Let's take a minute...

Let's take a minute to reflect on what's coming up this year, because... a whole lotta stuff is on the way.

+ Buffy Omnibus, Volume Three... it's out already. It wasn't advertised that well, since Dark Horse is STILL saying it came out two days ago. Well, seeing as I got it a week ago, that is false. Also, I got it in a major book store chain, and those always get trade paperbacks delivered AFTER comic shops do. So, I'd wager the omnibus came out January 17th in comic shops and the following Friday in bookstores. Thanks, Dark Horse. They're on top of their game with comic release dates, but they've been horrible with trade paperback dates. They gave us an ever-changing and ultimately WRONG release date for the "The Long Way Home" TPB and now this? Come on, guys... If I hadn't stopped to put the Buffy TPBs in order (OCD?) at the bookstore, I would have NEVER noticed the "Volume 3" on the bottom of the book.

NOTE: TFAW says it was released the 10th... but they're hardly ever right. They've been consistently saying that the "After the Fall" comics come out a week later than they have been.

That being said, let's get into upcoming dates you'll want to remember.

Feb 6th: Buffy, Season Eight #11: A Beautiful Sunset
*Feb 20th: Angel, After the Fall #4
Mar 5th: Buffy, Season Eight #12: Wolves at the Gate, part I
*Mar 19th: Angel, After the Fall #5
Apr 2nd: Buffy, Season Eight #13: Wolves at the Gate, part II
Apr 16th: Angel, After the Fall #6: First Night, Part I
May 5th: Buffy Omnibus: Volume Four
June 4th: BtVS Season Eight, Volume Two: No Future For You TPB

*tentative, based on how they have been released thus far

Other small tidbits of news...

1. It looks like the After the Fall story arc-within-a-series "First Night" is going to be expanded. On his blog, Chris Ryall said that it started as a standalone, expanded into a two-issue story arc, and now looks like it is going to be three issues. The comic details what happened to the characters on their first night in Hell. Ryall said that "After the Fall #9" will go back to the main plot we've been reading about in Issues 1-5. He also went on to say that, so we won't be away from the main plot for that long, the 9th issue will likely be released TWO WEEKS after the 8th issue (which will conclude the First Night arc), instead of one month.

2. Pre-order Brian Lynch's new comic miniseries "Everybody's Dead" here.

3. Dark Horse has advised comic shops to order more copies of Buffy #12 because something huge will happen in that issue. Anyone who wants to discuss what they think this is can do so in the COMMENTS section. Except don't say things like "Buffy will be sired!" Intelligent theories only. Truly, why would Joss vamp Buffy when he and Brian just vamped Gunn! It would be the same story. Other than that, discuss away!

Size Matters

What Is It: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Panel to Panel." It's a TPB (well, more of a FHPB) that collects the best of the art from Dark Horse's original run on BtVS. Scott Allie provides commentary.

Timeline: We get stuff from pre-Season One to post-Season Seven.

REVIEW: My first thought when my comic book guy put this specially ordered book (they weren't stocking it, so I had to put in a personal order) was "Holy vampire lemon face, this is huge!" And when I say huge, I mean huge in every way. The pages are thick, so even though this book is only 190 pages, its about three times as thick as the "Long Way Home" TBP. And as far as height, this is the Yao Ming of trade paperbacks. I mean, it's an insult to this hulking book to call it a TPB. For fear of being bludgeoned to death by this tome, I'm going to officially refer to it as a FHPB. A F**king Huge Paperback. Or perhaps just "The Book That Must Not Be Named." I'm not going to go on and on about how big this thing is, but I have to add that I literally cannot fit it on ANY of my shelves. Not the large shelves that house my Buffy script books, and not even the bigger shelf that I keep my over sized Runaways hardcovers on. I had to put this big ol' sucker in my CLOSET, this thing is so huge.

But I digress. The SECOND thought I had when this came into my hands was "Shiny." That's in both senses. The figurative "shiny" (if you don't know what that means, you really shouldn't consider yourself a Whedon fan) as well as the literal "shiny." The cover has a sort of foily shine to it, making the metallic blue of the art look even cooler. The binding of the book, like all Dark Horse TPBs, is very strong and even has a little picture on it (Buffy's face from "Creatures of Habit."

Okay, now that I've bored you with my first reactions, let me get down to the nitty gritty. The book is pretty much made up of huge renditions of certain covers, panels, and promotional pics from the original Buffy run by Dark Horse. The art is of varying quality (see the "Art" section below), but the way it was put together was quite masterfully. Scott Allie takes us on a trip down (his) memory lane as he explains certain pieces, giving us all some pretty cool background info on the artists or what was the reason for each cover. Often, his commentary offers some really cool tidbits, but other times he leaves us wanting a bit more. Many pieces that I would have liked to know more about were left unexplained, which isn't really that cool in a book like this. However, that little flub is made up for by the sheer quality of this book, because when it comes down to it, we do get a lot of new factoids from the man with the plan.

By the way, this book is only $20. TWENTY DOLLARS. Having a rough idea that the book was large, I went to the ATM to get a little bit of extra cash before my trip to the comic shop. When I got there and got the book in my hands, I was afraid that my mere $50 wouldn't cut it. Nervous of my looming embarrassment (I'd hate to think of the look I'd get when I didn't have enough dough for a book I put on special order), I managed to squeak out a "How much is it?" He said "Twenty," and then even had to double check himself because the book was just so damn big (and shiny). But yeah, twenty.

Don't be a goon. Buy it.

