Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8: Retreat

I loved the two short stories at the end of Retreat. Harmony talks to Stephen Colbert and Buffy has a very bad dream. These stories really lightened the rest of the heavy, action-packed volume.

Retreat has Oz! I was so excited when I saw him there on the front cover (not a spoiler since he’s on the front cover). Even if they drew him a little too tall, it was Oz.  Amidst all the battles, we get to find out what happened to Oz after he left Sunnydale for Tibet the second time.  However, as happy as I am to see Oz, it has brought me to my complaint about the art. Where is his red hair? His hair is brown as we read the story. If his hair was also brown on the cover, then though I'd be sad they didn't use his red hair, I probably wouldn't complain about it. I just like consistency.

As for the actual story, Retreat was great. It had every character you could want make an appearance. It was nice seeing everyone together.  They fight, they argue and there’s a surprise appearance at the end.  Retreat didn't disappoint.  I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the next installment of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8: Predators and Prey

Giant killer kitty, a submarine and Harmony.  What more can you ask for?  Seriously, Harmany, what is she doing?  When did she think that was a good idea?  She didn't think of it herself... did she?  Volume 5 is crazy!

Predators and Prey gives us a look at all the Buffy, Season 8 characters.  We get to see what everyone has been up to since the story left them behind.  I like that we see what's happened to Faith and Giles, which I've been wondering about.  We also see what caused Dawn to turn into a giant and a centaur and a new incarnation. There’s Kennedy and Satsu, which is great.  There’s even Anderson Cooper.  I like a little bit of real life bleeding through onto the Buffy page.

Predators and Prey was such a crazy volume, it's difficult to know what to say.  I loved it.  There was action, adventure and excitement.  I found the Buffy gang as engaging as ever.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8: Time Of Your Life

I know I’ve said this before, but I don’t have a lot of time these days, so this “review” is really going to be a smattering of thoughts. I’ve also reviewed three of the Buffy graphic novels already, so there are some things that don’t need in depth repeating. As always, I thought there was great writing and I enjoyed the art. Also, minor spoilers.

I am really loving these graphic novels. I was so hesitant about them; I was unsure that they’d live up to the show. They are so fun and entertaining. Time Of Your Life has brought me back to the initial excitement I felt when I read Volume One.

Previously, I complained that they hadn’t done anything with giant Dawn. That has been remedied and in a great way. If they left her a giant for another book, I think I wouldn’t be as happy with it as I am.

What is up with Willow? I feel like there’s more going on with her than they are revealing. I have to say that I like the way Willow had to contact the green spirit lady. It was awesome.

I really enjoyed the Fray crossover. I didn’t realize what that was about. I just thought it was a different slayer. Getting a good look at the character of Fray and the world she lives in really makes me want to pick up Fray. Maybe that was part of the reason for the crossover. I would never have considered reading Fray before now. Though I’m sure fans of both were itching for a crossover.

The single comic at the end of Time Of Your Life is titled, After These Messages – We’ll be Right Back. It is a great ending to volume four. After These Messages was a flashback to simpler times. The art is even different, giving the story that retro, blast from the past sort of feel. It reunited the old high school Scooby gang, with the inclusion of a very young Dawn. Buffy wishes things were less complicated and in a dream, she returns to high school. After really looking back she sees that even then she still had to save the world all the time.

You Have to Read This Book!

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish is asking us about Books I'm So Happy Were Recommended To Me, what are the books that you probably wouldn't have picked up without a good recommendation? In no particular order:

1. The Hunger Games Trilogy – Thanks to my co-workers for recommending these books, as well as the hordes (am I actually exaggerating?) of bloggers. I devoured them!

2. Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8 series – Thanks to one of the aforementioned co-workers, Sarah, for making me read them. I was a fan of the show, but was always hesitant on whether I should read the comic/graphic novel series. I’m glad she brought her copies into work so that I could take them home and read them.

3. The Twilight series – Thanks to the same co-workers that recommended The Hunger Games. Of course it was the summer before the first film came out that I read these books. At the time, they were as addictive as anything I’d ever read before.

