| Title | : | Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1595821651 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781595821652 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 136 |
| Publication | : | First published June 1, 2008 |
| Awards | : | Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards Best New Series (2008) |
* The celebrated Buffy Season Eight continues with Drew Goddard (Cloverfield, Lost) writing Wolves at the Gate, with Joss Whedon continuing his role as executive producer, and Georges Jeanty as series artist.
* Includes the stand-alone issue written by Buffy creator Joss Whedon, "A Beautiful Sunset."
* Collecting issue #11-15 of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight series.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate Reviews
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This was a great installment. There are parts of this I would like to have seen on the show. I love the bits with Xander and Dracula. I love how they brought him in and the part he got to play. That was brilliant. I loved everything about that. I have missed that snappy dialogue. There is still little out there like it. I enjoyed the Tokyo story and Dawn's appearance. It was like she was put in the story just so they could do this. I still say, Willow is too powerful a witch for one witch to be an equal to her. She has been through so much that it would take more than one to match her.
My biggest problem is that Buffy gets in bed with another slayer. I don't see it. I love Willow and I can see her character being gay, but I don't see Buffy experimenting really. Maybe. It is the farthest you can get from Spike that is for sure. I still don't see it. Andrew had some outstanding lines in this one. They should have done another season of the show or 4.
I had a lot of fun reading this and I don't know why I waited so long to read it. I need to read it before my library gets rid of these. I feel like the library should be the place to collect stuff like they, but ours gets rid of things after 8 to 10 years unless it's popular. Zoinks. -
I guess this is my favorite volume so far. A great plot going on, fantastic humor and a good action (even if I prefer Old Buffy’s ways better than this new Avengers super production thingy).
The most remarkable thing, and the way this season seems to be oriented, is that Buffy even if more badass than ever, she is also more alone than she’s ever been. It’s a recurring theme in this series since power seems to go hand by hand with loneliness and death. Super sad but a great continuation of what happened in Season 7. The same line of dark but contrasted with the colorful of the comic strips.
This is the epitome of what Buffy is in essence: A normal girl destined to be a super-heroine and fight evil against her will. And now she is surrounded for tons of slayers and the remaining of her old gang but still alone. Paradoxically beautiful.
Just a few notes for fans (a bit spoiler-ish maybe?)
- Tokio, mystical portals, flying witches and vampires make this volume very dynamic and really appealing. The worst? Dawn. I’ve never been a fan of Buffy’s little sis and I could live without her in my stories but I guess it was useful for the plot and I’ll see without judgment how she is in future installments.
- Buffy meets Twilight for the first time and it’s good, funny and intriguing.
- There’s some girl-on-girl action and I’m not talking about Willow and Kennedy.
- Dracula is in the house ladies and gentlemen!
And he is the best along with Xander. Oh Xander, my man, I’ve been laughing at loud with all his appearances. Priceless. Well, hmmmm, not all of them. Something really sad happened here and so out of the blue, I was with my sight lost in that drawing for a long time. But hey, my lips are sealed. I hate spoilers.
Go and read this!
Reviews for Book Lovers
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LOVE LOVE LOVE these graphic novels! The art is gorgeous and the stories are great. Almost like watching the TV show again...
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A quick and fun read to start the month!
I know I will definitely be continuing on with Season 8 of BTVS as this one a good laugh. One of my favourites bad guys from the TV show (Dracula) made an appearance in this and it was brilliantly done! I feel like the humour (especially with Buffy) really came through in this one, it honestly felt like dipping back into the old TV show!
One thing that had me a little confused was Buffy's sudden attraction to another slayer named Satsu and the ensuing sex-scenes. Now don't get me wrong - I am on board for a bi-sexual/lesbian or whatever Buffy but this seemed a little forced and I didn't particularly like the way Buffy behaved towards Satsu come the end of the book. Buffy came across as heartless and totally used Satsu for sex fully knowing that she was in love with her...it just rubbed me up the wrong way! Why can't Buffy like other girls and that be okay? Why does it have to be this strange controversy which then led to Willow asking Satsu how Buffy was in bed?! As if Willow would want to know that! Pfft! -
Mecha Dawn = five stars. 'Nuff said.
In all seriousness, this volume is amazing! think Buffy is one of the only series (across formats) that can introduce a new character and then kill them off (too) quickly and still manage to turn me into a blubbering mess when they die. This was true with the TV show, its spin-off, and now the comic books.
