by Lucy Softich

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Omnibus Volume 1 (by various authors)
$24.95 (new)

Plot
This part of the comic takes places before the events of the hit tv show of the same name. The premise, if you’ve missed out, is this: every generation, one girl is given enhanced abilities (by The Powers That Be), to fight vampires and other nasty critters. The most recent “chosen one” is named Buffy, a peppy cheerleader of the ’90s (with hair and wardrobe to match). This volume follows Buffy first awakening to her mission. It includes an adaptation of Joss Whedon’s original script for the movie which predated the tv show, and then follows Buffy’s life between realizing she’s the Slayer, and making her way to Sunnydale, the locale of the tv show.

First Impressions
I bought this comic in a fit of Buffy withdrawal, but didn’t have very high hopes for it. After all, it’s not cannon, and most of it isn’t even written by Joss Whedon–though I believe he did approve most of it. But after watching the Buffy movie, I was really intrigued to see the original script adapted as a comic.

For some reason I don’t understand, the book opens, not with Buffy, but with a one-shot story following Spike and Drusilla. Maybe if this story was setting up the baddies for the rest of the volume, I could have understood it’s purpose, but as far as I could tell it wasn’t. Granted, it was nice to see Spike and Dru, but why start with them? It would have made more sense to tack this story on at the end of the volume, as a kind of extra, than to begin the entire comic series with it.

Lasting Impressions
Like so many American comics, this series suffers from inconsistent artwork. I’ve always hated ongoing series which have a different styles for each chapter, but it’s profoundly annoying when compiled into a large volume like this. However, that’s a rant for a different day, and, at least for this volume, the art is all actually good (or at least not bad). And the cover art is very good and actually looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Overall, the book was about what I expected. It was much more satisfying than the movie (we finally get to see that flaming gym Buffy talks so much about in the series), but most of the stories were kind of blah or actually oddly inaccurate (side note: Spike can’t actually speak Chinese). I did really enjoy the story about Dawn and the demonic teddy bear. I may read the rest of the comics simply to see how Dawn figures in to the early plot. That and it may forestall my withdrawal pains.

Audience

This book is clearly written for the fans, not for a new audience. It’s not the best introduction to the series, and it definately expects you to know these characters already (there are a few things revealed in this book that don’t get revealed until later in the series, so the pacing is a bit different). Fans of Buffy will find this volume interesting in that it answers some questions about Buffy’s pre-Sunnydale life, but the inaccuracies may drive you a bit crazy.

If the book does sound interesting, and you’re new to Buffy, I highly recommend you start with the tv series. It is actually a well-written and well-developed show, despite the bad rep it gets sometimes. Granted, it’s has its moments of fluff, but the strength of the show is in the characters. It does take a bit to get going, though. The first season is very ’90s and not that good, but it gets so much better. If you haven’t been exposed to the series yet, I believe it’s all currently on Netflix’s instant-watch list.

Posted in Have You Read ... ?.
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