Between Seasons: Buffy Season Ten speculation

Last time, I spent a long time recapping the end of Season Nine, finally freed from the shackles of avoiding spoilers. Now that I’ve wrapped up the season and put it behind me (at least, until the final trades come out), it’s time to look ahead, carefully consider what has come before, and be completely wrong about the future. This is just part 1 – my speculation got so out of hand it’ll be split across two articles. For now, I’m going to focus on what creative teams and series will be present.

Left to Right: Scott Allie, Jane Espenson, Drew Z. Greenberg, Joss Whedon, Nicholas Brendon, Andrew Chambliss, Ruth Gage, Christos Gage, Victor Gischler

The closest to any concrete information we have right now is the Season Ten Writers’ Summit (see picture). This was the meeting where they determined the direction that Season Ten would take, and I think it’s safe to assume most, if not all, will be writing for the next season.

My first reaction is that Christos Gage is coming back. He’d confirmed that on Twitter way back in April, if not earlier, but concrete proof is good. Angel & Faith was easily the best series in Season Nine (like I’ve never shut up about), so while we don’t yet know what he’ll write, just the fact that he will be is a positive (in my dream world, he’d write it all). If he was announced as writing the main Buffy series, my opinion would go from “I’ll read it, I guess” to “Have to read it!” immediately, but I won’t get my hopes up too much.
Victor Gischler was a surprise to me. Yes, he was a part of the previous season, but I didn’t know that the Spike miniseries was well enough received that they wanted to make sure that he came back. That’s not to mean that I don’t want him to come back, I just don’t know what to think about it quite yet. (Notably, Jeff Parker, who wrote Willow: Wonderland, is absent.)

Jane Espenson, Andrew Chambliss, and Drew Z. Greenberg were also present. I’m not surprised, but not happy. It’s no secret that I hated the Billy storyline, which was written by Espenson and Greenberg. The main Buffy series was a bit of a mess in general, and most of it was written by Andrew Chambliss, so this looks bad all around. They’re not bad writers, they’re TV writers, and that doesn’t translate directly to comic writing. I wouldn’t have a problem with them being to help with story (which is obviously the main reason Joss and Scott Allie are there), especially since Espenson has been around since the second season of Buffy, but their track record with the comics doesn’t leave me with an abundance of optimism.

I’ll be back to the picture in a moment (I know that everyone wants me to mention one specific thing), but there is one (at the time of writing) recent announcement that might have an effect on this season. Georges Jeanty has been announced as artist for a Serenity series (I’ll talk about that once there’s something concrete to talk about), so I don’t know for sure if he’s going to be back for Season Ten. Given that he’s been drawing the comic for the last six years and seems to love it, I doubt he would, but it’s still a possibility.

Okay, I’ll finally talk about the elephant in the room (though he’s not that large): Nicholas Brendon. Anyone who’s seen the series will recognize him as Xander, and that’s what makes this so interesting. The comics (well, some questionably canonical ones) aren’t strangers to having actors help with writing (Amber Benson and Juliet Landau wrote comics that involved their characters), but their quality is debated at best. Nick does have some experience writing comics, specifically a web comic called Very Bad Koalas (which I admittedly haven’t read), but his presence is already controversial before having written anything, which is just par for the course as fandom goes.

This does lead into the other thing that I want to talk about with Season Ten: the structure. After Season Eight lasted forever, going off on tangents (and off the rails) that left everyone confused by trying to shoehorn everything into a single series, they divided Season Nine into two series running simultaneously with occasional miniseries along the way. That seemed to be a success, and I’m assuming that they’ll do something similar this season as well. The question is, what series are they going to do this time?

The reason that relates to Nick Brendon is that implies a miniseries focused on Xander (something on the scale of the Spike or Willow series), which I wouldn’t have expected based on the comics alone. Yes, they did a lot with his character and I want to see what they do from here, I just didn’t expect that based only on the comics.