I also want to point out (not a spoiler since he's on the cover) how excited I was that Dracula is back! He was only in one episode on the TV show, and this volume provides quite a bit of depth to a previously stereotypical character. His and Xander's relationship builds off the henchman/master trope we saw in the TV episode, and we learn that Dracula needs Xander just as much as the other way around. I cannot express enough how pleased I was with this twist! I hope we get to see more of Dracula in future issues. -
I feel like the start of this volume brings Buffy very out of character.
She sleeps with a girl?
Even though she continually states that she isn't a lesbian and is just lonely?
I'm not sure I really buy it though. But then again, her type is vampire if we are looking at her past, so really this is a big step up from sleeping with the living-dead. At least she still has her soul, right?
note: I just don't think it fits her character. I wouldn't be able to care less if she was gay. I just don't think that puzzle fits exactly. Don't get your panties in a bunch.
BUT GUYS. GUYS. DRACULA IS IN THIS ONE.
I SMILED AND GIGGLED SO HARD. OMGsh YES.
these wolves, panthers and fog are like surround The Slayer Castle and they are actually vampires and they stole that Slayer Scythe from Buffy and the only other vampire who can do that is *ding ding ding* Dracula!
AND AND AND Dracula and Xander are like... FRIENDS! I couldn't have loved that more.
But bad news: These poser vamps actually took the scythe so they could reverse Buffy's *all girls who would be slayers are slayers* gig and make them all normal and kill them... obviously that doesn't fly with our trio and they start to get down to business.
Xander and Renee's relationship blossoms a lot in this volume, which I absolutely loved.
She fits so well with my little cyclops. She keeps him grounded.
Willow and Buffy still have some awkwardness, but they know when to put their problems aside and deal with the big problem at hand.
This volume was sad when it comes to Buffy. She feels left out because all the slayers bonded and she doesn't bond with them because she's the boss lady. She feels lonely in basically every aspect of her life which, as I said, leads her to act in very out of character ways (IN MY OPINION).
The art is okay... I don't think they drew Buffy and Willow very well. They don't really look like themselves. In the Classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer Comic Series, they do a phenomenal job though. So maybe I am just a little spoiled.
But, as all Joss Whedon stories end, your heart melts and burns up in a pit of fire because he ruins everything after making you love everything. Why do I keep reading this. -
![[ J o ]](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/users/1673171874i/4639825._UY200_CR4,0,200,200_.jpg)
I think I just don't get comic books. This is totally different to the TV series, I don't know why I was expecting it not to be.
I don't understand why Buffy is all of a sudden a Lesbian, or a Bisexual, or whatever. As if she needs to hump the nearest thing that moves. And the way Willow wanted to know what she was like in bed... Talk about nothing like I remember any of them being.
I wish I hadn't tried these. My memory of the TV series had been ruined by this utter garbage. Pictures and speech, that's all it is. Pictures and speech, nothing else. -
Best "Buffy" comic I've read. Great plot, decent illustrations, solid character development and introduction of some new ones. Read this in under an hour. This is so worth the read.
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The humor is back, hurray! This felt more like part of the Buffy TV series in tone: humor on the surface, but depth in the story. The scenes in Buffy's bedroom, between Zander with Drac, and with Dawnie/Godzilla Dawn, are all terrific! Action, heart and humor, the Buffy formula. The drawings between the chapters and at the end are not quite as spectacular as in the previous volume, but still quite enjoyable. I'm really appreciating the art in these books. Another good, (super)fast read for Buffy fans; if you like the TV series, read these comic books. You won't regret it.
(I don't think any of this is spoiler, but if anyone thinks so, please let me know and I'll mark it so.)
Upon thinking about the series a little more, I really enjoy the contrast between volumes 2 and 3. 2 was very intense and dark, and 3 is more humor and action (still with many dark aspects, of course), but both really draw from and layer upon the history of the characters and their existing relationships. It remarkable how much can be conveyed in a few well-written and drawn panels. -
This was quite fun, but not as fun as the last volume with Faith. Also, I have three bones to pick with the whole Buffy experiments and sleeps with a woman:
1) why does she sleep with some random slayer Satsu who we hardly know? I mean, it would have been better if I had had any emotional investment in this Satsu lady;
2) IF BUFFY WAS GOING TO SLEEP WITH A WOMAN WHY THE HELL WASN'T IT FAITH WITH WHOM SHE HAS SIZZLING CHEMISTRY?!?
