| Title | : | Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 3 |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1621151794 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781621151791 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 320 |
| Publication | : | First published January 29, 2004 |
• Collects the Buffy stories "Play with Fire" and "Spike and Dru," and issues #1-#8 of the original Buffy series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 3 Reviews
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"High School is hell. Your life is ruled by grades, tests, and scores. You´re constantly being compared to others, with your failures judged and broadcasted.
On top of that, your fellow students are putting you in pigeon holes of jock, geek, cheerleader, whatever. And all this will affect the direction of the rest of your life." -
***Pink Taco Buddy Read with the Shallow Readers! Female Lead this time: Buffy Summers. And Willow and Cordelia***
Buffy is always a win for me, even though some of the comics inside this omnibus are less than stellar. Because of this, my review will be short.
Joss created an incredible world filled with vampires and demons and witches and regular kids just being assholes, and sprinkled it with stars. The people who helped create these separate comics try, and often times succeed. There are many issues involved in omni3 that could have easily been episodes, usually the hokey, maybe have a musical number, episodes, but nonetheless. The artwork changes in pretty much every comic, but every person has a cool take on the characters. My favorite still is Cliff Richards, who took the actual actors and brought them to the page, facial expressions and all. So good.
We're still given the humor of the Scooby Gang, especially Xander. And the relationships of Willow and Oz, and Buffy and Angel are definitely prevalent in this omni. Giles, as always, is such a perfect man.
We all know I will continue reading, so I'll stop typing and get on that. -
Hasta ahora, el volumen que menos me ha gustado. Y no sé ni por dónde empezar a criticarlo.
Me mata la desconexión total que hay entre la historias y la temporada de la serie en la que están situadas (la tercera). Entiendo el porqué, ya que se explica en la introducción del tomo —"Sólo íbamos un poco por delante de los espectadores: los guiones se nos enviaban a medida que los encargados de las licencias de Fox los recibían, lo que significa que los encargados de aprobar nuestros guiones sabían tan poco como nosotros sobre lo que iba a ocurrir. Recibíamos los guiones apenas un par de semanas antes de que el episodio fuese emitido."— pero me descoloca.
El dibujo de este tomo ha sido otro "no" para mí. Un gran NO. Salvo las dos últimas historias, "La toma final" y "La última locura", que están dibujadas por Cliff Richards y son mis favoritas de este omnibus, aunque no le perdono lo que ha hecho con el Bronze, y "Cadena alimenticia", ambas partes dibujadas por Christian Zanier, las demás son un caos total. Joe Bennet y Hector Gómez se han empeñado en que Xander sea un guaperas, no sé por qué. No tengo nada en contra de Nicholas Brendon pero seamos realistas, su personaje siempre ha consistido en ser un chico del montón. Además es casi imposible distinguirle de Ángel en la mayoría de historias. Lo mismo pasa con Willow y Cordelia. ¿Por qué se empeñan en que Willow sea castaña y no pelirroja? Buffy, por otro lado, aparece muy sexualizada en sus historias, con ropa que nunca se hubiese puesto en la serie. Vamos, que es todo un sinsentido. Menos mal que Oz aparece en todas o casi todas las historias.
Espero que la cosa mejore en el siguiente volumen porque, por muy fan que sea de Buffy, éste ha sido una decepción. -
I'm going to be upfront and mention that probably any and all Buffy and/or Angel graphic novels are going to be totally biased on my part. I kind of have a borderline unhealthy obsession with Buffy...so yeah. I'll still try to be critical, but they're pretty much all going to be five star ratings from me. ;)
As in my "Charmed" graphic novel reviews, I'll be breaking these down by issue. I don't discuss too much of storyline because I like to stay mostly spoiler free. ;)
1.) Wu-Tang Fang
Plot: So, basically, a creepy demon ninja/samurai/man in a straw hat has come to Sunnydale looking for a worthy opponent to fight him. After creating some mayhem, he gets with fight vs Buffy he's been looking for. Xander is also having some issues (I'm guessing he's feeling a little less masculine and tough when compared to Buffy ;D), but he gets his moment to shine at the end. There's lots of great action, and it's definitely an entertaining villain. I just wish it had been a little longer.