The most obvious prediction is that there will be a Buffy Season Ten comic. That is not a question at this point – there will be something with Buffy as the central character, given that she’s the namesake not only for the series, but also the entire universe (it is called the “Buffyverse”, after all).

I’m also going to assume that there’s going to be an Angel series as well, not just because of an Angel spin-off being the status quo, but also the ending of Season Nine. Angel is going back to basics, helping the helpless, and him starting over in London would be a good place to start a new series (more on that later).
Besides that, I don’t know if they could make a third main series for the season. There’s the possibility, but I feel that most everything would work as recurring characters in one of those series or miniseries along the way. Now, why do their stories fit that mold better? What are those stories going to be? I’m saving that speculation for the next article, where I participate in even more baseless speculation.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) knows that it’s likely things are going to be Jossed, probably as soon as the first issue of the next series comes out. If you find what he says interesting, follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings for more, shorter thoughts.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine Volume 4: Welcome to the Team

I wasn’t kind to Volume 3 in this series, but it deserved it. Let’s not look at that, instead focusing on this volume. Buffy Season Nine Volume 4, Welcome to the Team (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty), builds up to the inevitable final battle in the last arc, and manages to tell a pretty good story along the way.

Interestingly, this is the first time (that I can recall) something that started on Angel crossed over into the main Buffy series, referring obviously to Illyria. In spite of the novelty of that, it’s difficult to look at her presence as anything except a plot device for Simone and Severin’s plan. Even though they tie it in a bit more by the end, she seems to be there just because she’s the only character with the possibility to turn back time. Also, writers? Just because we didn’t like how Season Eight ended doesn’t mean that you need to be so literal about attempting a retcon.

Unfortunately, Billy is still here, but he’s been relegated to background character by this point, and he’ll soon be out of the series completely, which cannot happen quickly enough.

The marketing for Season Nine focused on returning to what made the show great, specifically the character-driven storylines rather than the other way around. Despite my negativity about this series in general, this arc balances the character and plot pretty well, making sure that everything that happens is rooted in the characters, and that the characters’ motivations have tangible effects on the plot.

The storyline of Dawn fading from existence starts in this volume. Many fans have issues with this storyline, which surprises me as most hate Dawn. I’d think any possibility they might kill her would be embraced, but that’s not the case. As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum in these reviews (only two more Season Nine publications and I can put this to bed), the way magic works here is wonky. At the end of Season Eight, Warren died instantly when the seed was smashed, as he was being held together by magic, and back in Volume 3 of Angel & Faith, Connor’s fake family’s fake memories went away at the same time. Given those examples, a lot of fans argue that Dawn should’ve started to fade or disappeared completely the moment that the seed was smashed. The fact that she’s fading at all doesn’t make that much sense, as it seemed like she became fully human earlier in the series, but I’m willing to let logic go for a good story.

What really sells me on this volume is Xander. In exchange for saving Dawn, he teams with Simone and Severin, betraying Buffy. Looking back from the perspective of seeing the end of the series, the biggest flaw was the lack of big character moments. Most the characters stayed in the same place throughout the season even though they should have been evolving, but Xander manages some real development here. Sure, it might be pushing him in a direction that people don’t want to see, but this is what I find most interesting in characters: being pushed to do things they never want to do and think that they never would by circumstance. It shows a lot more dimension to a character, and adds the possibility of later conflict that could make things really interesting, which is exactly what they do with Xander here.

Willow returns after her excursion to Wonderland, but the main trio isn’t reunited quite yet. Plus, she doesn’t do much here, so talking about her in any detail doesn’t really make sense until the next trade, when she’s a big part of the story again.

Looking at the extras, Georges Jeanty meticulously keeps his sketches in a way that reminds me of what I see in Rebekah Isaacs’s books, and I’m glad because I love extra features. He especially loves brainstorming ideas for variant covers, to the point that he’ll come up with eight for one issues and they need to cram them all onto one page, making them too small to see much, but you can still see the main idea behind his unused covers. It has a script page with his highlighting and layout sketches, which really helps you get into his head and understand how he goes from words to images. As I’ve said before, I love getting into the heads of the creators, and while the notes were written by someone else, they still give insight that I wouldn’t get from just reading the comic.