3) every discussion of this plotpoint is just steeped in monosexism; it's like literally everyone who works on BTVS has never heard of bisexuality, despite uses of the terms gay, lesbian, dyke, and "friend of Sappho" in this volume. More of the same way that they dealt with Willow's coming out. Barf. -
This was so over the top that I couldn't help but love it. I mean, you got to know what you're getting in to with Buffy.
SO what's this one about? Well first issue deals with the Slayer trying to sort her own shit out. Then we get into multiple storylines, one including Xander making serious moves with the girl he likes. You then have Dracula make his grand return and he is really pissed off that someone stole his power. You got Buffy sleeping with one of her Slayers and trying to figure herself out. Oh yeah, and you have big Godzilla sized Dawn coming to the fight at the end. Yes. There's also a Mecha Godzilla Dawn...yes...yeah...hey, it's Buffy!
Good: Loved the heck out of all the storylines. Dracula and Xander together is so over the top silly it works. Buffy dealing with her one night stand with a girl was lolz worthy. Dawn getting the spotlight was pretty great. Lots of surprising deaths in this one too.
Bad: The art still is lacking for me.
Overall, this was a ton of fun. Plenty of laugh out loud moments, brutal showdowns, and wonderful character moments. A easy 4 out of 5. -
2.5
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Definitely the weakest volume so far.
I appreciate seeing Buffy traveling outside of Sunnydale (or California in general). Another example of the freedom the comic-medium provides to the narrative. I also loved the relationship between Xander and Dracula, as well as the scene between Dracula and one of the (entirely forgettable) monster-of-the-week villains where he whoops ass as Vlad the Impaler.
On the other hand, as mentioned above, the villains were hokey. I found the showdown in the streets of Tokyo really unbelievable, and that was before the "mecha-Dawn" showed up. It was a cringey nod to Godzilla and served no purpose except to keep Dawn occupied for a few scenes.
I have mixed feelings about Satsu choosing to remain behind to lead the Japan slayers. On the one hand, it made narrative sense; on the other, it felt like a cheap way for the writers to brush Buffy's relationship with a woman under the rug.
I haven't read Fray, so the crossover volume coming next will likely go over my head, but I'm hoping I enjoy it better. -
This was a volume that screamed Joss. The humor, the heartache, and the re-use of an idea from the TV series that has always irked me. Such is life!
***SPOILERS!!!! They seem unavoidable this time around. Spoilers for the TV series, for the comics, and for Dracula fans everywhere***
Okay. I'm going to start with my least favorite part like always. And actually this time, it's the only part I dislike. But it was too big for me. And thus, a whole star is gone. Let me ask you a few questions:
1. Didn't Buffy already go through her "Oh man, I need some sex and I need it now! I don't care who gives it to me!" phase back in season six?
2. Didn't she already have sex with someone who was in love with her while she knew she was indifferent towards them, thus using them to the full capacity?
3. Isn't Buffy supposed to be above all this shit?
4. Oh yeah, and when did Buffy start sleeping with women?
Okay, so it's just one woman. But it's so far out in fucking left field that I'm still confused. Here's what we know: In the first two volumes of season eight Buffy has to be awoken by true loves kiss, but it's done in private and even the reader doesn't know who does it at first. But we do know that the person wears cinnamon lip gloss. Later on in the volumes, Buffy borrows lip gloss from Satsu and it's cinnamon. In this volume, Buffy and Satsu go to take down a vamp nest and Buffy's all "Dude, Satsu, why are you in love with me? This is a major problem because people who love me always die". And then the next time you see them together they're naked and in bed, talking about how Satsu is full on lesbian with skills that are obviously insane, and Buffy feels inferior. Buffy also says "Satsu, I know you love me, but I'm not a lesbian. So sorry, but stay the night and do that tongue thing on my lady parts again, why don't ya?" Those are my words, not Buff's, obviously. Anywho. THIS MAKES ME ANGRY. How many times is Buffy going to take someone's feelings for her and use them for her own personal pleasure? I'm not saying the other parties are not willing participants, but still. Buffy has such a high moral compass that this baffles me. And it doesn't help that Buffy has NEVER shown interest in the opposite sex. I really feel like they were reaching with this part. But maybe that's just me.
ANYWAYS. The story! It was great. And a high point for me: Dracula is back, and he's way better than the earlier comics THANK GOD. They play on his past relationship with Xander as his slave, how they're still "friends" and whatnot, and Dracula comes to help fight the good fight. The best part? When Xander is emotionally leeched, Dracula tells Buffy to go after the bad guys but she says she won't leave Xander alone. Dracula says Xander won't be alone and turns all vampy and kills some bastards. That alone tells you that their friendship is more than Dracula will ever admit, and I kind of really loved that moment. Siiiiiigh.