Art: To truly get into the art, I'd pretty much have to review every page. There are many different styles in this book--some great, some good, some okay, some...not so much--from a long list of different artists who have contributed to the title. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it shows how the long term artists have evolved over the course of the series, often drastically changing their styles. The best part about this book is probably the painted covers from the later issues (post-Season Five and on), specifically the art taken from the wonderful illustrated prose novel "Creatures of Habit." Overall, this won't disappoint. Even if a lot of the art isn't good, it's amazing to see so many different takes on our favorite characters. Some day, I hope the art of Season Eight gets the "Panel to Panel" treatment because, let's face it, the best BtVS art that's ever been put out is what we're getting now from Chen, Foster, and sometimes Jeanty. I almost wish "The Long Way Home" was released in an over-sized version, as to truly appreciate the art, but it makes me wonder where I would put it.

Note: I unknowingly advertised the 'verse to some peeps. Apparently, when this book was delivered, another customer wanted to purchase it. It had been reserved for me, but the customer liked the book so much that they put in a special order for it. I was happy to have spread to word, even if I didn't know I was doing it.

Rating: 8/10*

*Gotta say though, it's a must have. Buy it, thine wankers!

Good Enough To Consider It A "Lost Episode" Of BtVS

What Is It?: "Ring of Fire" is a graphic novel, written by Doug Petrie who has written notable episodes for "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", such as the fan-favorite "Fool for Love."

Timing: This story takes place in Season Two of Buffy, right after "Passion."

REVIEW: I was surprised by "Ring of Fire." When I began to read it, I was under the false assumption that Christopher Golden (a writer for the comics and books, who hasn't convinced me of his talent yet) had written it. I was immediately blown away by how the dialogue captured the personalities of each character as well as the tone of the show perfectly. Wondering how Christopher Golden had suddenly become such a good writer, I flipped to the index and saw that he, of course, hadn't written it. Doug Petrie, a writer for the actual television series, had. Well, let me say this: If this is his first venture into comics, he is a natural. The pacing is perfect, and the writing truly brings me back to what I feel was the best period of the show: The Angelus arc.

The story is a simple "stop demon from killing people" kind of thing, but the dialogue and the twists in the plot, such as the introduction of Kendra into the mix, are what sustains the story. However, speaking of Kendra, I couldn't help but note how jarringly out of character she is. She's speaking like Faith, which is very non-Kendra-esque. No matter; it doesn't take away from my enjoyment of the story. Petrie manages to insert this tale into a tight spot in the Second Season that craftily manages to develop the characters without contradicting anything that happened subsequent to the events of the story. This graphic novel is actually better than a few of the actual television episodes that followed "Passion" (ex. "Go Fish", "Killed By Death"), as it dealt with certain aspects that weren't explicitly addressed on the television show.

Art: "Ryan Sook." The name of this artist, when said to a fan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," either causes sneering or smiling. After seeing his art in the "Spike and Dru" one-shots, I found myself more among the sneering crowd. His depiction of the characters in the SPIKE AND DRU comics was crude and often made their faces look hideous, though I did note that he had a knack for complex backgrounds. However, his art in "Ring of Fire" wasn't nearly as bad as in the aforementioned one-shots. He often got dead-on likenesses of all the major characters. There were a few major slip-ups (he can't draw vamped out faces at all), but for the most part the art ranged from satisfactory to good. His art never got in the way of the storytelling, but actually complimented it this time around.

Characters We Know: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Oz, Giles, Angelus, Spike, Drusilla, Kendra, Jenny Calendar

Rating: 9/10

*NOTE: Hold out on buying this. It's much more practical just to pick up the Buffy Omnibus Volume 2, which reprints this as well as six other Buffy comic stories in one volume*

"Right Back To The Beginning! Not The Bang, Not The Word... The True Beginning"

What Is It?: "The Dust Waltz" is the first Buffy graphic novel that Dark Horse published. It was written by Dan Brereton with pencils by Hector Gomez. It is from the first run of non-canonical Buffy comics.

Timing: The timing is ambiguous, though Scott Allie has recently stated in the opening to the second BtVS omnibus that it is--contrary to what Wikipedia says on the matter--set in Season Three of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." Knowing that, it can only take place between "Revelations" and "Lover's Walk." All the characters know about Angel being alive, but Cordelia is still smitten with Xander and Willow is dating Oz. It is impossible for it to be set in Season Two, because Willow and Oz don't officially become an item around the time Angel loses his soul... So that leaves the only open spot for this comic to be between B3-07 and B3-08.

REVIEW: This is a very early Buffy comic. "The Dust Waltz" takes place in--contrary to popular belief--mid-Season Three of BUFFY and is the first Buffy graphic novel that Dark Horse ever published. The story is surprisingly coherent and fits in nicely with the mood of early Buffy. The tone is light and the voices, for the most part, are pretty on point. The one character that the writer messes up here is Buffy Summers herself; she, in "The Dust Waltz", is for the most part a clueless and annoying character. Her charm wasn't captured in this depiction of her.

I also had a problem with the inclusion of Giles' niece. She was a character who simply added nothing to the story; the story could have been told the exact same way without her, and our main characters would have a lot more page time than they do. However, I have to add that the plot itself is actually very creative... much more so than I'd expect for the first adaptation. I won't spoil anything, but it includes a demon competition over the Hell Mouth.

Art: The art is old school. Very old school. Some of the colors are inconsistent, causing confusion when you try to identify characters. Also, a big thing for me was the depiction of Willow. Compare her and Cordy's face. Their faces are drawn EXACTLY the same way. They could be twins. Plus, Willow's hair is brown here; same as Cordy's. I really, really don't get that. And Xander looks like he belongs on the cover to a Saved By the Bell DVD set. While the story gets points for being innovative, the overall effect of everything suffers from the way the characters are portrayed.

Characters We Know: Buffy, Giles, Willow, Cordelia, Angel.

Rating: 6/10