With the closing of the Hellmouth and the awakening of hundreds of potential slayers, Buffy Summers thought she had overturned the Slayer’s self-sacrifice and earned herself a much-deserved break. But the thrill of victory is short-lived. The Forces of Darkness are not ones to graciously accept defeat, and the collective rage unites disparate and powerful parties more eager than ever to reclaim dominance.

Willow’s magickal distribution of the slayer essence left girls across the world discovering their latent power. Giles races to reorganize the now much-needed Watchers Council, and the Scoobies relocate to Europe. And there in Rome, Buffy is drawn to the Immortal — a charismatic, if inscrutable, figure. But then comes word that a number of the fresh slayers are being coerced to join an army of slayers — governed by the mysterious “Queen of the Slayers,” an awesome evil determined to claim the intoxicating slayer essence for herself.

Xander is sent to Africa to learn more about the origin of the slayer essence. Instead, he returns to report that, alarmingly, there’s not enough good in the world to counteract the overabundance of evil, and that the deciding apocalypse is drawing much too near. Alliances are formed and loyalties betrayed as it comes down to slayer versus slayer, leading to an ultimate battle of champions — from Buffy’s past and present. And then an unimaginable gift arrives…

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Awesome
Just finished reading this book and it was great. I think picking up right where the show left off was genious and all the twists were amazing. I was always guessing what was going to happen to next. The only part that didn’t like is that is had to end.

2 Stars i love buffy but this just didn’t do it for me
i wouldn’t recomend this book to anyone unless they were a die hard buffy fan, if i wasnt I wouldnt even have finished it, not enough action and holder didnt show the personality of the characters of the show as well as i’d hoped. if your looking for a good buffy book try the lost slayer by christopher golden

2 Stars They Sound Like Buffy Characters, They Just Don’t Act Like Them
Like many, many others, I really wanted to like this book. It was very appealing to see how the story might continue after the end of the television show. And, to Nancy Holder’s credit, the characters’ voices and mannerisms are vintage Buffy. Unfortunately, the characters don’t really grow and develop much and the plot is a disjointed, non-credible mess, in which things happen to the relatively passive and hapless characters. All of that might have been tolerable, if a bit disappointing, but for the ending. . .which can only be described as bizarre, bewildering, and generally god-awful.

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How can Buffy’s religious symbolism be squared with creator Joss Whedon’s professed atheism? Is Buffy truly a Kierkegaardian knight of faith? Do Faith’s corruption and return to the good life demonstrate Platonic eudaimonism? Or do they illustrate the flaws in Nietzsche’s superman concept? What does the show’s treatment of vampires, demons, and other entities say about ethical attitudes toward nonhumans? These are some of the questions asked and answered in this lively collection of essays that link classical philosophy to the long-running series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy’s status as the leading vehicle for exploring the evil underlying everyday life has made it ripe for the kind of witty, penetrating philosophical analysis this book delivers — fully disintering the intellectual issues that underlie this cult favorite.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Thoughtful and accessible.
I picked up this book for a friend who is a Buffy fanatic, and read it myself, converting me into a fanatic, as well. Taking the seminal television series, and applying some of the classic philosophers’ take on the world — Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Nietzsche (though, the author UTTERLY distorts and misapprehends Nietzsche’s philosophy), Hume — this collection of essays demonstrates just how many layers upon which Buffy the Vampire Slayer was constructed. It also provides a decent primer for the works of some of Western thoughts’ most notable philosophers (but see my caveat re Nietzsche), bringing to life the abstract concepts in the guise of a very entertaining television series. Add to that, clever writing by a group of essayists who obviously love the show, and it is a very amusing and informative read, and, arguably, one of the best to take on the series.

4 Stars Not too bad – If you’re a fan and even a little bit interested in Philosophy and Ethics it’s worth reading.
I found this book helpful in doing an Ethics class. Some of the chapters helped me understand what my text book couldn’t — the situations were all familiar and I love Buffy.

The reason I gave it 3-4 stars is because the writing is not consistently great, but it was interesting reading.

