Buffy Season 8: Episode 1 (Act 1)

The wait is finally over! The first issue of Buffy Season 8 finally got published after the initial announcement over 2 years ago. (If I remember correctly, the rumours for this first started circulating around the time The Tales of the Vampires mini was coming out) I of course, had to review this. Actually I plan on reviewing this in 2 steps…single issues and how well they hold up…and again once the entire storyline completes. Maybe I’ll combine the two ideas…maybe not…but that’s the current plan. We’ll see how it goes.

Anyway…as can be seen from the previous posts on this blog, I’m a huge Buffy fan. I adored the tv series, I’ve read way too many books (many of which have been crap…but there have been some genuine gems in there too) and I’m slowly wading through the comic series as well. I own almost all the dvd sets (missing seasons 1 and 2…a ‘friend’ borrowed and never returned them) and I even used to buy the magazine on a sporadic basis. This was a no-brainer from me. But first, a few disclaimers: I’m coming as a huge fanboy of the show. There will be a bias in the reviews because of that. I also love Whedon’s television work, but have not been overly impressed with his comics work (apart from Fray). I thought Astonishing X-men was just average (many, many awesome moments…but not enough actual story). So I approached this with excitement mingled with more than a little trepidation. Fortunately, while I think the comic does have some flaws (many of which may disappear if this is read in collected form) it was overall a solid effort.

Massive Spoilers Ahead!