Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty’s ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, Volume 1’

So, I’ve been moving through some shows on Netflix, and I recently finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Now, if you are a member of the hordes of Buffy fans over the years, and you watched the show, you may feel like it just kind of…ended. Feeling a lack of resolution, I naturally took to the internet and found that Buffy has been continued in a series of comics to this very day, all of which were written by mastermind Joss Whedon. Without further ado, here is the review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, Volume 1 (The Long Way Home).

Now, if you haven’t finished the show, or intend to ever start, you may want to skip on down to the next paragraph to avoid spoilers. Season 8 picks up just a little after the end of the TV show. Willow has used the Slayer’s Scythe to awaken the powers of every potential Slayer on the planet, meaning that the forces of good have never been stronger. In the aftermath of Sunnydale’s destruction, Buffy has started the Slayer Organization, which finds activated Slayers and trains them to use their newfound strength, speed, and instincts to fight evil. Giles has worked on reforming the Watcher’s Council, and it seems like the gang may finally be seizing control on the forces of evil. Naturally, things are not so simple, and Buffy finds herself at odds with some characters, both old and new, that will test the strength of the order she has worked so hard to create.

So, while the plot sounds great, how does it work as a comic book? I am a decent fan of comics, but I have never been one to praise them for being timeless mediums of story interaction. Lately, my view has been shifting somewhat. Written (as they all are) by Joss Whedon, Season 8, Volume 1, nails the things that made Buffy so popular in the first place. The dialogue was initially a concern for me, as I was afraid the relaxed, conversational style of Whedon’s writing would be disjointed in comic form. I was thankfully surprised. Not only does Whedon transfer the feel of the show on to a new medium, he excels in the new format. Everything from the characters to the themes is so much bigger than it ever was when confined to the small screen. As a result, the comics can be somewhat darker, though this seems natural given the lineup of maturing characters. Volume 1 does exactly what it needed to do: it picks up the Buffy universe, introduces some grand-sized new concepts, gives some impressive throwbacks to the show, and makes you just want more. Georges Jeanty’s illustrations remain true to traditional comic books, while still giving the book an impressive, high-quality feel that sets itself apart from other comics. The illustrations are incredibly vivid, detailed, and manage to truly convey the sense of scope that Whedon was going for. If you are a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (if you aren’t, give it a shot) and have ever wondered what happened next, you will probably love this graphic novel. The comics are released in traditional issues (Season 10 is slated for this month), while I just reviewed the graphic novel collection of the comic, which takes a number of issues and combines them into their chronological story arcs. If you are looking to start the series, it is just about the perfect way to do so.