Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Vol. 2 (v. 2) [Paperback]

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Book Description

Publication Date: September 4, 2007

This second volume of our Buffy omnibus series collects many of the best Buffy comics to see print. As we follow the newly-chosen slayer from Los Angeles to Sunnydale and through her parents' divorce - with Dawn in tow - the souled vampire Angel makes his first appearance and the not-so-souled Spike and Drusilla cleave a bloody path towards the West Coast. This collection includes the critically acclaimed graphic novel Ring of Fire and the miniseries A Stake to the Heart, and reflects the Season One to Season Three timeline of the cult-hit TV series. A fitting companion to Joss Whedon's comics-based relaunch of the show.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Dark Horse; Dark Horse Omnibus (6x9 inch) edition (September 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593078269
• ISBN-13: 978-1593078263
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #198,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Read; Follow the Amazon-Links, October 1, 2007

By 

Pat Shand "Pat Shand" (Freeport, NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Vol. 2 (v. 2) (Paperback)

I'll start you would-be-buyers off with a little snippet from my review of the first BUFFY omnibus. Don't fear, it's as relevant here as it is there:

"Unless you're a completist with oodles and oodles of cash, this is the way to go if you want to collect the older Buffy comics. Before this, they have been collected (for the most part) into smaller trade paperbacks, each of which cost almost as much as this volume. Now, before I get into my review, let me explain the omnibus series, as I've seen a lot of people misunderstanding when talking about it on message boards: This is not the only omnibus. There are to be seven of them all together(...)"

Okay then.

The book starts off with the snazzily cartoonish "Angels We Have Seen On High." It is very 'Kim Possible' and bears little resembalnce to the show we all know and love, but that's forgivable. That little story is too fun and short to really take issue with. The next story, however, isn't. "A Stake to the Heart" has some of the best BUFFY art we've seen so far, and also--by far--the worst story. (A more comprehensive review of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 17: Stake to the Heart can be found at the link) Every part of me was begging my hands to put it down, but I persisted in hopes that things would get better.

They did.

The following stories, "Macguffins" and "Queen of Hearts", were improvements. The first is very-Season One, and it's a bit of fresh air, though most people will probably see it as extremely hokey. "Queen of Hearts", on the flip-side, is a very dark and dingy story about Spike and Drusilla and has Christopher Golden's best--and, arguably, only acceptable--characterization of the vampire duo so far. The art takes a lot away from the character, though, as Ryan Sook continues to put on display how much he CAN'T draw Spike or Drusilla.

But Sook isn't all bad. His style fits the next story in the volume, "Ring of Fire," much better. "Ring of Fire" written by Doug Petrie (a writer from the actual television show) is nearly perfect, really bringing the readers back to the operatic feel of Season Two, putting the Buffy/Angelus conflict center stage. (A more comprehensive of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Ring of Fire can be found at the link) The omnibus, again, takes a deep slope for the worse with yet another of Chris Golden's Spike/Dru stories. This time, James Marsters (Spike from the show) helped write it, but that again doesn't help save the comic from Golden's sub par writing and Ryan's horrible depiction of Spike and Drusilla.

The omnibus comes to an end with "The Dust Waltz." If you click the COMMENTS on this review, you will see a review of that story (and the graphic novel it originally came in). By no means trust the reviews you see at this link: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 1: The Dust Waltz. Amazon made a mistake there; every time someone reviews "BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: THE ORIGIN" that review appears on both "The Origin" and "The Dust Waltz" review pages. But I digress, "The Dust Waltz" is a mediocre Buffy tale with a great story, but not-so-great art.

Altogether, though the comics--except for "Ring of Fire" of course--aren't as good as those in the first omnibus, I recommend that fans of BtVS buy this book. This is the only way to chronologically collect the old Buffy comic series, and--if nothing else--the art is often very good.

7/10

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a disappointment this was, August 31, 2010

By 

Rachel E. Gray "Reg" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Vol. 2 (v. 2) (Paperback)

What a disappointment this was, especially compared with Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 1. In this volume, the stories were weak and mostly completely uninteresting, the humor was almost nonexistent, and the characters were sometimes written out of character. Plus, some of the art was odd, some was kinda ugly, and some was just terrible. I wasn't confused by the jumping around--or skipping ahead--in the timeline, since it was explained in the introduction by Scott Allie, but I can't say it helped matters.