Overall, I give this a tentative recommendation. I’m tentative because I know where this is going and I don’t want people to get too invested, but taken on its own, there’s nothing really wrong with this volume and enough right that it’s pretty good on its own. The $17.99 cover price might be a little bit higher than the individual issues, but add in the extra features and the fact that trades just look better on a bookshelf that individual issues, and I think it’s worth the extra money. If you’re interested in the story but don’t want to pay all that, you can buy the physical issues individually for $2.99 each, and there’s a digital bundle of all five issues for $8.99, and if nothing else, it gets a definite recommendation for that price.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) is a little surprised at the fact that he’s recommending this, but if it works, it works. If you find what he says interesting, follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings or check out his personal blog.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #25

It shouldn’t be a secret that I’ve not been a fan of this series. Quite recently, I said that I just wanted it to end so I could see if Season Ten would be an improvement. Having just finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #25 (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) I don’t even have that optimism anymore. No, it’s not completely dead in the water and it would be possible for them to right the ship again, as shown by the awesome series that was Angel & Faith, but they don’t leave me with much confidence.

The problem is, I can’t tell you why I’m so frustrated with this issue. It’s the polar opposite of Angel & Faith #22 in that, while everything that affected me is a spoiler, they’re all in a bad way. Like that issue, I’m going to have to be very oblique here – I may do something like I did there and spoil the hell out of it in a later article because, well, this kind of needs it. It makes almost all the mistakes that Angel & Faith avoided, and I know I’m spending a lot of time comparing the two, but they set themselves up for it by publishing the two concurrently and putting out the finale of one before the other.

When I got to the end of this issue, I felt like the majority of the season was wasting time, which I already suspected but hoped they’d be better than. With one huge exception, which has a laundry list of its own problems, things haven’t really changed from the status quo at the beginning of the season. I can’t even say that it’s needed for the sake of continuity, so there’s not even that going for it.

That big exception? Can’t talk about it here, and all I do is shake my head at how dumb it is. More on that some other time.

One of the reasons that I hate how badly this book affects me is the art. I quite enjoy Georges Jeanty’s art, and it’s not at fault for what’s wrong with the series. He’s been drawing this series and these characters since 2007 now, and it shows. There’s really nothing new here anymore, so if you liked his art earlier in this series or even in Season Eight (he didn’t draw all of it, but a lot of it), you’ve already seen just about everything and it’s only improved since.

I wish I liked this more. I wish I could recommend this issue at all, but unless you’re a completionist who was already going to buy this anyway, don’t. I love Buffy, kind of obsessed really, and even I’m going to wait until I can get the trade for $10 instead of paying $2.99 for an issue. It’s just not even worth it. I can hope that Season Ten is better and I’m not giving up on that, but I’m glad this is done and afraid of what the future might hold.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) will admit that Christos Gage taking over the main Buffy series in Season Ten would change his mind in a second, but knows better than to hope too much. If you find what he says interesting, follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings for more, shorter thoughts. Occasionally.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #24

As you might know from my previous review, I’m ready to write off Season Nine (the Buffy series specifically, Angel & Faith is still good) and see if Season Ten can fix things. It’s devolved into a bit of a mess, and I’m ready to see the future if only I could skip the present. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) makes a few improvements, but is just too little too late.

The best thing about this issue is that they mostly avoid the completely broken dynamic between the members of the main trio. That problem came to a head in the previous issue, and while they couldn’t undo it here, going away from it helped quite a bit. It’s easier to ignore that the main trio don’t belong together anymore when they’re not interacting, and as I said before, they don’t have the time to do so with all of the plot going on here at the end.