Also, Buffy gets a little glimpse into who Twilight is in the short story at the beginning of this volume. He successfully gets under Buffy's skin by asking if she and her army of slayers have even made a difference in the world, and I must say it works like a charm.
Oh yeah, and Andrew is back and funnier than ever! "Oh, hi Buffy. Hi nude Asian girl. How much Dramamine did I take?" So glad he's a good guy again. For the thousandth time.
But seriously, main story arc: Some vampires have found a way to get Dracula's powers that enable him to turn into various animals. They also come and steal Buffy's powerful scythe. The entire army of Slayer's go in to retrieve the scythe before the baddies can wreak even more havoc. Enter heartbreak, which I won't ruin for you.
Ugh. This review sucks because I'm so angry about Buffy and Satsu. If we're going to have lesbians in this story I really need Tara back because I am STILL NOT OVER THAT. End rant. -
It took three volumes, but I’m finally as excited about the Season 8 comics as I am about the television series that spawned them.
This book begins with the one-off comic “A Beautiful Sunset,” which is largely exposition. It’s a short exploration of Buffy’s anxiety and isolation as the leader and figurehead of the new slayer army, but it also continues two important plot threads: an explanation of where the slayers get their wealth and material resources (and the first rumblings of the consequences thereof), and Buffy’s first direct confrontation with “Twilight,” complete with motive-laden monologue and a surprise ass-kicking. We also learn who it was that awoke Buffy with true love’s kiss in the last volume, which quickly becomes important.
The “Wolves at the Gate” arc starts with a literal pack of wolves at the gate, which quickly resolves itself as a cabal of Japanese vampires who can shapeshift and fade into mist, abilities supposedly reserved for the ancient vampire Dracula. These mysterious vampires overrun the castle’s defenses and make off with the Scythe. Buffy and the rest recruit none other than Dracula himself to help track them down in Tokyo, before they fulfill whatever dark purpose they have in mind.
After two volumes that seemed ponderous and disjointed to me, Goddard wrote a Buffy book that finally conjured the show’s original spirit. The characters in the comics have always felt genuine, but this time around, the dialogue had all of the familiar beats and the climactic battle was appropriately zany while still carrying thematic weight. This arc is as self-contained as the first two, but there is plenty of movement on the larger plot. The Scoobies take on and vanquish the villain of the week, but interpersonal conflict nibbles at the edges, and the Big Bad lurks ever closer. Best of all, the inclusion of Dracula worked magnificently. I hated Dracula in the show, but not only is he extremely funny here, but the apparent relationship that has sprung up between him and his “ghoul” Xander between the show and the comics (and Buffy’s tolerance of that relationship) is legitimately interesting.
Jeanty’s art seems to polarize readers, but I’m still enjoying it. It’s functional and easy to follow when it needs to be, particularly during the action sequences, but it’s frequently evocative and beautiful as well. He continues to walk a fine line between drawing the actors from television series and putting his own artistic slant on the characters. While I find some of the characters hard to recognize (Andrew, in particular), Jeanty draws them all consistently, and that's what really counts.
When I finished the book, I figured that people would have some problems with the more over-the-top elements of this arc, and was proved correct when I skimmed a few other reviews. I’m not going to spoil anything here, but suffice it to say that I think people are being a bit hypercritical. Buffy’s surprising romantic liaison makes perfect sense in context of her character arc and the pattern of her past relationships. Dawn’s appearance in the Tokyo battle is no less bizarre or punny than past episodic battles (remember: this is the villain of the week we’re talking about, not the Big Bad), and while it can come off as a bit culturally insensitive, I considered it a nice counterpoint to Dracula’s casual old-world racism. And the character death in this arc did feel a bit tacked on and gratutitous, but come on, everyone. This is what Joss does. I barely even notice it anymore.
This book isn’t really perfect, as comics go, and it certainly doesn’t say anything profound as a piece of comic literature. But I ripped through this one on a lazy weekend, enjoying every page, and was left with the impression that I had just watched an unreleased and particularly interesting episode of the show. That’s everything I could possibly ask for from a Buffy comic. My faith is restored. -
Yeah, like I'm sure that if there had really been a season 8 it would have involved a giant robot version of Dawn.
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One of my favorites so far. Extremely funny, but also sad.
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YESS!! Dracula is back! I love his bromance with Xander! This was by far my favorite volume yet because of Xander and Dracula being so darn adorable.