Script: Ah-ma-zing! Andi Watson definitely rose to the top for me as script writer. I can imagine the actors from the show saying these lines. There were puns and humor, with just the appropriate dash of cheese.
Art: Just not my favorite style. I prefer it when the drawn characters resembled their actor counterparts. Because, seriously, when did Xander turn into such a hottie?! He's got muscles and facial hair and looks about ten years older! And can we talk about the clothes for a minute? These take place in the 90's, not the 80's.
2.) Halloween
Plot: It's Halloween again, and even though all the baddies should be minding their own business on "amateur" night, Willow still manages to get kidnapped by a group of vampires. Buffy proceeds to kick a lot of ass in a rather boring costume (though it's not a slutty costume, thank god!). This one is really just all about the action. Though someone may turn up again later on...
Script: Same writer as #1, so yeah. Pretty much perfect. It's spot-on with the balance of serious, humor, and cheese.
Art: Same art team as #1 - again, not my favorite. Willow's lack of red hair really bugs me. It's the same colorist in every chapter of this omnibus, so the lack of consistency is baffling to me.
3.) Cold Turkey
Plot: It's Thanksgiving, and while Buffy is complaining about being tired of turkey, a certain someone from the previous issue has been lurking underground and plotting her revenge. This one is short and simple and to the point, but there's a really hilarious "food fight" at the end.
Script: Same writer as #1 and #2, so obviously, fantastic! I could really see all three of these as episodes on the show. Fun filler episodes, but still.
Art: Same team, still not my favorite. I will say, though, while the anatomy may go towards the typical comic book disproportionate style, at least they stayed away from the "boobalicious". I appreciate that.
4.) Dance With Me
Plot: Incredibly short. As in only-five-pages-long short. Just the typical teenage angst, always turning to the supernatural to fix things. It always fails guys, when are you going to learn?
Script: From my previous omnibus readings, I've always liked Christopher Golden, and his script remains tight. It works with the characters.
Art: Different team, but still not a favorite of mine either. Again, I'm just really picky. And seriously, where is Willow's red hair!?
5.) White Christmas
Plot: Buffy needs a job to afford a new dress for the dance. She finds one in the mall serving ice cream, but of course, the supernatural follows her everywhere. Icy demon badness ensues. Also, Angel randomly is back in the picture. He can also magically appear in panels out of nowhere and no one questions it.
Script: Andi Watson returns, and all is right in the Buffyverse. Believable dialogue, snappy comebacks, it's all good.
Art: Same crew as #4, which is not my cup of tea. It gets borderline "boobalicous" every now and then. The characters also tend to look too old and too generic, and the clothing is pretty blah. The action, however is great. I love how they can get away with bigger and badder villains on the page as opposed to the screen. You're uninhibited plotwise when it comes to a graphic medium.
6.) Happy New Year
Plot: There's a demon dog on the loose, Willow and Buffy are having a spat, and Cordelia is a badass with a crossbow. There's also a cursed ginger running around, bearing a striking resemblance to Russell Brand in some panels. Regardless, all is solved just in time for everyone to ring in the new year. Except, I'm not really sure what happened at the end. One minute, certain people are knocked off a platform, the next they're cheering at midnight. It's kind of confusing, and I was left a little let down with this one, with no solid answer. Dead body or it didn't happen.
Script: Andi Watson is the master, I am convinced.
Art: Same as before, though I do like the more saturated color palette this time around. I prefer richer colors. They also hit on similarity to the show's actors every now and then, but it's a rarity.
