Buffy #10

Season Eight of the Buffy comic book series has made it to issue ten so far and I have to say that the quality of the book has been maintained throughout the run. Of course there's only been two writers on the series up to this point, Joss Whedon and Brian K. Vaughn; and with those two writing it the quality should be expected to be pretty high.

Putting the eighth season in a comic book has opened the series up to possibilities that Joss would have not had the budget for if the show had still be on television. I don't think we would have seen a giant Dawn, Willow flying through the air and some of the demons that the scoobies have faced. While I was worried at the start that this ablility not to limit the special effects would over whelm the storyline they have kept it in check.

The characters sound like the characters from the show. Of course with Joss writing them they should, but Brian pulls off this task also. His Faith arc was, perhaps, my favorite one so far. If I have any quibble with the book it's that I feel like Buffy has been getting the short end of it. I know she was in the first arc, and the present issue, but it seems she's there to make the required Buffy smart remarks and fight the Big Bad. We really haven't seen any issues yet that get inside her head or advance her character. She seems to be a supporting player in her own book.

That said I'll counter my own arguement. In the current issue we do get some characterization of the Buffster and Willow and a speed bump in their relationship. Still even with this it felt like Buffy was not the main focus of the story. I guess what I'm saying is that I'd like to see an issue that had Buffy in a quieter mode, able to expand a little more on her character and not just the one liners and the slaying.

Still like I said, this is a minor quibble, I do see Buffy moving forward, perhaps just not as fast as I'd like, and the other characters have been great. Just like watching the tv show, sometimes you have to wait till the season is farther along to discover what the true meaning of things are and I think we'll discover more as Season eight progresses.

All told Buffy has become one of my favorite comics and is the first read for the week when I get my comics.