4 Stars Very insightful book.
I read this book and feel more into love with the series and world than before because of all the levels that were created and meaning behind everything. Some of the meanings were clear and some were a little harder to see. I recommend this to anyone who is into Buffy or Angel.

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Set of four issues from BUFFY SEASON EIGHT, #13,14,15 and 16. Check sellers item description for possible variants.

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THE LATE SHOW MAY BE YOUR LAST.

Sunnydale, California, hosts more than its fair share of action and horror. It’s understandable, then, that news of the long-closed Sunnydale Drive-In’s grand reopening with a scheduled night-long festival of classic action and horror movies is met with disinterest or disdain by Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia. Only Xander, who has been spending his afternoons on the drive-in’s work crew, is eager to enjoy the rewards of his effort.

Buffy is too distracted to sit and take in a movie, anyway. A frightening encounter with a werewolf ends with its vanishing — not into the woods, but evaporating like a ghost before her eyes. Suspicious people in dated clothing and hairstyles are spotted throughout town but don’t appear to be the usual vampires.

And most disturbing, a sleeping sickness begins to sweep over town, leaving those affected in a state of extreme drowsiness — or a coma.

It’s no wonder no one notices the distinguished-looking gentleman of indeterminate age. His name is Balsamo. At least, that’s what he’s calling himself this century. But Xander simply knows him as “Boss” and has been promised a prime parking space for the upcoming evening’s spectacle….

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Timeline issues
This book is based somewhere mid season two of the show, however it lacks any mention of Jenny Calendar and guessing by how Angel is still good and Xander and Cordelia are still keeping their relationship a secret, she was still a part of the show at the time. Besides from that a strong storyline with an interresting choice for the villan.

2 Stars Not so great
I love Buffy books, but I did not enjoy this one… The characters were not true to the show. The writing was ok and so was the plot. I actually stopped reading about 3/4’s of the way. The plot just wasn’t working for me.

4 Stars Fun
This book was good if a little dry at times. For the most part it keeps you entertained. I like that Cordelia had a big role in the storyline. Usually in the Buffy books she is persona non grata. I did think there should be more focus on Buffy though. It did annoy me that the book didn’t narrow down the time period it was set in until close to the end (the writer finally revealed it was set about a year after Buffy came to town). I wanted more about the back story of Buffy. But for a short read this was pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone with a few free hours on their hands.

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January 22

Had the dream again last night. Only, this time it was different. . . .

Faith has always been a loner. Growing up in a broken home in South Boston, shuffled from relative to relative, her only companion was an imaginary friend named Alex, who helped her escape into a fantasy world of monsters and the supernatural, far from the real-life horrors of the waking world.

Now, taken away from her mother by social services and shipped off to a foster home, Faith learns that some nightmares are all too real, that the inventions of her childhood really do haunt the night, hungry for blood. Enter Diana Dormer, a Harvard professor and representative of the Watchers Council who has come to tell Faith of her destiny, to train her, to prepare her for what is to come: Faith is the Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness.

But she’s not alone. When Alex, her childhood companion, returns in her dreams, she warns Faith that someone else is coming for her, a force so deadly and unforgiving that it has inspired fear in the underworld for a thousand generations. Its name is Malice.

As memory and fantasy begin to merge, Faith’s two worlds collide, with cataclysmic results. A violent battle for the Slayer’s soul is staged, winner take all.

This is her story. . . .

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Absolute Faith
Curious about the last name of our evil slayer? Then you should definitely read this book. The whole book is all about Faith before she came to Sunnydale. It starts out with learning about her drunk mother, the horrible guys she dated, and how she discovers she is a potential slayer.

I just really enjoyed this book because it gives a lot of insight about Faith. You kind of feel and see why she is the way she is. It’s written in her point of view and it actually looks like a journal so you kind of feel what she feels.

In the end, if you want to read about Faith and discover things which were left out on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then you should read this book. I really enjoyed it and couldn’t put it down until I finished it.

5 Stars Great Insight
This book was EXCELLENT. It really gave a solid history on Faith and allowed the reader to really understand why she had a dark side. The author really captured her essence. I recommend this book to any Buffy or Angel Fan!