I wish that the increased focus on the plot was a net positive. They’ve split the party and suddenly there are about four different storylines going on at once. None are given enough time to fully explain what is going on. Things are just happening too quickly for any of them to sink in (outside of the ending, which only has time to sink in by virtue of being the last thing we see for a month), and a few of them have small gaps in logic that could be easily explained, but aren’t. They’re not completely illogical, they’re just asking the readers to do the heavy lifting of explaining what just happened.

I have to talk about Simone now. Namely, the fact that she’s a Slayer who was turned to a vampire. Ever since they flirted with this idea in Season Four of Buffy and later Season Four of Angel, I’ve found it both interesting and somewhat scary. It should be obvious how someone this insane would become a much scarier villain with the added strength (and removal of the soul) of a vampire, and so I don’t need to spend that much time on talking about that. Instead, I want to focus on the design, one of the few things that has been recently added and is worth talking about. I’ve been a little uneven on the design of vampires in the comic, seeing as it’s much more cartoony than the design in the show (though it might just not work in comic form), but Simone is such an irredeemable villain that this kind of design just works.

I want to be intrigued by the ending, which I can’t talk about here. I really want to be interested and use it as a talking point, speculating about what just happened and if they’d actually do what they’re implying, but it’s hard to really care anymore. I can’t even give this series the benefit of the doubt anymore, which is really disappointing, so using a cliffhanger strikes me as just cheap.

Overall, I don’t really recommend this issue. Maybe if you did like the previous issue, you might like this one, but overall I’m not going to recommend it. If you don’t have a particular attachment to this specific series anymore, there are better things to spend $2.99 on. I’m personally waiting until I can get the trade cheap, and even then that’s only because I’m a bit of a completionist.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) is patiently waiting for this series to end while dreading the end of Angel & Faith. If you find what he says interesting, follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings for more, shorter thoughts.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #23

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #23 (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) is the tipping point in this story arc. I’ve been indecisive, not recommending the earlier issues in this final arc because it had yet to tell us if the writers have finally figured things out or if the series continues to spiral out of control. With this issue, I now have the answer to that question, and it’s really not the answer I wanted.

I hate to be so negative, but this issue has brought up huge problems with this last arc that I somehow missed before now. It’s called The Core because it was supposed to be taking things back what carried the show for seven seasons. Buffy and Willow were in every single episode, and Xander only missed one in the entire series. Bringing these characters back, having them all together and putting the focus back on their relationships was supposed to revitalize the comic, going back to basics and making a simpler story without a lot of the baggage that the comics have brought with them.

The thing is, these characters have changed over time. Even setting aside the argument that the writers have ruined the characters in the comics, there’s no question that they’re not who they were before. In fact, it seems that the writers have only brought them back together now because they’re supposed to be, or something like that. They’re trying to force together a dynamic that is simply broken now. These characters don’t really work together, they don’t really fit as a team, and trying to force it is just making things awkward.

That doesn’t have to be a bad thing. They spent almost the entirety of Season Four with the characters all sticking together even though they had no good reason to. For all the flaws that season had, that part of it worked since it felt like the characters were trying to make it work. This feels like the writers trying to force them together when I can barely understand why the characters are even trying so hard anymore.

The worst part of it is that they’re trying to deal with the character conflict and answer why they’re still trying to keep the gang together. Problem is, they’ve written themselves into a corner; there’s not enough time to wrap up the plot and deal with the characters’ problems with each other, especially since they spent the previous issue spinning their wheels. Within a page, they bring up character problems that could carry an issue or maybe even an entire arc, and then resolve it in the cheapest way possible. They could just leave the character work alone, have them work together with gritted teeth because they have to, and deal with the fallout in Season Ten, except they try to force it into the margins here, leaving it unsatisfying and, well, marginalized.