7.) New Kind on the Block
Plot: Girly slumber party gone horribly, horribly wrong. A pool explodes. Angel is back again. This one had great action, and it felt like the perfect length. Not too long, but not too short either. It would be nice to fully know where we are in relation to the show, however. I find myself missing things in between, and feeling unsure about where exactly we are plotwise.
Script: Andi Watson, need I say more?
Art: Pretty much the exact same as the previous, given it's the same art team. Personal preference, though.
8.)Food Chain Part I
Plot: Buffy tries to befriend the new girl/rebel in town, but soon finds out that appearances are deceiving.
Script: Christopher Golden is back, and I think he and Andi rank about equal in how much I enjoy their writing. They write in a way that just makes it so easy to read the lines in the actors' voices. Not everyone can pull that off.
Art: A little better! While not consistent, they really hit the nail on the head resemblance-wise in a few panels. The clothing choices are also a million times better. The only downside is they get borderline boobalicous, but if it's not in my face the entire time, it doesn't really bug me.
9.) Play With Fire
Plot: Buffy, Giles, and Willow come across a "haunted" house and help the spirit within. This one was really short, but it was just a great little side story. Definitely entertaining.
Script: Christopher Golden is golden. ;D
Art: Back to a not-so-favorite style for me. At least Willow's hair is red, even though her shirt changes styles 3 times.
10.) Food Chain Part II
Plot: We continue on from Food Chain Part I. It seems getting rid of the demon lady did not fix the demon problem, since there seems to be a minotaur-like creature running around and killing all the boys from Part I. This one had great action, and I really loved the ending. It gave me lovely creepy-crawly feelings. Again, I love that we get to see bigger and badder villains in the comics, as opposed to working within the limitations of tv.
Script: See all previous comments on Christopher Golden.
Art: The same art team as Part I returns, and I like it! The resemblances are pretty good, the action is great, and there's only a few shots of cleavage every now and then. My only qualm is that Xander would not wear a speedo to the beach, not in a million years. Boy is not that fit or confident.
11.) The Final Cut
Plot: This was probably my favorite "episode" out of this omnibus. It starts out strong with a really amazing action sequence, then picks up on a nerdy, creepy high schooler obsessed with making it big in movies. He finds a possessed reel of film, and creates all kinds of mayhem when the old black and white movie starts sucking people inside. There was a lot of humor mixed in with this one, and I loved it. Again, though, not a fan of the lack of continuity. Angel and Buffy are all smoochie again out of the blue!
Script: Andi Watson returns, and the puns abound! You can tell they had fun with this one, and who wouldn't? The plot is just a delectable little piece of almost-slapstick.
Art: Yes, Cliff Richards returns! He is by far my favorite artist of all the ones who have tackled Buffy. For such a simple art style, he manages to capture the actors perfectly on the page, from Buffy's pout to Cordelia's fanatic grin. And, really, that final fight scene just cracked me up.
12.) The Latest Craze
Plot: The newest trend has mysteriously descended on Sunnydale - Hooligans. Tiny little fluffy demons that are so creepy/ugly they're cute are the latest craze, and everyone who is anyone has one - the more expensive the better. At night, the little creepers come alive and steal items for their energy to help bring their big ole mamma through to this side. When people start getting violent over these little dolls, Buffy knows something is up. In the end, it's all a scam for money from a familiar face, but then again...aren't all trends? This was definitely right up there with my favorites for this omnibus. It makes me kind of wish those cute little Hooligans were real...almost.
Script: Christopher Golden closes out this omnibus, and it's fantastic. I really, really wish this one had been a real episode. I would have loved to see it in action.
Art: My only complaint was that there weren't more Cliff Richards "episodes"! The art is absolutely perfect.
All in all, this was a great omnibus. I think this one in its entirety was the best scripted of the 3 I've read so far. Every chapter was just that amazingly perfect balance between action, humor, and the required puns. This one is a little more all over the place plotwise, and there aren't really any major story arcs, but it's definitely worth a read, even if it's just for the last two "episodes". Oh, and not enough Spike. Definitely never enough Spike.