4 Stars History of Faith
Interesting look into the mind of one of the most complex Buffy characters. She’s not all bad. She wants to do the right thing, she just doesn’t always know what it is or how to accomplish it.

The whole thing’s written diary-style, a la Louise Rennison’s Georgia Nichols books (like “Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging”). So it’s all from Faith’s POV.

Definitely worth a read.

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Willow and Buffy head to New York City to unlock the secrets of Buffy’s mysterious scythe, when something goes terribly awry. Buffy is propelled into a dystopian future where there’s only one Slayer – Fray, the title character of Joss Whedon’s 2001 series, the first comic he ever wrote. Their uneasy alliance falls apart, leading to the death of a major character from the TV series, while back in the twenty-first century, the Scotland base falls prey to a mystical bomb courtesy of the Biggest Bad – Twilight!

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars The downward spiral slows, but doesn’t stop
The fourth volume of Buffy Season 8 is a notable improvement over volume three but, really, that’s not saying a lot.

While volume three was pure, pathetic, offensive, poorly written fan service, volume four is pure, pathetic, offensive, mildly well written spin-off advertising with fan service.

The current problems with the series are still in abundance: all the girls wear skin tight clothes and most panels center on breasts, lesbians run rampant throughout the storyline but male homosexuals are nowhere to be found, male characters get 2 or 3 panels a chapter at best, are ridiculously stereotypically idiotic and get primarily head and shoulder shots (unless they’re mutant critters; amusingly all the female mutant critters still have perfect breasts); in short, the artists are apparently told the only people buying their comic are fat, straight men who will never come close to a women for the rest of their lives.

The storyline takes a bizzare break to future New York where Buffy meets the current Slayer there, Fray. While this would be interesting, all it really is a quick crash course in the other comic series being published, transparently as a desperate ploy to snag more readers. Also, invented slang? It’s dumb, folks. REALLY dumb. Then there’s a completely unneccesary spin back to Buffy high school time in what is, I assume, an ad for the animated series or yet another comic series. Either way, it’s about as interesting as reading an ad.

The art takes a severe dip this time around as well. I’m not sure who the Amazing Reveal Guy was three-quarters through the story; I’m sure he was an old Buffy character but good luck finding out who he was. I won’t spoil it but the mish mashed face could have easily been about four different people. And I’m not sure when Willow became part horse but she’s certainly sporting the nose now.

This volume and the last have proven that the series isn’t worth buying anymore. The writing in volumes one and two were great; it was wonderful to find out what happened to your favorite characters but the overwhelming one-sided fan service has destroyed this comic.

4 Stars Not bad, simply not up to my hopes or expectations
This wasn’t a terrible arc in BUFFY 8 but it didn’t fulfill my expectations, let alone my hopes. I had really loved FRAY few years earlier and had been looking forward to the eventual resolution of those story lines. Frankly, I think the events of FRAY deserved being the A-plot of its own series, instead of the B-plot of BUFFY 8. This would have been ok if the resulting Buffy/Fray encounter had been as satisfying as one would have hoped. And throw in a great Willow twist and an absolutely wicked final twist, then you would think you’d have a home run of a story. But it isn’t.

Additionally, the story is hurt as well from the fact that so little resulted from it. The next several issues only minimally dealt with the events in this volume. In fact, the ensuing issues made the entire series feel like it had come to an abrupt stop.

The biggest disappointment was the failure to make the Buffy/Fray encounter all it should have been. Secondarily, the failure to adequately wrap up Fray’s own story was a second disappointment. This didn’t trump the excellence of the Buffy/Willow battle in the distant future. And the end of the main arc with future Dark Willow trying to kill Buffy, only to be saved by the current Willow (though without Willow knowing about her dark future self) has potential for future story arcs. On top of all that, there were a number of great individual moments. I rarely found the arc to be uninteresting. I merely found it to be less than I had hoped.