The first story, "Angels We Have Seen On High", although very different, seems, in comparison to others in this volume, to be one of the best stories. It's a very short (and kinda cute?) story about Dawn and Buffy from when they still in LA. The art is very different from the other stories, more like a cartoon than a comic book, but it's interesting to see some variety once in a while.

The next story is "A Stake to the Heart", which for me was the biggest disappointment of the whole collection, mostly because it actually seemed to be trying to be something interesting and deep, but it failed so miserably. In this story, Buffy has to fight the Summers family's inner demons that have been accidentally manifested. The reason for and means of the accident are stupid, and the efforts to undo it are both stupid and pointless. Although the threat seems big at first, these demons' powers and the consequences of them winning are confusing, and the culmination of each fight is honestly boring. On the other hand, the art in this story is the best in this entire volume.

After that we get another short story, "MacGuffins", which may have been amusing, but could have starred any original character--there was nothing really of Buffy's personality or life. It added nothing to the Buffyverse, it wasn't meaningful, it wasn't anything special at all. To top it off, Buffy is drawn with a Barbie doll-like body.

The next story, "Queen of Hearts", managed to be pretty uninteresting despite starring Spike, as he and Dru run into some trouble--or go looking for it--on a casino boat. I was one of the fans of the show mentioned in Scott Allie's introduction who didn't like (he said "hated") the art--I felt everything looked ugly except for ladies and their clothing--but at least it was interesting looking.

"Ring of Fire" is the next story, and the best in this volume, for what that's worth. It takes place during the second season of the show, and in it Buffy and the gang (plus or minus a few) face off against Spike, Dru, and Angelus. It's the most interesting and most like the show. Again, all males and most of the backgrounds look ugly, but the ladies look lovely.

Another Spike story, "Paint the Town Red", is next. This one is much more interesting than the first one about him and Dru, and focuses more on him, as he decides to become lord of a small town in Turkey. The art is the same as the last two.

Finally, there's "The Dust Waltz", the worst story of the collection (which is different from being the most disappointing). This takes place sometime during the run of the show, but I'm not sure when, because at some points it seems like Xander and Cordelia are going out, and at others they despise each other--and I couldn't even tell if it was pre-going out together despising, or post-going out together despising. Even worse, I couldn't tell if it was Cordelia or Willow without going back and checking what each girl was wearing. Buffy looks different from them only because she's blonde, and the special guest character has differently shaped hair (the other females in the story are supernatural, and distinct in their extreme sexiness or ugliness). Nobody looks the way they should, or acts the way they should, the story is pretty stupid, and the continuity in both story and art is a mess.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you need more Buffy, get this!, May 9, 2008

By 

K. Sozaeva "Obsessive bibliophile" (Athens, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Vol. 2 (v. 2) (Paperback)

Following Buffy from her parents' decision to get a divorce, moving to Sunnydale and even into the evil Angel era, this excellent collection of tales of the Slayer will help to keep your thirst for Buffy to a manageable level. The art in this one is uneven - the first story is done in a very unusual manner - that is, in a very cartoonish manner - and it was rather a shock. I ended up rather liking it, but I think this is an issue that will definitely be a polarizing one: people will either love it or hate it and froth about it. :-) However, I liked the story it told and I especially liked how Angel was lurking all over the place in the story. Some of the stories were rather fun, such as Maguffins (McGuffins? MacGuffins? - I can't remember how it is spelled now and I'm too lazy to go check!) - taking place in the summer between Season 1 and Season 2, two mischievous imps are sent to Buffy as a "test." As they destroy her father's house, she must figure out how to stop them. We also get a rather ... interesting story with Dawn, set at the same time that Buffy is in Las Vegas - a case of mistaken identities leaves Dawn with a Djinn that causes no end of troubles.

The addition of Dawn into these stories is one that Joss Whedon says he thought long and hard about, and one which is also likely to be a polarizing force among fans. He said he finally decided to go with having her there because although she wasn't REALLY there, Buffy REMEMBERED here being there ... plus it gave him a chance to have the artists and authors writing these stories come up with some fun ones, such as the story just mentioned above.

All told, an excellent addition to the Buffymorbilia of a true Buffyaholic. Don't miss it!