*I do want to note that all art critique is strictly from my own personal tastes. Everyone likes different things, so don't let that deter you from picking these up! -
The stories in this volume are by far my favorite 😍
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I really enjoyed this one! I had quite a few 5 stars in this omnibus.
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The least interesting Buffy volume yet. These represent some of the earliest issues, which had no involvement from anyone on the show. They are really struggling to come up with material. Hopefully, the later volumes will return to the interesting level of the first two volumes.
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3,5
Entretenido. Historias básicamente autoconclusivas y estando ambientado en la tercera temporada he echado de menos que saliese Angel algo más (aunque al principio se explica el porqué). -
For all his faults, Joss Whedon has a very distinct way of writing snappy dialogue that is difficult to capture. A lot of attempts here fall short. Of all the contributers, Christopher Golden does the best job at emulating the zany dialogue that holds the franchise together. The bulk of his work is in the second half of the collection, which is a lot better than the first.
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For some reason, this collection of Buffy comics seems less cohesive than the others in the Omnibus collection. It was sometimes difficult to figure out when exactly the comics were meant to be taking place, other than in the range of somewhere in the high school seasons. They also did not include Dawn in this collection, which surprised me. This is still an enjoyable read of Buffy adventures, but it's a bit lacking considering how much better some of the other Buffy comics are.
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Este cómic es súper irregular. Algunas historias están bien, otras no tanto. Eso sí, nada que ver con la serie y sus grandes diálogos y guiones. Aquí los diálogos ingeniosos se notan forzados la mayoría de las veces. Cuando los leí la primera vez, los recordaba mejores, pero supongo que al leer tantos tan seguidos en un mismo tomo, pierde bastante.
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I love everything Buffy but this Omnibus was practically torture to get through. Most of this volume was illustrated by the same guy (Hector Gomez I believe) and I just hate his art style for Buffy. The characters don't look like themselves and neither do most of locations like the school library and the Bronze. The art style feels way too '80's and therefore very removed from the Buffy vibes.
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First 'Story' in the omnibus is epic in length (compared to all other buffy omnibus stories to date)
Continues to be fun buffy-fix reading. It's the best of pulp vampire camp w/ excellent enjoyable characters! -
The only thing I have to say about this collection of Buffy stories is that I wish they would have been on screen. Most of them were very interesting and I think would have been great to see in live action. Hopefully that will be the case for all the future stories.
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Otra vez me encuentro con comics de Buffy con guiones bastante buenos, diálogos fluidos y buen trato a los personajes... Y con dibujos que son una basura en un 90% de los casos. Espero que el tomo que viene me haga sangrar un poco menos los ojos.
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This one feels pretty time-wastey in retrospect. Maybe they were funner to read at the time they were published, when you were jonesing for the next ep and there was no internet. On the other hand, they do feel utterly separate from the show. Eh.
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Me ha encantado, como siempre, yo creo que es el que más me ha gustado de los tres que he leído hasta ahora. Lo malo es que da unas ganas locas de volver a ver la serie.
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4.2*, if such rating existed.
I may be a die-hard Buffy fan, and the show and fandom being my #1 fore ever and ever but I have to say this this Omnibus, Vol. 3 is completely out of whack. It's not bad at all considering this started as all individual stories but I have a feeling that nothing really follows...
I mean, what we got in every episode didn't quite follow one another but there was still a sense of time and pacing? Something... You could advance in time, for lack of better words, whereas this felt more like a jumble of stories put together just for the purpose of being put together. I didn't feel any sense of time or anything. I don't know.
I'm missing Volume 2 so I can only base from Volume 1 and even that is not giving Vol. 3 justice seeing as Vol. 1 was what happened pre-Sunnydale. Anyway.
