Buffy Season 8 Reviews of #1 & 2 by Tony Isabella

From www.worldfamouscomics.com/tony:

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER




It's good to have Buffy Summers back with us, especially when her new adventures are being guided by creator/writer Joss Whedon. Dark Horse's Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight [$2.99 per issue] takes place several months after the TV series came to its city-swallowing conclusion. I've read the first two issues of the new comics series - Whedon is writing the first arc - and I'm eager to read many more issues.

The Jo Chen covers are outstanding. Though Buffy and Xander don't look like actors Sarah Michelle Geller and Nicholas Brendan, Chen has created comparable visuals for those characters and they work well. Penciller Georges Jeanty, who delivers solid drawing and storytelling inside the book, could follow the Chen visuals for Buffy a tad closer, but I generally like how he draws Xander. His Dawn and Willow are terrific while my jury-of-one is still out on Amy, Andrew, and Giles. Kudos should also go to inker Andy Owens and colorist Dave Stewart.

Whedon deftly explores what things are like since the planet went from one Slayer to 1800...with 500 of them working with Buffy and her crew. Buffy is having some difficulty being in charge of an army and even more difficulty connecting and guiding her sister Dawn. Though it doesn't look like Dawn plays a major role in this first arc, Whedon does allow her to steal every scene in which she appears. For all her abilities and accomplishments, Buffy remains insecure on many levels. It's a good humanizing touch.

Xander is Buffy's "Nick Fury" and doing a fine job of it. His competence and loyalty contrasts nicely with the bumbling fear and hidden agenda of the American general determined to take Buffy and the larger-than-ever Scooby Gang down. I can't blame him entirely. If a young woman strong enough to have saved the world a few times suddenly became an army of thousands, I might get a touch nervous, too, though I probably wouldn't deal with my concerns by recruiting a clearly crazy, vengeful witch who has somehow managed to survive for months in the hole where Sunnydale used to be.

Crazy Amy is one of the characters I'm not entirely sure of in this new series. She puts Buffy in harm's way easily, but doesn't seem much of a threat otherwise. On the other hand, she wasn't in that hole alone and the identity of her "boyfriend" could prove to be interesting.

My guess? I'll give you a hint: "Madam, I'm..."

The rest of the old cast? Giles is something of a cipher so far. Andrew gets a two-page scene that drags. But these are minor blips in an otherwise fun ride. Neither is enough to keep me from awarding Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #1 and #2 the full five out of five Tonys.