5 Stars Awesome!!!!!!!!
Loved it!!! The cross over between Buffy and Fray is amazing! When I knew it was going to happen in this episode of Season Eight I read the Fray comic before so I would understand where she was coming from. It is an absolute must for a Buffy fan!!! You won’t be disappointed!

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Volume Four of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus series concludes Buffy’s high school career, wrapping up Season Three of the show’s storyline. Collected in this volume are: Buffy issues #9-11, 13-15, 17-120, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Dog, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike and Dru, Who Made Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: The Hollower. The complete “Bad Blood,” saga written by Andi Watson (Clubbing), the first attempt at making a “season” of the comics, where Buffy battles a sultry vampire who hungers for a lot more than blood.

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Still Way Too Much Watson (read review, follow links)
If you would-be-buyers don’t mind, I’ll start this review off with a snippet from my review of the first three BUFFY omnibus volumes. Don’t fear, it’s as relevant here as it is there:

“Unless you’re a completist with oodles and oodles of cash, this is the way to go if you want to collect the older Buffy comics. Before this, they have been collected (for the most part) into smaller trade paperbacks, each of which cost almost as much as this volume. Now, before I get into my review, let me explain the omnibus series, as I’ve seen a lot of people misunderstanding.when talking about it on message boards: This is not the only omnibus. There are to be seven of them all together(…)”

I didn’t expect much when I bought this book. The first two omnibuses were good, but the third was mediocre at best, mostly because it was dominated by one-shot comics written by Andi Watson. Watson, who is probably the worst Buffy writer there is, also wrote the majority of this book. In fact, the first two hundred pages of this volume make up one story called “Bad Blood,” written by Watson. It’s story about a vampire named Selke who seeks revenge on Buffy for scarring her face. But first, Selke seeks out a plastic surgeon who resorts to magic AND mayonnaise to try to make Selke think he’s successfully helping her. The few glimmers of good story you’ll find here are snuffed out by the shocking lack of quality in Andi’s writing. Everything that makes Buffy more than just your average genre show is not present in Andi’s writing. The only thing that will keep you from skipping through these two hundred pages is the fact that Cliff Richards pencilled two thirds of it. There are two other Andi Watson pieces in this volume, but they’re short enough that they won’t take away from your enjoyment of the book more than “Bad Blood” already did.

Things start to look up a LOT when you get past “Bad Blood.” The rest of the book is made up of one-shots and one more miniseries. The miniseries is called The Hollower, and shows Angel taking on a demon that sucks the demon spirit out of vampires. It’s written by Christopher Golden, and is mildly entertaining. Hector Gomez’s art does nothing but take away from that, but the story was good enough for me to ignore it. There are a few other Christopher Golden tales here that range from mediocre (”Who Made Who,” a Spike/Dru story, and “Cursed,” a pointless story about how bad Angel was in the past), to GOOD (”Stinger,” which great dialogue and a demon with very interesting motivations), to GREAT (”Hello Moon,” which Golden co-wrote with Daniel Brereton). The latter comic I mentioned, “Hello Moon,” is one of my favorite Buffy comics ever, and I think it alone is worth buying this book.

Something that will make Buffy fans very happy is that this book includes two short stories written by Doug Petrie, who was a writer on the television series. Not only did he write great episodes, he also showed how good he was at writing comics, with the Angelus-centric Ring of Fire, which was featured in the second Buffy omnibus. The first story he contributes to this book is “Bad Dog,” which deals with Oz going all wolfy and a nerdy sorcerer seeking revenge. It wasn’t as good as I expected, but was way better than some of the other stuff here. Petrie also closes this volume with a short story called “Graduation Day,” which catches up with Buffy and Angel right after they parted ways in the ground-breaking finale of the third season. Not only was it a perfect way to have a final statement about Buffy and Angel’s relationship, it was also a great note to end the book on.

The art in this book was way better than what we saw in the third volume, but fans should expect about the same quality of writing. There are some great stories here, but most of it is still overshadowed by Andi Watson’s work. I’d say it’s definitely worth buying (both for the Golden and Petrie comics, and pretty much just to have it), but it’s no where near as entertaining as the first two. I know that, with the fifth volume, things will be looking better (as there is no Watson work in sight).

