Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BOOM Studios)
One of my first television obsessions as a teenager was "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." We didn't have the WB in the town I grew up until the show had entered its fifth season. I was immediately a Stan. Buffy is everything I want in a heroine. Smart, strong, sassy, flawed, I mean, look at her taste in guys. She was always someone I related to. Every year, I pull out my "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" DVDs and watch the series straight through along with "Angel" and I routinely get something new from the show. It is extremely meaningful to me.
For a long time, Dark Horse Comics held the license to Buffy and they routinely released different comings featuring our favorite Chosen One. There was a series that started during season three that helped flesh out different things and the show continued in comics form with seasons 8-12. Last year, Dark Horse lost the license to the "Whedonverse" characters and it was picked up by BOOM Studios. Rather than re-invent the wheel, BOOM decided to take the characters we know and love and put them back in high school. It's like a re-boot of Buffy in 2019 but with all the original actors playing the roles.
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| Art by Nora |
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer," #1-4
Buffy Summers is adjusting. As if moving to a new town, dealing with her mom's live-in boyfriend, school and trying to make friends wasn't enough, Buffy is also the one only Slayer. She's tasked to slay vampires, demons and other forces of darkness in between school and shifts at Tunaverse. When she saves fellow classmates, Willow Rosenberg & Xander Harris, they become fast friends and quickly are pulled into her extracurricular activities. As the Scooby Gang of the 21st century bonds, Drusilla and her pet, Spike, plot and that plot means disaster for Buffy.
When I first heard about this, I was skeptical. Was this going to be a rehash of the original Buffy but with cell phones and gratuitous references to social media liberally peppered throughout? Let's just say, I was pleasantly surprised. Writer Jordie Bellaire deftly updates the classic Buffy characters we know and love. They feel familiar but with enough tweaks that it doesn't feel like we could just be watching the original show than reading this. The characters are just how you remember them. Buffy is a snarky, lovable teen. Destined for something, but striving for a normal life. Willow and Xander are geeks who are cool, but don't realize they are cool. Giles is the stuffy, British Watcher, stuck in the library and flustered and proud of his charge all at the same time. But there are tweaks.
Buffy working at Tunaverse is a nice callback to her job at the Doublemeat Palace in season 6 and it's less depressing to see her working there as a teen, which is nice. Willow is immediately a lesbian with a loving girlfriend. Drusilla is evil but not driven insane by Angel, Anya is a demon running an underground magic shop and Spike is well... Spike. Did I mention that Cordelia is a chipper, overachiever who wants to be friends with everyone while throwing backhanded compliments their way?
These minor tweaks bring the characters into the present and it's not jarring. They aren't changes for changes sake. They make sense and the flesh out and round out the characters. Dru is a much more interesting character as an evil genius. Cordy is great as a kind of passive aggressive nice girl rather than an outright bitchy popular girl.
One of the most interesting character changes is Xander. They take this nice, somewhat harmless nice guy image and turn it on its head. The narration throughout these first few issues are provided through Xander's blog, The Xeppo (a nice call back to season 3's stellar Xander centric outing, "The Zeppo.") It frames Xander's harmless nice guy image into a not so harmless toxic nice guy syndrome, that I'm curious to see fleshed out more, especially considering the twist that closes out this first four issue arc.
The art is by Dan Nora and he does an exemplary job. His line work is clear and there is some photo referencing, it's not jarring. He's definitely basing these characters on their classic tv likenesses, but it's not jarring. The action scenes are well choreographed and his creature work is spot on. I can't be the only one hoping for a return of the Camazotz, a man bat like creature that is on the Slayer's side.
All in all, this is what I was looking for in a Buffy reboot and I think old and new fans alike will take to it.
Grade: A
In our next comic book corner, we will look at the first arc of the "Angel" reboot. That's right, our favorite vamp with a soul and his cohorts don't have to wait for a Buffy fourth season to get their own spin-off.
If you've read this reboot, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Share them in the comments!
When I first heard about this, I was skeptical. Was this going to be a rehash of the original Buffy but with cell phones and gratuitous references to social media liberally peppered throughout? Let's just say, I was pleasantly surprised. Writer Jordie Bellaire deftly updates the classic Buffy characters we know and love. They feel familiar but with enough tweaks that it doesn't feel like we could just be watching the original show than reading this. The characters are just how you remember them. Buffy is a snarky, lovable teen. Destined for something, but striving for a normal life. Willow and Xander are geeks who are cool, but don't realize they are cool. Giles is the stuffy, British Watcher, stuck in the library and flustered and proud of his charge all at the same time. But there are tweaks.
Buffy working at Tunaverse is a nice callback to her job at the Doublemeat Palace in season 6 and it's less depressing to see her working there as a teen, which is nice. Willow is immediately a lesbian with a loving girlfriend. Drusilla is evil but not driven insane by Angel, Anya is a demon running an underground magic shop and Spike is well... Spike. Did I mention that Cordelia is a chipper, overachiever who wants to be friends with everyone while throwing backhanded compliments their way?
These minor tweaks bring the characters into the present and it's not jarring. They aren't changes for changes sake. They make sense and the flesh out and round out the characters. Dru is a much more interesting character as an evil genius. Cordy is great as a kind of passive aggressive nice girl rather than an outright bitchy popular girl.
One of the most interesting character changes is Xander. They take this nice, somewhat harmless nice guy image and turn it on its head. The narration throughout these first few issues are provided through Xander's blog, The Xeppo (a nice call back to season 3's stellar Xander centric outing, "The Zeppo.") It frames Xander's harmless nice guy image into a not so harmless toxic nice guy syndrome, that I'm curious to see fleshed out more, especially considering the twist that closes out this first four issue arc.
The art is by Dan Nora and he does an exemplary job. His line work is clear and there is some photo referencing, it's not jarring. He's definitely basing these characters on their classic tv likenesses, but it's not jarring. The action scenes are well choreographed and his creature work is spot on. I can't be the only one hoping for a return of the Camazotz, a man bat like creature that is on the Slayer's side.
All in all, this is what I was looking for in a Buffy reboot and I think old and new fans alike will take to it.
Grade: A
In our next comic book corner, we will look at the first arc of the "Angel" reboot. That's right, our favorite vamp with a soul and his cohorts don't have to wait for a Buffy fourth season to get their own spin-off.
If you've read this reboot, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Share them in the comments!
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