Individually, I liked every stories from this Omnibus. I can recognize the banter between Cordy/Xander, the sweetness of Willow/Oz and they even managed to squeeze in Buffy/Angel. Giles was true to himself. I felt every story was resolved easily and most times felt too easy, even. I was left hanging, sorta, wondering if it was really it and it was. In the show, Buffy manages to always win, basically, but it never felt that easy somehow? Not sure how to explain.
I still got Omnibus 4 and 5 to read. I wish I could get my hands on 2, 6 and 7 though. So far, this one isn't my favorite at all but I am glad it exists anyway. I wouldn't be a true fan if I didn't enjoy it, huh? -
This is my least favorite Omnibus so far. These contain the first issues of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic that ran concurrently with season 3 of the show. My understanding is that the writers were presented with certain challenges, so the stories seem independent from what's going on in the show. With that, I can excuse the lack of Angel and Faith, but what I cannot excuse are the flat story lines and confusing artwork. Most of the stories were boring and a few didn't really resolve or had resolutions that came from unexplained situations. There were a couple of times reading where the artwork did not make it clear what was happening, and I had to scour the panels to figure out what what going on. There were a couple of fun stories, like Play With Fire and Food Chain parts 1 & 2, however one does have to overlook the now problematic treatment of Xander forcing himself into a slumber party for girls that he was not invited to or wanted at in Food Chain. The artwork is okay, though it would be hard to recognize the characters if you saw them outside the context of Buffy. As mentioned in other reviews, Xander is turned into a smoldering beefcake who wears a Speedo to play volleyball at the beach. If I had read these in high school when the show was on, I might have loved them, but reading them as a thirty-something, I was not impressed. Supposedly the Omnibus collections really improve with Volume 4, but since they are out of print I don't know if/when I'll be able to confirm that claim.
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"Decapitation with a smile!"
The third volume of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus features an even dozen stories, all of which are concurrent with Season 3 of the television series:
Wu-Tang Fang - The Scoobies dust the "Mickey Rourke of China," a traveling vampire named San Sui who feeds on the blood of vanquished foes.
Halloween - The night before Halloween, Willow storms out of the house after an argument with the 'rents, and swiftly falls into the clutches of a group of vamps.
Cold Turkey - Buffy brains a vamp with her frozen turkey when he tries to make a Thanksgiving meal out of her. The night shopping? Still more harrowing.
Dance With Me - When Buffy (repeatedly) turns Gary down at the dance, he decides to become a vampire so that she'll have no choice but to pay attention to him.
White Christmas - Buffy takes a job selling popsicles at the mall, only to discover that her boss is summoning demons in the walk-in freezer. Choice quote: "I don't wear clothes only to impress guys."
Happy New Year - Oz manages to escape during his time of the month ("An American Werewolf in Sunnydale"), forcing Buffy to break his arm. (Leg? Paw?) A distraught Willow refuses to talk to the Slayer who kicked her boyfriend's ass - but a hell hound and an immortal alchemist-slash-backstabbing excuse for a friend reunite the BFFs.
New Kid on the Block - In which Joey McIntyre cameos as a vampire terrorizing the tweens of Sunnydale. Joking! The Scoobies welcome new girl Cynthia into the fold, only to find that she's not as she seems. Xander, as always, makes his contribution to rape culture by crashing the girls' sleepover.
Food Chain Part 1 - Sandy is smart, pretty, friendly, and has just generally got it going on. So why is she hanging out with the lowlifes, the Scoobies wonder? Turns out that they're her cult, and she's a low level demon feeding off their energies.
Play With Fire - We see Wicca Willow start to come into her powers here, as she succeeds in freeing a boy named Bryan from a possessed house to which he managed to attach himself in 1988.
Food Chain Part 2 - "Sandy" may be dead, but something's killing off the surviving members of her cult. Amy the rat merits a mention at the beginning of the story, which made me squeal. Love me some rat Amy.
