Written by Joss Whedon
Illustrated by Georges JeantySeason 8 ended with a bang when Buffy cut the world off from the hell dimensions and all supernatural influence. Great, right? Except Buffy has left her best friend, Willow, powerless, and ended the long line of vampire slayers, leaving her hated by the hundreds of girls who recently stood behind her. Newly relocated to San Francisco, Buffy can count on a fresh start, and focus on what she’s good at–slaying.
Buffy is back, and the Scooby’s are along for the ride! The second canon season from Dark Horse (and ninth overall) arrives and hopes to improve upon the previous season, which yours truly felt meandered and lost its way halfway through and never quite made its way back. But is the franchise back to its former glory?
Find out after the cut!
Well, the answer to that is “…kinda?”
The thing about this issue is that it reads exactly like nearly every other “season premiere” of the franchise. Buffy just fought off the big bad of the previous season, but at huge cost, so now she’s in introspective “hate myself” mode (the most obvious parallel being the opening of season three, which also fits considering Angel was the big bad for both seasons two and eight). She’s living in a new town, waitressing and trying to cope with her new status quo and the decisions she made. The difference from season three, of course, is that her friends didn’t rescue her from this life; they’re living it right along with her. Willow moved on, Xander and Dawn are attempting to continue their relationship, and Spike, Riley and even Andrew are living in San Francisco. While they’re all adjusting to their new (non-magical) life, it seems there are three separate forces that are vying to go after the Slayer, and while this worries me because things might get even more confusing than they were in the eighth season, there’s a somewhat refreshing narrative to these different threads, as one is (mostly) resolved by the end of the issue for laughs, and the other two may very well be connected in a way we haven’t seen yet.
One of the most interesting and curious storytelling devices that Whedon chose for this issue is that half of the title is told in flashback while at a party, and the other is afterwards. Here we see just how much of a mask Buffy puts on to hide the fact she feels guilty for the destruction of The Seed from the previous season. The baby slayers are gone, as is Willow’s connection to magic and even Giles. That’s a lot of angst even for Buffy, and she’s trying to hide it by partying and drinking.
But one of the most welcome changes from last season is the setting of the San Francisco Bay Area. The new setting gives the book new life, as one of the strange things about the previous season is that it didn’t have a place to anchor the story. Sure, world traveling books have their place, but when it comes to a solo hero like Buffy, you need a “home,” like Metropolis or Gotham City. Since Sunnydale isn’t an option, San Francisco is as good a choice as any. While it’s not a Southern California town, it has the quirky mindset that Sunnydale had.
What really worked for the series is that Whedon stepped back up to write the series he started. He has the best grasp of the characters (if you allow the Captain Obvious moment), and his humor shines through even in the darkest moments, something that is trademark to Whedon. He also captures the alienation Buffy feels to an almost painful degree, even as she puts on the brave face and attempts to live that normal life she never truly had. While she plays the party girl, there’s an inner sadness that isn’t even said in so many words, just by his working with the venerable Georges Jeanty.
Jeanty is an underappreciated voice in the comic industry. While it feels like the writers that worked on Season Eight got most of the credit/blame, his half of the duties maintained the steady feel of the book, and saved it to a degree. His work is crisp, and maintains the tone that the series had when it was on television, while taking a few things up a notch. Monsters and demons were never this frightening on The WB or UPN, and they were never this funny either. If there is anyone who deserves a medal in this series, it’s Georges Jeanty.
The book really promises to fix some of the missteps from the previous season, while feeding into the far-off canon that is Fray. Hopefully the book doesn’t fall into the same trappings that the other series did (arcs that didn’t help the narrative, being too long), and recaptures the greatness of the series.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – Buy
