Customer Reviews

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Panel to Panel (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Dark Horse))

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

 

 

This book is huge (read as: ginormous). And when I say huge, I mean huge in every way. The pages are thick, making the 190 pages feel like 300, and as far as height, this is the Yao Ming of trade paperbacks. I'm not going to go on and on about how big this thing is, but I have to add that I literally cannot fit it on ANY of my shelves.

The book is pretty much made up of huge renditions of certain covers, panels, and promotional pics from the original Buffy run by Dark Horse. The art is of varying quality, but the way it was put together was quite masterfully. Scott Allie takes us on a trip down memory lane as he explains certain pieces, giving us background info on the artists or what was the reason for each cover. Often, his commentary offers some really cool tidbits, but other times he leaves us wanting a bit more. Many pieces that I would have liked to know more about were left unexplained, which isn't really that cool in a book like this. However, that little flub is made up for by the sheer quality of this book, because when it comes down to it, we do get a lot of new factoids from the man with the plan.

There are many different styles in this book--some great, some good, some okay, some...not so much--from a long list of different artists who have contributed to the title. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it shows how the long term artists have evolved over the course of the series, often drastically changing their styles. The best part about this book is probably the painted covers from the later issues (post-Season Five and on), specifically the art taken from the wonderful illustrated prose novel "Creatures of Habit." Overall, this won't disappoint. Even if a lot of the art isn't good, it's amazing to see so many different takes on our favorite characters.

With the quality, size, and very low price of this book, all I have to say is: "Don't be a goon. Buy it."

8/10

Oversized, you can really see the artistry that's not always as easy to perceive in the comic books these images are drawn from. If you're into Buffy the TV Series, this will feed your cravings for new Buffy stuff. If you appreciate comic art, you don't even have to be that into Buffy.

Dark Horse Comics used many different artists to produce the ongoing Buffy series of comics. The artists vary in style, some are immediately likeable, some stretch the Buffy "look".

I got into this book after discovering the comics, revitalized by Joss Whedon's participation in a new series of comics that extends the tv series. Joss and friends are now continuing the story in comic form (multiple Buffys, thousands of Slayerettes, evil Slayerettes, Zander as Slayerette Watcher, etc etc etc - great stories). I've never been that into comics before, but these give me a good hit of Buffy and take the "Buffyverse" in some interesting new directions.

Here's links to the comics- note- there are a LOT of Buffy comics, I suggest the Omnibus volumes to read the back issues.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 1: The Long Way Home

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Vol. 1

The artwork is gorgeous. Great for any fan of the series.
(The only downside is that it's a paperback, and a big one at that, so it's going to get frayed around the edges)

This book is amazing. All the pages are beautifully done. Great buy for Buffy fans.

Panel to Panel is basically a collection of covers, interior artwork, and concept designs taken from Dark Horse Comics original run of Buffy comics (that is, the comics before Joss Whedon took a direct hand with the launch of Season Eight). There's a few paragraphs here and there written by Scott Allie, the comics' editor, about why certain artists were chosen. But by and large this is very much an art book--and if you have the actual comics, you can see pretty much everything that's in this book. In other words, as far as I can tell, unless you're crazy about comic art there's not really a lot of point to buying Panel to Panel.