The Final Cut - Through his questionable dealings with demons and loan sharks alike, 1930s movie star Fair Quinn managed to get his soul locked in his final film - until aspiring filmmaker Marty discovers "The Final Cut" and strikes his own deal.
The Latest Craze - The latest craze are Hooligans, a clip-on toy that's a cross between Beanie Babies and mogwais. Only they come alive at night and steal all your shit. Able to feed off the emotional attachment of the owners, these baby Hooligans hope to provide Mom enough power to bust through to this world from another dimension. Giles's friend Ethan Rayne makes an appearance here; bonus points for Will's Pez Witch, with which she is ultimately reunited.
In the introduction, editor Scott Allie explains the difficulties inherent in writing comics that took place during Season Three - while Season Three was still in production: "We were only a little bit ahead of viewers; we were being sent scripts as Fox Licensing got them [...] Our receipt of the scripts was usually only a couple of weeks before the episode would air." For example, evil Angelus was figured into the plot early on - until Buffy killed him at the end of Season Two. So he was written out. And then the writers learned that he was to be resurrected as good Angel. (You get the idea!)
Thus, those characters whose story arcs were in flux - namely Angel and Faith - are underrepresented in this omnibus. Angel only makes three brief appearances, while Faith is absent altogether. Consequently, Volume 3 focuses exclusively on the Scoobies. (Not that I'm complaining; the more Oz, the better.)
Things I liked:
Giles visits the beach! (Spoiler alert: his beachwear involves tweed.)
The copious '90s references. (And is that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie the vamps are watching in "Halloween"?!?)
We're treated to some character developments outside of the television show. For example, Buffy takes a job hawking popsicles at the mall in order to earn a little extra scratch for Christmas, making the Doublemeat Palace her second job in the service industries ("White Christmas"); and, when her grades begin to "slip," Willow and her parents rumble over her relationship with Oz ("Halloween").
Oz!
What didn't work for me:
The artwork and story writing are rather so-so.
"White Christmas" is easily my favorite of the bunch. During the witch trials, and in a fit of jealousy, a dudebro named Nathaniel Filmer accused his best friend Ben and Ben's wife Mariana of witchcraft (alchemy). (Nathaniel was interested in Mariana, but she married Ben. Cue up the Tiny Violin.) Nate's father the judge had the lovers burned at the stake, but not before Ben uttered a curse that turned Nathaniel's dog Magnus into a hell hound. The hound's been chasing backstabber Nate for centuries; desperate, he breaks into the school library in search of a spell to lift the curse. The Scoobies try to intervene (um, why?), but Nathaniel is eventually mauled by the hound.
The story has great potential, I just wish they'd done more with it. If any of the stories in this omnibus deserved a Part 2, it's "White Christmas."
Why do comic book artists insist on reinventing Xander as beefcake? No offense to Nicholas Brendon, but Xander's supposed to be an "everyman" - a bodybuilder, not so much.
Honestly, if this was anything other than Buffy, I'd give it three stars for "eh"; but nostalgia compels me to grade all things Buffy on a curve, no matter how hard I try to be objective. Fans will most likely be satisfied (begrudgingly; at best) with this collection, but non-fans? Why are you even reading this?
http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/04/11/... -
The Buffy gang is back again in the third volume of Dark Horses Omnibus collections. This volume, while somewhat lacking in character development (even though Dark Horse explains the lack of Faith, it's very noticeable), it still has the heart and soul of season three of the show.
Wu-Tang Fang: The most Xander centric story of the volume, and possibly the comic series, is not as great as it deserves to be. Written by Andi Watson, this story places Xander Harris at the scene. While Buffy and the rest of the gang are busy trying to figure out how to stop a evil demon who is killing the black belts of Sunnydale, Xander realises that he needs to spruce up his martial arts. There, he encounters the demon, and all hell breaks loose. This story was the first of the series, and it does show. The plot is weak, and it could have been much longer than the 22 pages that it is. The art by Joe Bennett is pretty good, and one of the high points of the story.