6/10

5 Stars For any true Buffy lover…
this book is for you. The continuation from the other 3 volumes. amazing artwork, stories and every new and true buffy fan will love it!

3 Stars Generic artwork, sloppy story (mostly)
The short stories aren’t bad, but seeing as “Bad Blood” dominates this volume I’m basing my review on that story. The artwork is not very good in this volume, compared to volumes 1 and 2. It isn’t necessarily bad, but the artists don’t capture the likenesses of any of the actors. Furthermore, the artwork looks rushed. Most panels in Omnibus 1 and 2 seem like paintings; most of the work in this volume are nowhere near the same quality.

As for as Watson’s story, it’s full of things that make no sense; either that or quotes that seem to only be there to take up place. Sometimes though the story is interesting, but it took a long time to get through for me. Perhaps Watson isn’t a bad writer, but he certainly doesn’t have the knack for all-things-Buffy.

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Buffy’s emotions run high after the tragic loss of her mother, but she can’t mourn long, as the Hellmouth never sleeps. In Tom Fassbender, Jim Pascoe, and Cliff Richard’s Ugly Little Monsters, the Slayer must contend with deformed demon-children, a volatile teenage sister, and a lovestruck vampire named Spike. Troubled by visions of monsters fought and of those to come, Buffy must sacrifice herself for Dawn, and her death takes a toll on the Scooby Gang. Without their Slayer, these close friends must band together and confront demons, reptilian sorcerers, and crazed forest creatures in stories written by Amber (Tara) Benson, acclaimed Buffy novelist Christopher Golden, and TV writer Jane Espenson, who presents the secret Season Six rendezvous between Buffy and Angel through the imaginations of the Slayer’s closest friends. The original series reaches its grand finale with the gang re-united and going on a long trip to hell where Angel, Faith, and Oz return to Buffy’s life.

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Doug Petrie, formerly a writer and director on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series, joins Buffy Season Eight with “Living Doll.” The spell little Dawnie got whacked with by the Thricewise demon she angered just keeps . . . evolving. First, she’s a giant; then, she’s a centaur; now, she’s a . . . what?! Buffy, ever busy saving the world, will finally have to take action regarding her little sis when Dawn’s mysterious disappearance makes it a priority. At least, she better be in some sort of danger, or Buffy’s going to kick her butt for wasting precious time acting like an attention-seeking teen-which is what Dawn is, after all.

Doug Petrie, artist Georges Jeanty, and executive producer Joss Whedon tackle Buffy Season Eight #25.

Buffy the Vampire SlayerTM & ? 2006 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Nicely wraps up Dawn’s curse arc
This is probably my favorite standalone issue since BUFFY Season 8 drifted away from long arc to single issue stories. It doesn’t make me want things to stay on the single-issue shtick, but it is at least better than what we’ve been getting. There really are two reasons that this issue did more for me than others. First, Buffy is at the center of the story, instead of one of the peripheral characters. Second, it wraps up a story arc that has existed since BUFFY Season 8 started.

We previously had learned that Dawn had been cursed by a Thricewise after he learned that she had slept with his college roommate. (BTW, love how they mixed the ultra magical with the ?ber mundane). She first became a giant and then transformed into a centaur. In this issue she hits her third transformation: she becomes a living doll. And is collected by a Gepetto-like character and kept with his other dolls. With an intervention by Andrew, who talks to the Thricewise Ken, Dawn recovers her humanity and is set for further adventures as just a regular girl. A girl with issues to work out with her sister.

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Since the destruction of the Hellmouth, the Slayers – newly legion – have gotten organized and are kicking some serious undead butt. But not everything’s fun and firearms, as an old enemy reappears and Dawn experiences some serious growing pains. Meanwhile, one of the “Buffy” decoy slayers is going through major pain of her own. Buffy creator Joss Whedon brings Buffy back to Dark Horse in this direct follow-up to season seven of the smash-hit TV series. The bestselling and critically acclaimed issues #1-5 are collected here for the first time, as are their covers by Jo Chen and Georges Jeanty.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Buffy Season 8 Volume 1
If you are a fan of the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” series then you should definitely pick this up. I just got it and I’m almost done with it. It’s great. It has the same quality writing that you expect from the Buffy series. The art work is also very good. This is a must for any true Buffy fan.

