Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3

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Buffy the Vampire Slayer #3
By Geoff Hoppe
May 6, 2007 - 17:02

Dark Horse Comics
Writer(s): Joss Whedon
Penciller(s): Georges Jeanty
Inker(s): Andy Owens
Cover Artist(s): Dave Stewart

If I had a puzzle like that, I would never leave my house.

I never really “watched” Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unless, of course, your definition of “watch” includes catcalling at Sarah Michelle Gellar to take her shirt off. This peeved my sister mightily, who occasionally threw things at me. Despite my youthful chauvinism and my sister’s enraged threats, however, I managed to pick up on a good deal of the show’s mythology, character developments, and wit. From what I can tell, the current Buffy comic series maintains the show’s unique mix of humor and adventure.

If anything, Joss Whedon’s wit has grown sharper over the years. The man who wrote for projects as diverse as Roseanne and Toy Story got better as he took on projects like Buffy, Angel and Astonishing X-Men. Buffy: The Long Way Home is no exception. Monologues about Billy Dee William’s inclusion in the Star Wars saga somehow don’t feel out of place next to tales of demonic intrigue and high-level witchcraft.

The current Buffy series is effectively the show’s eighth season that never made it to tv. There’s a lot more fighting, a lot more characters, and a lot more supernatural hoopla, which would have been hard to do on tv, but are all seamless parts of the comic, thanks to the artwork of Georges Jeanty.

Jeanty and inker Andy Owens have opted for a style that tries to capture Buffy’s aesthetic without inserting too many of their own “interpretations,” and that’s a good thing. Buffy already had its own visual style and rhythm. Bravo to Jeanty, Owens and Stewart for providing technically lovely work that looks impressive, but still gives the characters their well-deserved spotlight.

Worth the money? Yes. Even if things are thrown at you.