Halloween: This is the start of the continuity problems for me, and probably others that have read this series. 'Halloween'. This is part one of a two part series, which ends with the next story. It revolves around the Scooby gang having to once again chaperone a bunch of children for trick or treating. With Willow missing, Buffy ends up on a mission to rescue her friend from a bunch of vampires. Written by Andi Watson, the story is great for a two parter, unfortunately for the art, which again is by Joe Bennett, Willow and Buffy switch from being busty, to not busty page by page. Plus this is the start of trying to identify Willow from Cordelia, as they have both long brown hair in this volume, which bugs me since Willow clearly has short red hair during the third season.
Cold Turkey: Part two of the previous story, finds Buffy and the gang celebrating Thanksgiving, but not all is calm in the town of Sunnydale. One vampire got away after the fight between Buffy, and the vampires to save Willow, and this vampire is out for revenge. Written by Andi Watson, art by Joe Bennett, the story is a great follow up to the first part of the story. The only problem I had was again how Willow was drawn. Besides that, this two parter is the highlight of this volume.
Dance With Me: Written by Christopher Golden, this very short story shows us what Buffy's story is all about. Seeing people you know/love turn to the dark side. Buffy ends up having to fight a kid from school, who liked her, sadly though, Buffy didn't return the favour, and because of this consequences happened.
White Christmas: Since when did Sunnydale become Sunnyvale? The annoying misspelling of the shows own town is very obvious. Written by Andi Watson, and art by Hector Gomez, this story takes place in the Sunnyvaledale mall, where Buffy takes a job to pay for a new dress for the school dance. For Buffy though, this isn't your typical job. Besides the annoying mispelling, the art is fantastic, and does the plot justice. All in all, this story is a nice quick read, with wonderful art.
Happy New Year: Written by Andi Watson, art by Hector Gomez, this story again, like 'White Christmas', is a fantastic read. Hector Gomez has a way with drawing action scenes so phenomenal, it's breathtaking. The plot centers on Buffy and friends about to ring in the new year, but a curse gets in their way, and Buffy and friends take matters into their own hands.
New Kid on the Block Part One/Part Two: Buffy, Willow, and Cordelia have a sleep over for the new girl Cynthia, but what was supposed to be a fun night, turns into a night of horror for Buffy and her friends. Written by Andi Watson, and art by Hector Gomez, this series another one of the highlights of the volume. A very nice plot, with again, very great art.
The Food Chain Part One/Part Two: I'm going to be completely honest with you. The Food Chain is a hit and miss with me. Part one is really good, but part two is not that great. Written by Christopher Golden, in this two parter, we see Buffy try to befriend a girl named Sandy, who seems to be hanging out with the wrong crowd. Buffy ends up being worried when she overhears Sandy and her friend Brad talk about a spell that they are going to try. Buffy ends up trying to find out exactly what Sandy is up to, and what she sees is a shocker. Part two takes place about a month later, I believe, when the survivors of the previous disaster are being killed off one by one. The art is by Christian Zanier, who does a wonderful job at actually making the characters that you see on the page look almost exactly like the actors themselves. I'm starting to really love Zanier, and Gomez in these volumes, as they seem to really have a sense at how to draw the action, and the way the actors bodies are. Golden packs a punch with the first part, but the second part falls short, with an uneven plot, and a very short ending. I would still recommend this story to anyone that wants to read it, if not for the art alone.
Play With Fire: Written by Christopher Golden, with art by Hector Gomez, this story is a cute short comic, which centers majority on Willow, Buffy and Giles. They end up encountering a "haunted house", which ends up being not so haunted. Cute, short, and fantastically charged!
The Final Cut: Written by Andi Watson, with art by Cliff Richards, this story was never released in a graphic novel, and now for the first time you can read it in this collection! One of my favourites, this story centers on Buffy and her friends, who end up being sucked into the cinema, literally! It's a fun plot, maybe a little short, but it's a must read!