4. The Handmaid’s Tale – It was actually assigned reading in one of my University classes. So many of my friends in high school told me how much they hated Atwood and I never ended up in a class where I had to read her, so I never chose to pick up one of her books. I’m so glad that The Handmaid’s Tale was part of that University class. It’s now one of my favourite books and made me a life-long Atwood fan.

5. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Thanks to the same co-workers, plus the bloggers, plus my husband’s step-father (step-father-in-law?) for recommending this book. I loved it and have been patiently waiting for the third book to come out in paperback, since I heard the second and third book are very much connected. However, with the Swedish movies out and the Hollywood ones on the way, I don’t know how much longer I can wait to read them.

I couldn’t quite get to ten. If you count the individual books in a series, I’ve actually got 16 books on this list. Does that count? I suppose I either don’t listen to other people’s recommendations a lot or I don’t have that many real life bookish friends to recommend things to me. Mostly, I just go where my interests and moods take me.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8: Wolves At The Gate

Wolves At The Gate was fantastic. I am really enjoying what Joss Whedon and his team have done with Buffy in the comics. I have so many reactions after reading this third installment. I love Dracula! Poor Xander. I can’t believe Buffy did that…twice! What is happening to Willow? Who/what is Twilight?

Minor SPOILERS

I loved the overall arc of this comic/graphic novel. These vampires have strange powers and the slayers have to deal with them. Enter legendary vampire Dracula, who seems to have a very strange relationship with Xander. I don’t know if the slayers would have been able to defeat the vampire army without him.

One minor problem, why haven’t they fixed Dawn yet? I was thinking they would by now, or at least have a line on how to make her normal sized again. Having her giant-sized was a part of this arc and I know she’s really useful as a giant. Still, this is the third book with her problem not only unchanged, but not really addressed in this installment either.

As with the first two graphic novels, the art was fantastic. The personalities of the characters stay true to the television series, while continuing to evolve. The artists do a wonderful job of capturing their expressions so that their faces and body language help emote what they’re feeling. The writers have not only created a good story, but also kept the quirky personalities intact. I love the little conversation Buffy and Willow have as they watch a falling Satsu.

I’d also like to briefly mention A Beautiful Sunset, the single issue story included with Wolves At The Gate. Unlike the first two graphic novels, A Beautiful Sunset came at the beginning instead of the end. I’m not sure I like that. By the time I reached the end of the novel, my recollection of the single issue story was a bit vague. What I do remember and liked about it, was our glimpse at Twilight, what can probably be thought of as the big “baddie” of Season 8.

After Wolves At The Gate, I’m eager to read the fourth book in Season 8. With my last novel not really “entertaining” me the way I thought it should have, I wanted something I thought would be fun. That’s what this graphic novel gave me. Though not the best of the three I’ve read so far, I was not disappointed and I don’t think other fans will be either.

Other Reviews:
Mervi’s Book Reviews

If you have a review of this book, let me know and I’ll add your link.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8: No Future For You

With a title like, No Future For You, who else would we be talking about but Faith, the rogue vampire slayer. The arc of this second installment was very exciting. It was nice to see Faith and Giles, as Faith was not present in The Long Way Home and Giles was only briefly seen. Now, we get both of them and they are working together. Though Faith sided with the good guys in the final television season of Buffy, it hasn’t been all dewdrops on roses. She still has her issues. When it’s time to get a little messy, instead of talking to Buffy, Giles turns to Faith. As always, Giles wants to protect Buffy, but he and Faith have something key in common.

In No Future For You there’s another rogue slayer out there. In many ways she’s a lot like Faith; she not a part of the pack. In some ways she is quite different. This crazed slayer wants to rule the slayer world. There’s fighting and blood and symbols and secret meetings and the military. What more could you ask for in this crazy comic? No Future For You keeps moving Season 8 forward and keeps this Buffy fan interested.

