Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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

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.

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!

When Dark Horse Comics began publishing in 1986, they took a strategic path far different than most of the other independent publishers of the day. Dark Horse was clever enough to go after licensed properties that already had a built-in fan following. Titles such as Aliens, Predator, Terminator, and the many Star Wars titles gave them a huge leg up on their competition. That's why they are still around over twenty years later while companies like Eclipes, First, Comico, and Malibu are but distant memories. Another property which has proven to be enormously popular for Dark Horse has been Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

This is the second omnibus edition of slayer tales and reprints several issues from the Buffy comic as well as various trades/graphic novels into this 320 page tome. The stories are set at various points in Buffy's career although they are all set in during season three of the TV series or earlier. In fact the first story, "A Stake through the Heart" predates Buffy's move to Sunnydale although after the destruction of the gym at her old school. In this tale writer Fabian Nicieza makes the controversial move of retconning Dawn into the Buffyverse before her actual creation. Buffy and Dawn are dealing with their parent's separation and their eventual move. Buffy is already feeling guilt over her parent's marriage troubles and Angel makes things worse by accidentally releasing malignancy demons to torment her.

"McGuffins" is a short story from Dark Horse Comics Presents. Giles sends Buffy a "present" as a test...a pair of nasty little gremlin-like creatures who run amok in her house. Buffy cannot win this one with her fists. She'll have to use her wits to defeat the little pests.

Two of the stories are Spike and Dru adventures and don't even feature Buffy at all...kinda strange since she's the title star but oh well..."Queen of Hearts" finds Spike and Dru gambling on a riverboat and discovering their host is a demon who leeches the luck off his customers. The pair have a bad breakup in "Paint the Town Red" as Spike nearly destroys Dru. He takes a break from her, heading off to Turkey but Dru isn't going to let him go so easily.

"Ring of Fire" takes place during Season Two when Angel is going though his evil period. He, Dru, and the wheelchair-bound Spike have found a set of ancient Samurai armor that belonged to a demon named Kelgor. They plan to use the armor to raise the demon and Buffy, Kendra and the rest of the Scoobys have to stop them.

Finally in "Dust Waltz" two ancient demons, Lillith and Lamia come to Sunnydale for an ancient Hellmouth ritual called the Dust Waltz where each chooses a champion to battle to the death. Since Buffy has killed Lillith's champion, she is forced to fight in his place.

There isn't a standout story in the book but there are no stinkers either. "Stake through the Heart" is probably the weakest as it is a slower moving, depressing story that seems out of place with the tone of the stories from early in Buffy's career. It reads more like a story from Season Six. The Spike and Dru stories are quite fun as the pair is basically off just carousing and having a good time. The art is strong throughout although I was never particularly fond of regular series artist Cliff Richards. I much preferred the lighter style of Luke Ross on "McGuffins" and Hector Gomez on "Dust Waltz." The Dark Horse Omnibus editions are a bit more expensive than those from Marvel and DC, but they have the advantage of being in full color.

REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

I very much enjoyed both volumes of this graphic novel and would recommend it to anyone needing a Buffy fix. The dialog was great. The stories were good. I just wish that the interior artwork was even half as good as the cover art. That was the only reason that I did't go with the five star rating.

One reason that I enjoyed the show was because I didn't find Sarah Michelle Gellar sexually attractive. I saw that she was pretty of course but I was interested in Buffy as a character and Gellar as an actress. Most of the artists in this volume have tried to eroticize her and have succeeded enough to disturb me.

Of the major stories, A Stake in the Heart fills a gap between the Buffy movie and the series. Buffy is dealing with the stress from the death of her first mentor, her parents' divorce, the move to Sunnydale, etc. For over a hundred pages, our heroine deals with Deceit, Guilt, Abandonment, Trepidation, not internally but externally, the emotions as in the series allegorized as demons and monsters.

The Dust Waltz is drawn colored even written with some verve but the characters are surprisingly lifeless, especially the regulars, and the geniuses responsible have trouble distinguishing Willow from Cordelia.

The best stories are drawn by Ryan Sook. Sook doesn't try to get you to believe in the impossible by drawing it in realistic detail, he is interested in atmosphere and characters, especially in dark and evil. He is at his best in his stories about Spike and Dru and their adventures before they tackled Buffy in Sunnydale.

Wow, what a great series. It is cool getting to learn Buffy's Backstory, which started in Volume 1 and continues through this one. I thought that the Dru and Spike stories were a waste as the plot of each one is nothing but "let's get something to eat" in each one. It is great that all of these collections have been put together in one nice book.

If you are a Buffy fan then this is a must have. Ever since the show ended I've been finding different things such as vampire novels, buffy comics, angel comics etc. just to get my slayer fix. This is a great collection of previous comic stories in one place.

If you missed any of the comic books, this'll get you what you need. My only complaint is that comic books are too darned short! I am always left wanting more!