The Latest Craze: Finally, to end the volume, you have one of the most interesting stories in all of Buffy comic history. Like 'MacGuffins' from volume 2, this story is another one of my must read all the time favourites. Written by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski, with art by Cliff Richards, 'The Latest Craze' introduces us to a new enemy, and an old enemy. If I would tell you anymore, I'd give away the whole plot! Just read it for yourself to find out how hilarious, and fun this story is. -
It’s been a while since I had read this one. I am think that the authors of the early BtVS comics really missed a chance to deal with earlier seasons. The focus of the 3rd Omnibus edition is stand alone stories that take place during Season Three. The introduction indicates that the stories were written when Season Three was airing. I think it would have been better had it focused on either Season One or Two as there are a lot of continuity issues. Angel and Faith barely make appearances. Cordelia is around but then not around.
The worst part of the “episodes” is that they really don’t feel like a true Buffy episode. Even if we can view the stories as being an AU version of the third season, they miss the mark with what made Buffy work.
The art is okay. The stories are okay. And this would have been fun if it wasn’t supposed to be Buffy. I get part of the problem is that there was a disconnect between the TV show and the comics, but when you know that the comics can do better, this collection just falls flat. -
It would be disingenuous to deny that the mid-portion of this collection was incredibly hard to get through. The artwork did not mesh well with the plot and the half-assed way they decided to visually represent the characters makes the sequences difficult to follow. Instead of going with a stylized, but consistent design, they went with the more realistic route, but the characters look nothing like their counterparts in the show. Even some of the stories themselves have this half-baked quality to them as if the editors and writers had a very limited idea of what the show was actually about. The Tales omnibus and the previous two collected editions contain earlier stories within the continuity but were written later and much better. That said, the stories penciled by Christian Zanier and Cliff Richards elevate this book from the two-star category, but only barely.
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Though still in season 3, this volume didn't hold as much lustrous, punny fun as the previous ones. There were many short stories that gave way to backstory for characters. My favorite had to be the one where Buffy talked to the creature of the black lagoon. She realized that not all monsters are horrible monsters.
Quaint, and I liked the different mash-ups.
Full Review:
https://thescarletreaderreviews.wordp... -
I enjoyed this way more than the last volume. Although some of the stories I had already read in the legacy editions, I didn't actually mind rereading them. Whereas the last two volumes felt like canon, these are more in line with the storyline from the Dark Horse Comic series, acting as fun little filler episodes. The snappy dialogue that's done so well in the series falls a little short here, but the speedy narritive, artwork and storytelling more than make up for it
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This volume suffered from the fact it was written in the earlier stages of the show, and also being set in the period that was currently airing, so certain things didn't really stack up with the show.
Halloween and Cold Turkey were cute. White Christmas was a little more fantasy than I enjoy. Final Cut I think was maybe my favourite.
Overall, it was pretty much fine, and some fun little stories for me to read before bed. -
These are the earliest Buffy comics and it shows. Lots of little stories with little consequence or emotional punch. I did, however, take notice of The White Christmas story that has some eerie similarities to the plot of Season 3Stranger Things. A rather forgettable collection, unfortunately.
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The reasons that this one didn't get five stars is because I didn't love the art and it seemed to jump a couple of times or at least have an abrupt ending to a scene. The plus side is that there was barely any angel in it.
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The third volume in the series follows a more organised line, at least from a temporal point of view. It is enjoyable, some stories more than others, but it lacked the deeply moving stories of the first and second books... Anyway, it is still a recommendable entertainment for the fans of the series
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The first of 2 omnibi that accompany Season 3...most of th stories are trivial one offs, but I like those stories that take away the attention from some of the more serious plotlines and keeps things light. My favorite story was the Latest Craze. Super cute and funny!