The single issue story at the end, Anywhere But Here stared Buffy and Willow, with Xander and Dawn supporting. Even though these are main characters, they weren’t seen throughout most of No Future For You. There was a bit of an adventure, but mostly, this short story gave the readers an insight into the emotional development of the main characters since they left Sunnydale at the end of the television series. Anywhere But Here as well as No Future For You really gives us a new grip on the characters and an idea of how they might react to the oncoming danger.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 8: The Long Way Home

I just completed the first volume in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8 series, The Long Way Home. I was a HUGE fan off Buffy back when it was first on. I watched it all through high school and through most of university. There was one season, season 6, I believe, that I didn’t watch it that much. It was a combination of being very busy with school (and two jobs) and that season being not that good. Season 7 definitely made up for it and the Season 8 comic/graphic novel series continues the legacy of Buffy.

I had originally decided that I wouldn’t read Season 8. I didn’t want to get involved in another book series and then have to buy all of them. A friend of mine at work, who is much more of a fan than I am, wanted someone to talk about the books with, so about a week and a half ago, she gave me a bag and inside this bag were all her Buffy books. It was a few days before I dug in. I was still reading The Good Earth and had already decided what my next book would be. One day after I had finished my book, I had put my daughter down for the night, my husband was getting ready for bed, they were right there. I picked it up. By the time he was done, I was deep into the first issue (each graphic novel is a collection of five issues) and had to finish before I went to sleep. In just a few days the book was done and I wondered why I hadn’t read it sooner.

It was so good. If you’re a fan of Buffy and/or a fan of graphic novels, you’ll like The Long Way Home. It’s fun and exciting. The art is great. They are able to do things with comics that they never could on television. Joss Whedon and the other writers and artists are able to take Buffy to another level. I really enjoyed this first arc. I like who the villains are. I can’t wait to see Buffy and the other slayers kick their butts. The Long Way Home shows a Buffy with new responsibilities, along with her old friends. She also has some amazing new friends. The Long Way Home is a great hook to get you into reading the rest of Season 8.

One aspect of the book that struck me and I really liked was the last issue. The last issue is called The Chain and it isn’t about Buffy and her friends. It’s about another slayer, her mission, what she’s been through and what being a slayer has come to mean to her. It’s like a short story at the end of the novel. I really enjoyed it. It gives the reader a new insight into the Buffyverse. A note at the end, says that they’re going to do this at the end of each collection. If they’re as good as The Chain I look forward to reading them. The Long Way Home is a fantastic continuation of a television series I loved.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer And Philosophy: Fear And Trembling in Sunnydale

I’ve been slowly moving through a Philosophy and Pop Culture series from Open Court Publishing. The series of books take different pop culture phenomenon and apply philosophical thoughts to it. You can find books on The Simpsons, Harry Potter, Transformers and many more. Some choices, like The Matrix I can understand its philosophical aspects. Others, like iPod, I don’t. Either way, I can definitely see myself reading many more of these books.

I really enjoyed Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Philosophy. I was a pretty big fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer throughout high school and university. Since I’m also a fan of philosophy, when I saw the two combined, I couldn’t resist. BtVS and Philosophy was an interesting read. The various philosophers applied the philosophical thoughts of Plato, Aristotle and Kant to Buffy and her life. They discussed Morality, Ethics and Religion. Some of it was brilliant, some of it was far-fetched.

One thing that put me off the book a few times was the repetition. Almost all of the authors thought it necessary to discuss season 4 and “The Initiative”. “The Initiative” was a government run elite group of soldiers trained to fight demons. These young men weren’t like Buffy and her mystery solving friends. In contrast, they were the follow orders, shoot first types. I can see why this season would be so appealing to discuss when dealing with issues like Morality and Ethics. After a while though, I had to take a break from the book when I felt like “The Initiative” was all anyone could talk about.

Once I got to the last section of the book, my enjoyment of it returned. The last three essays were fantastic. I couldn’t wait to discover what these authors had to say. The choice of the final essay was interesting. I felt like it was inflammatory to those who read the entire collection of Buffy essays and appreciated them. It ran opposite to what pretty much all of the other authors were saying. It was almost like it was trying to undo everything. I enjoyed that I could hate it. Of the entire collection, I really enjoyed the first few essays and the final few. It was the repetition of the middle that became frustrating. Of course, because this is a collection, you don’t have to read all of them or read them in order. Skip the ones you don’t like and move on the exciting ones.