I wish I wasn’t so negative on this. I really want to like this comic since it continues one of my favorite TV series ever, and I hate reading anything that isn’t good. It’s not even so much that this issue is that bad (it’s still better than the Billy arc, which I’ve already eviscerated), but this is when it’s finally obvious to me what’s wrong with this arc. I’ve also finally noticed that they fundamentally broke something in the comic as a whole that they’re trying to glue together instead of making the best they can out of the pieces. I wish I could really focus on the more positive aspects; I don’t want this negativity to reflect badly on Jeanty, who continues to turn in really good art every single book. I also like where they’re going with Simone’s plot to turn back time, having added a great wrinkle to that storyline that I’ve been waiting for since I found out they entertained this idea on the show but never used it. I wish that these things were more prominent and noticeable above everything that doesn’t work here. There’s something good under the surface here, it’s just unfortunate that there’s a surface between us and the good idea, leaving me even more frustrated at the wasted potential.

I hate to say this, but I feel they’ve lost it. I don’t recommend this issue for $2.99. I’m even going to have to retroactively not recommend the previous two issues – I was just waiting to see if they’d found it or lost it, and it’s become pretty obvious to me that they’ve lost it. Go read Angel & Faith instead. I’m just waiting for this season to be over with so they can finish this story and move on to the next, hopefully making changes so that that story turns out better than this one did.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) is a staff writer here at Red Shirt Crew. If you find what he says interesting, follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings for more, shorter thoughts.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #22

I found Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine #22 (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) mildly disappointing. It’s not bad — I’d almost call it good — but the previous issue held so much promise that just staying at the same level is disappointing. There’s so much potential, but they just need that one last push to show that they really get it now.

The main problem is that I keep comparing this issue to Angel & Faith #22, and I absolutely loved that issue. Seeing as it’s the most recent Buffyverse development, I end up comparing the two, and this doesn’t hold up to that standard. Yes, it’s unfair, but it’s also inevitable, so everything from here on is going to be about the issue itself.

The characters are back to themselves here. As I hoped for previously, now that the main three characters are reunited, their interactions are exactly what I hoped to see here. It’s something that I find hard to describe, but they just all click. Their conversations and banter just feel right. Away from the battle, there’s a focus on Dawn and Spike together, which again feels like something right out of the series when all the characters clicked together. I’m not praising these things just because they returned to what worked in the TV series, either. It’s backwards to want things to stay the same, but nothing that the writers have tried since worked that well, so going backwards is actually a step forward in this case.

The problem here is that the plot has slowed to a crawl to allow for the character moments. Things are happening, but they’re small things. To be cliche, this feels like the calm before the storm. There’s enough time left in the storyline to allow slowing down, but it would’ve made more sense earlier instead of here, right after instigating a nearly apocalyptic battle, where it throws off the pacing.

The art continues to be really good. The problem with trying to review the art in this series, especially now, is that all of the character designs and other elements are pretty well locked down. All of the characters in it have been here for a while now, and there isn’t too much that changes over time, especially since Georges Jeanty has been the artist for almost the entire run, as well as most of Season Eight. The one particular image that sticks in my mind from this issue is the Deeper Well, which manages to live up to the way that it was depicted in “A Hole in the World”. It’s a deep hole of coffins stacked from one side of the planet to the other, and evoking that same sense of scale is surprising when seen in the context of the comic, especially since here they don’t dwell on that image like they did in that episode.

Should you spend $2.99 on this comic? I’m going to have to go with the cop out answer that I gave last time. Unless you’re a completionist (at which point, you’re not paying attention to this anyway), I’d put off buying this until we know if it pays off later. There’s a chance that it will and a chance that it won’t, but my patience for an answer is wearing thin. I sound like a broken record, but just wait and see if it actually manages to pay off in the end before you go out and buy them.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) thinks he knows better than to have hope, but doesn’t really. If you find what he says interesting, follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings for more thoughts occasionally.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #21

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #21 (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) is the first issue in the final arc of Season Nine, “The Core”. If you’ve read my review of Buffy Season Nine Volume 3, you’ll know that I don’t have the same unbridled enthusiasm for the main series that I do for the Angel & Faith series. While I still have my reservations, this issue is a step forward and gives me hope that the end of the season might be able to redeem this otherwise lackluster season.

