure I like that aspect of her, but there we go. There’s some really great examples of comic layout in this story – I can’t provide a scan or I’ll spoil it. Spike is very human in this story.
Then we have a time travel story, with the redneck cowboys, vampire scoobys and the creepy puppet. They’re always fun. The whole redneck family is along for the ride this time.
The original slayer turns up a couple of times, her art is wonderful. Her first appearance opens a Dawn story occurring shortly after Buffy’s death. It looks at how she feels about her sister and the rest of the gang and highlights the crap method of dealing with Buffy’s death, that the others employ. Dawn recognises that Spike is the only one who’s pain is close to hers. There’s also a demon that looks peculiarly like the silver banshee from DC.
Let’s see what else – a Spike short dealing with his punk days, Willow and Tara take Dawn on trip to see the magical sites of the USA and while doing so meet some angry forest spirits, the group get inspired to fix up the Buffybot and Willow decides to bring Buffy back. Buffy heads off to see Angel and Xander, Anya and Dawn speculate on what they got to up to (not in a filthy way). Then we move on to the Buffy and Spike boinking/Xander and Anya planning a wedding stage. There are some beautiful bubble butterflys involved. Last story is with Pike, Faith, Angel, Cordy and an old villain.
The characterisation and dialogue is spot on. A lot of it was very touching. Some particular favourites relates to the stuff dealing with how the gang decided to bring Buffy back, how Spike is treated by the others, and how Buffy and Dawn interact with Spike. The stories compliment the TV shows and add something extra to the mythos, without detracting. What else could you ask for in a spin-off such as this?
There was nothing to fault with this volume, except maybe the price (£18/£19 – ouch), but I think I shall be purchasing it anyway. Definitely recommended.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Buffy Omnibus volume 3 review
Meant to post this a week ago, but forgot about it. Oops.
OK, I finished reading through omnibuses 3 and 7. Although I am still shocked and hurt that pumpkin pie is regularly made with filling from a tin, and that I have indeed eaten pie made with filling from a tin, I feel I am now getting over this. Onwards with the review for number 3.
Buffy Omnibus volume 3
Art and scripts by various.
Set In season 3.
There's 12 stories in this volume, all written so as not to interfere with TV canon. Buffy and the gang get up to a wide variety of stuff, such as ninja study, scooby kidnapping, thanksgiving shopping (pah!), killer ice demons, cursed dogs, girly sleepovers, boy-captivating demon women, demons trapped on celluloid and little troll doll type things that come to life.
The ice demon is good. He hawks up killer spit icicles at his enemies. That bit was very enjoyable.
The rest of it, not really. Let's see why -
The art is shit. Not only does 90% of it not remotely resemble the characters - I had to keep double checking back to see who was who - it's not even very nice art of other people. I expect this to be a representation of the actors, fine, but Oz is completely wrong, so wrong I didn't know it was him till someone called him by name. Cordelia and Willow are mostly distinguishable by the length of the Cordy's skirt.
Oz talks to much. He should be speaking for a sentence or two, concise and droll. Not uttering paragraphs at every turn.
Giles, well we know Giles has a fancy manner of speech, that's fine. But the thing is, he doesn't talk like that all the time. Sometimes he speaks normally. Try this:
'I should hope so, Willow. Magic is not a force to be taken lightly.'
'Indeed, yet I don't think I need to remind you that your spells have not always gone as planned. In spellcasting the tiniest mistake could lead to..'
I'm merely observing that perhaps it is time for me to do a bit of an audit , sit in on a few spells, perhaps offer suggestions.'
Over 12 issues it reads like a parody of Giles. Trust me. and then Ethan Rayne turns up, and oh my god it makes my head hurt.
The stories are dull.
In conclusion: rubbish, don't buy.
OK, I finished reading through omnibuses 3 and 7. Although I am still shocked and hurt that pumpkin pie is regularly made with filling from a tin, and that I have indeed eaten pie made with filling from a tin, I feel I am now getting over this. Onwards with the review for number 3.
Buffy Omnibus volume 3
Art and scripts by various.
Set In season 3.
There's 12 stories in this volume, all written so as not to interfere with TV canon. Buffy and the gang get up to a wide variety of stuff, such as ninja study, scooby kidnapping, thanksgiving shopping (pah!), killer ice demons, cursed dogs, girly sleepovers, boy-captivating demon women, demons trapped on celluloid and little troll doll type things that come to life.
The ice demon is good. He hawks up killer spit icicles at his enemies. That bit was very enjoyable.
The rest of it, not really. Let's see why -
The art is shit. Not only does 90% of it not remotely resemble the characters - I had to keep double checking back to see who was who - it's not even very nice art of other people. I expect this to be a representation of the actors, fine, but Oz is completely wrong, so wrong I didn't know it was him till someone called him by name. Cordelia and Willow are mostly distinguishable by the length of the Cordy's skirt.
Oz talks to much. He should be speaking for a sentence or two, concise and droll. Not uttering paragraphs at every turn.
Giles, well we know Giles has a fancy manner of speech, that's fine. But the thing is, he doesn't talk like that all the time. Sometimes he speaks normally. Try this:
'I should hope so, Willow. Magic is not a force to be taken lightly.'
'Indeed, yet I don't think I need to remind you that your spells have not always gone as planned. In spellcasting the tiniest mistake could lead to..'
I'm merely observing that perhaps it is time for me to do a bit of an audit , sit in on a few spells, perhaps offer suggestions.'
Over 12 issues it reads like a parody of Giles. Trust me. and then Ethan Rayne turns up, and oh my god it makes my head hurt.
The stories are dull.
In conclusion: rubbish, don't buy.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Reading the Buffy omnibuses
I started on book3, as that's the library had in first. The art is rubbish - the difference between Cordelia and Willow is the skirt length - the plot and writing is as you'd expect.
There's one story set at Thanksgiving, and I have to ask the Americans out there-
Pumpkin pie filling, in a tin? Really? Isn't pumpkin pie filling basically pumpkin? And probably sugar and butter/lard, thinking of the Thanksgiving feast's I've attended.
I can't believe you can buy pumpkin pie filling in a tin.
There's one story set at Thanksgiving, and I have to ask the Americans out there-
Pumpkin pie filling, in a tin? Really? Isn't pumpkin pie filling basically pumpkin? And probably sugar and butter/lard, thinking of the Thanksgiving feast's I've attended.
I can't believe you can buy pumpkin pie filling in a tin.
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