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4/5
The vibe of this one was still great, tons of action and amazing backgrounds.
This time we are visiting Tokyo, while the centered character for this volume is Dracula. -
SO much to enjoy in this one! This genuinely feels like such a natural (and more queer) continuation of Buffy’s adventures and I’m here for every vamp-slaying minute of it.
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Finally catching up to "Buffy, Season Eight." They had a ball in this one doing stuff the TV show's special effects budget wouldn't have allowed, like Giant Dawn vs. Mecha-Dawn. That was the funniest part of the battle in Tokyo against a gang of shapechanging Japanese vampires. Also, the banter between Xander and Dracula was cute.
Otherwise, this is what I would have called an "average" episode if it were airing on TV: good but not outstanding, though it did move the plot arc forward a bit. Overall, I thought the bad guys' plan was defeated a bit too swiftly considering the scale of it (take away the powers of all the Slayers in the world!), and the self-conscious satirizing of every Japanese fanboy trope they could stuff into the "Buffy goes to Tokyo" episode got a little wearing. Good that the Japanese vampires acted like modern smart-asses and weren't all "Let's pretend we're ninja or samurai or some other medieval bullshit," bad that they acted like Western smart-asses with pretty much the same sense of style and humor. (Seriously, why would they build a Mecha-Dawn just to fight a giant teenager?)
The adherence to Whedon's style and use of "Buffyisms" sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, but for the most part I liked the dialog and the banter. And they did what they also might not have been able to get away with on TV: Buffy decides to "experiment" with another girl. So, this could have totally read as titillating lesbian action for the male reader (especially since it's the hot Japanese Slayer she sleeps with) and I'm sure a lot of readers read it that way, but humorous bits aside, it's actually dealt with in a fairly realistic way, which is to say, it ends messily and uncertainly since, as Buffy admits before they start, she's really not gay. I'm not sure if this would please or further incense all the Buffy fans who were furious when Whedon killed off Tara.
Speaking of killing people off, everyone knows the Whedon Law of Happy Relationships, right? You'd think by now everyone on the Buffy crew would know that two people falling happily in love is a guaranteed death sentence for at least one of them. -
I don't believe I liked this volume as well as I have liked the previous two.
Among things I really did like were the Tokyo setting and the pulling in of Dracula. It was nifty to see him again, nifty to see him fighting with the Slayer, which seems like a contradiction and yet, it definitely worked. Buffy Vs Dracula was one of those episodes that felt somewhat extraneous although amusing, so it was nice to have Dracula here be less extraneous, although still equally amusing.
I suppose my main complaint was Buffy & Satsu's relationship, which mostly just felt gratuitous to me. I'm uncertain what plot point it served, or what character point it served for Buffy. The most interesting part to me was the end, where you see this almost mirror image of the end of season three, only with Buffy in Angel's shoes and Satsu's in Buffy's.
And I kind of feel like there are a few things I was missing here, but I'm going to blame that on the fact that I haven't read Volume 2 for quite some time, and thus forgot a few details. -
What can I say? Buffy is my hands down favorite show of all time, so there's no question of my loyalty to the comics.
It's like watching Season 7. You know it's not the best. Really, you could argue it's not good...but it's Buffy the Vampire Slayer! You love it despite the faults.
The same goes for the Season 8 comics. I can't help but love them, no matter what goofiness surrounds the characters. I mean, it's Buffy the Vampire Slayer! -
It was nice to see Dracula again. Poor Renee. Dawn's a giant. Buffy and Satsu slept together. And there were lots of vampire killings going on. Overall, not too bad.
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spike yok :(((
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I do love Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
They have done a great job carrying on from the original TV series, and Wolves at the Gate is a testament to this. The dialogue is quirky, the artwork is fantastic.
The only real reason i didnt give this 5 stars is because of the robot at the end, felt too Power Rangery to me.
I am excited to carry on reading the series, and see where it goes from here. -
Dracula…. My man!!
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3.5– I liked this one more than the first so I bumped it up. Really cool concept and story. Thought there were some pieces that were out of place or not explained well but interested in seeing where the story goes.
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If I’m giving this volume 5 stars for bisexual Buffy reasons, mind your own business. Except... genuinely, it meant a lot to me. The story was reminiscent of the series. I loved revisiting Dracula with Xander and most of what happened in his storyline (a Black woman was fridged, and there’s not a better interpretation of that). I stayed up late to read this so I may have more thoughts in the morning, BUT easily the best arc of season 8 thus far.