The art in this issue is good, for the same reasons I mentioned in my review of Angel & Faith #21. Like I said there, the characters are just slightly abstracted from the actors who played them. This can be slightly confusing, but only to people who haven’t already been following the comics, and if you haven’t, don’t try to jump in at issue #21. The specific thing that jumps out to me in this issue is Dawn. As the storyline of her fading from existence continues, she’s drawn in grayscale instead of full color, reminding the reader what is happening and reiterating how high the stakes are. For this, I have to credit Michelle Madsen, who did colors in this issue and whose work probably does unnoticed most of the time.

As of this issue, the main three characters are finally reunited, explaining the name of this arc, “The Core”. This is important, as these characters were the main reason that people were so invested in the TV show during its run. While the comics aren’t the show, that dynamic was very important for seven seasons of TV. Obviously, something about it worked, and seeing that restored in the comics gives me some hope.

More importantly from a story standpoint, this issue has finally brought together each of the different storylines in the season. The Big Bads have now been firmly established and are moving forward with their plan from the previous issue. We know what the stakes are, and for the first time this season, we know exactly where the story is going without all of the confusing diversions and side plots that felt like pointless wandering to kill time until the end of the season.

Georges Jeanty Variant Cover

Something else of note is the continuing trend established earlier in the season of finally implementing parts of the Angel series into the main Buffy series. Though I can’t say what, something very important to the Angel series appears is this issue and becomes a major plot point. This helps make the world feel more cohesive, something which was often lacking both in the TV series and the Season Eight comics.

Speaking of crossovers and cohesion, this episode has a mild crossover with Angel & Faith #21. It’s not something you need to have read that book to understand (but you should because it’s awesome), but it’s there if you need everything to be explained.

On the execution side, I need to bring up Willow. In her miniseries, she struck me as boring and badly written. In this issue, she’s starting to sound like Willow again. While the miniseries focused a bit too much on her otherworldly side, she still grew up in California in the ’90s, and she has the speech patterns to match. This issue restores that second bit to her character, which was sorely missing in that series.

I’ll give this a tentative recommendation and say that this issue is worth the $2.99 cover price. They’re moving in the right direction again, which is nice to see. This is a good issue and a good start to the last arc of the season, but I can’t make any guarantees that the rest of the arc will live up to the promise with which it starts, hence the tentative recommendation.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) really wants this to get better, but knows much better than to get his hopes up. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his other thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.

Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Nine Vol. 3 Guarded

Guarded, the third volume of Season Nine of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, collects two separate story arcs: Guarded (written by Andrew Chambliss, illustrated by Georges Jeanty) and Billy the Vampire Slayer (written by Jane Espenson and Drew Z. Greenberg, illustrated by Karl Moline and Ben Dewey). These are two very different storylines, only included in the same book because they add up to five issues. They even have different writers and artists, so there’s even less cohesion between the two stories. Sadly, this is only really an issue because one story is so much better than the other.

Guarded (the story arc) follows Buffy working with Kennedy’s bodyguard service, trying to protect a social networking mogul who’s being threatened by Wolfram and Hart. He’s managed to keep a link to their dimension alive through technology, which is my only major issue with the story. Since the loss of magic, the writers have gone to great lengths to write magic-based stories without using magic instead of embracing such a fundamental change to the universe and using it to tell some really different stories. The constant handwaving and general confusion over what the loss of magic really means is a particular pet peeve of mine, so it might not bother others as much as it bothers me. It’s also not unique to this arc, so I try not to hold it against this arc compared to the good that it does.