2 Stars Meh…
I was a huge fan of the series and finally went out and bought the first graphic novel. I think I waited so long because I was afraid the comic might ruin the series for me. After reading it, I’m not quite at “Season 8 doesn’t exist!”, but it was certainly a disappointing introduction to the new medium. Some of the plot devices are so mind-numbingly idiotic that I really have to wonder what Joss was smoking (Warren again? REALLY?). Also, as a big fan of Spike’s character development throughout the series, not having him around anymore is as big a void as not having Buffy or Giles around (also, Buffy got over him pretty quickly didn’t she?). And Dawn is STILL annoying?! Didn’t the show already go over her issues…like, a lot? I can understand a middle schooler being at her level of annoyance, but she’s at high school age now, why is she still so needy and whiny? Can someone please kill her off already? NO ONE LIKES DAWN! STOP KILLING CHARACTERS WE LIKE AND ARE INTERESTED IN AND REPLACING THEM WITH ANNOYING SHALLOW PEOPLE THANKS.

Overall, the plot was boring, and the panel changes were sometimes incomprehensible. I’d have to read parts over again a few times to figure out what was going on. And the move to comics made the tone of the series into a generic superhero comic. Which kind of sucks if you enjoyed the close knit atmosphere of the series, where it focused on character development rather than flashy big stuff. Buffy works best when it’s a core group of characters, but everyone is off sort of doing their own thing, and there’s a lot of focus on people I don’t care about. I’ve heard the series gets better, but I don’t know if I really want to bother.

2 Stars Where Do I Begin?
I’m a die-hard Buffy fan. After that very last episode it was so hard to let those characters go because I was so attached to them and to the show. The show is truly, hands-down one of the best television shows ever created. Period.

Then the comics came out. I’d heard of them a long time ago, but I had never picked them up. So recently I bought myself a copy of this very first volume of stories. In my head I was thinking “Ok this is going to be cool. What an innovative way to keep the show running!” So I read through it in a couple of days. And then I read through it again. Something just didn’t feel right. In a lot of ways I liken these season eight comics to the season five episode of BTVS where Dawn attempts to bring their mother, Joyce, back to life. Dawn wanted it so bad, like we fans so want there to be another chapter in BTVS. It’s selfish so to speak but the need is there. So we push hard enough and long enough until something like these comic books come out. The pieces are all there: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles and various other characters from the Buffyverse. But something is definitely amiss. I really dislike the way the characters are portrayed, especially the women. The page of comic art with Willow standing there in the red pants, I mean come on!! You can totally see how over-enhanced her breasts and butt are!! Did anyone ever wear clothes so melted on like that on the show? NO! How about the image where it shows the potential slayers at the slumber party playing games in scantily clad lingerie? Seriously? Even poor Xander had a double take sequence when he began to hint at his own handling of his manly needs, if you catch my drift. Dawn bathing in a pond with nothing to cover her up but a few bubbles? Why did they have to portray that sequence in that situation? I honestly can’t think of a single good reason. It’s gross to me and it really slaps the show and it’s history across the proverbial face.

Overall, the story has a nice quality to it. Some of these ideas I would have loved to have seen played out on my TV screen. But sometimes the writing just didn’t seem to be very coherent. Like the writers were pulling a page from the “Lost TV show handbook” about how to confuse their readers. I found myself having to go back and forth a lot and do a lot of rereading, but often times I just could not make sense of certain lines of dialogue or events that played out.

I want more Buffy badly. But these comic books just are not it. They feel very indulgent, almost like they were written not by Joss Whedon but by some oversexed, overzealous comic book nerd who writes those crappy Buffy fan-fics that are all over the net. I can’t justify paying any more money in the vain hope that the rest of the book series will be any better, because frankly this first volume is just that bad!

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