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The TV series is over, but the story continues in a series of comic books overseen by the original Buffy creator.
Dark Horse Comics
Verdict: I'm really reviewing two things here: the entire Buffy Season Eight series and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer collection. The latter volume is one I would recommend unreservedly to any Buffy fan, and I'd even recommend it to comics fans in general; while it would help to have at least a general familiarity with the BtVS setting, it's not really necessary to understand and enjoy these collected short stories. As for Season Eight, I believe that serious Buffy fans are fairly divided over whether they love it or hate it, but my reaction seems to be pretty typical, in that I thought the first part of the series was pretty darn good, but by the end it had gone from awesome to kind of okay but really muddled. Nonetheless, it didn't bomb so badly that I won't read Season Nine. I don't think, though, that Season Eight will hold much appeal to anyone who's not already invested in Buffy fandom.
Dark Horse Comics
Before Season Eight, Joss Whedon brought generations of Slayers and vampires to comics with the help of his acclaimed TV writing team and some of the best artists to ever grace the comics page. Now all those stories, plus selected stories from Season Eight, are collected in one deluxe hardcover with a new cover by Jo Chen.
Joss writes multiple tales: a somber vamp tale, drawn by Cameron Stewart; the story of the first Slayer, drawn by Leinil Yu; and more.Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales also reprints for the first time new Season Eight stories written by novelist Jackie Kessler (Hell's Belles) and award-winning cartoonist Becky Cloonan (Demo), featuring vampires living in the public eye, killing Slayers and killing each other.
Below the cut will be spoilers for the TV series (which ended eight years ago, so c'mon), but not the Season Eight graphic novel series.
( Review of Season Eight and Buffy Tales. )
Verdict: I'm really reviewing two things here: the entire Buffy Season Eight series and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer collection. The latter volume is one I would recommend unreservedly to any Buffy fan, and I'd even recommend it to comics fans in general; while it would help to have at least a general familiarity with the BtVS setting, it's not really necessary to understand and enjoy these collected short stories. As for Season Eight, I believe that serious Buffy fans are fairly divided over whether they love it or hate it, but my reaction seems to be pretty typical, in that I thought the first part of the series was pretty darn good, but by the end it had gone from awesome to kind of okay but really muddled. Nonetheless, it didn't bomb so badly that I won't read Season Nine. I don't think, though, that Season Eight will hold much appeal to anyone who's not already invested in Buffy fandom.