What really sticks out here is Kennedy. It’s not at all a stretch to say that Kennedy is the most hated character from the TV series. She’s so reviled by the fans that general fan opinion on episode quality is inversely related to how many lines she has (no, really — people have done the math). The main complaint is that Kennedy is very one-dimensional, something this arc fixes by giving her actual character traits. On the show, she was just Willow’s girlfriend, but since they broke up near the end of Season Eight, she has to define herself in some other way. She’s still a lesbian, but that’s no longer her only defining trait — she’s now trying to help other Slayers who feel lost in a world without magic, including Buffy. And even though her relationship with Willow is over, she shows an actual attachment to her and still cares for her, even though she knows the relationship is done for good. This character development is far and away the most noteworthy part of this arc, since it made me actually like a character I used to hate — and even if you still don’t like her, she does get punched in the face at one point, so there is that.

Billy the Vampire Slayer follows Billy, a boy from a small, unnamed California town, who wants to do something about the zompire problem despite having no supernatural powers or abilities. His friend, Devon, serves as his watcher in an attempt to emulate being a Slayer as they actively try to fight zompires the town.

Taken from http://www.darkhorse.com

I really want to like this storyline, but there are multiple reasons why this just doesn’t work. The first and simplest reason is, in the middle of the main Buffy series, we’re suddenly taken away and thrown into another story. If that was the only problem, I’d suggest just expanding the story and making it a mini-series, similar to the Willow and Spike miniseries. This type of plotline even has some precedent — Robin Wood was a demon hunter with no supernatural powers, so it can work.

The real problem comes from something that I haven’t yet mentioned: Billy is gay. That’s not the problem. The problem is that it’s his only defining characteristic. In case you were hoping for subtlety, he’s wearing a “No H8” shirt in the first panel, and that’s just the beginning. Every interaction he has with anyone is either him being bullied for being gay or trying to hide his obvious crush on Devon, who (spoilers) becomes his boyfriend by the end of the story. It feels like the writers are trying harder to make a statement than to tell a good story, and it doesn’t even do a good job at that. I don’t even know how to appraise the story since it’s barely anything more than a few events in the background of a public service announcement.

This confuses me to no end. The writers seemed to figure out that was the problem with Kennedy, and fixed that in the previous story arc. Having Billy’s storyline fall into the same trap right afterwards makes it seem like no one was paying attention. Given that it had different writers, they might not have been paying attention, or just missed the point completely. It’s a really jarring shift in tone that happens when so many different writers tackle a comic series, which doesn’t work in that way like a TV series does.

Related to the shift in tone is a shift in the art. There are different artists for each arc in this book, which isn’t that noticeable right away, due to the shift in characters and location. In a way, the change is fitting, since it’s obvious that they wanted a different feel for that storyline. It’s a little disconcerting at the end, however, when they tie Billy’s story back into the main story and Buffy suddenly looks different than she did earlier in the book. This may be making a big deal about nothing, but it’s really jarring when the main character suddenly looks different. This isn’t a reason not to buy given how insignificant it is (and how big the other problems are), but this is just a warning for when you get to that point yourself.

The extras in the back of the book are fairly standard: all of the variant covers (interestingly, all drawn by Georges Jeanty, even though he wasn’t the artist on #14 and #15), along with some rough sketches to show how they evolved. The most interesting cover to me is #11, which is designed like the old Star Wars posters, and is given a prominent position at the front of the book instead of the back, with all the pencils and rough sketches in the back. My favorite, though, is a script page from issue #12, along with rough sketches of the layout and the final version, showing the process of going from script to finished page — I’m a sucker for features about the processes of making things. Noticeably absent is a small extra story like was included in both volumes 1 and 2.

Overall, unless you’re a completionist, I’m really not going to recommend this book, especially since it’s releasing for $18. I might be able to recommend it for around $10, but it’s just cheaper to buy the individual issues for Guarded ($3 each for issues 11, 12, and 13 physical, $2 each digital) and skip the Billy story — you won’t miss much, as it’s barely relevant to the rest of the season, and also isn’t good.

Zac Kandell (known mostly on the internet as Mischlings) is amazed that he suddenly likes Kennedy now, and also hates that this story forced him into an awkward, almost political situation. Follow him on Twitter at @Mischlings to read his thoughts in bite-sized pieces when he actually has any worth sharing.