Customer Reviews

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike & Dru

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

 

 

I found the writing to be excellent and the story flow to be very compelling. However, I did feel that the illustrations left much to be desired. Very crude drawings with very little artistic appeal. I feel that when one purchases a graphic novel like this, it is as much for the story line as the art work. The stories are wonderful, the art work is very lacking.

Because I'm a huge fan of Spike, I knew that I had to find a copy of this rare graphic. I'm very glad that I did. It contains 3 reprinted stories, and 1 original story.

ALL'S FAIR- takes place during the World's Fair of 1933. The story follows Spike and Dru as they maim. Slash, and slay their way through the glitter and lights of the Fair. They also encounter hideous demons from another dimension and highly skilled assassins out for blood.

THE QUEEN OF HEARTS- As the pair travel to Sunnydale to be near the Hellmouth, the star-crossed lovers stop in St. Louis to do a bit of gambling and cause major mayhem on a riverboat casino. But, their blissful vacation is cut short by river demons.

PAINT THE TOWN RED- this story takes place shortly after Spike and Dru leave Sunnydale at the end of Buffy's second season. Dru's renewed love for Angel drives a wedge between the lovers. The end result is both of them trying to hurt the other as much as possible- which is a whole lot! With James Marsters helping with the writing, and Ryan Sook's artwork, this is by far the best story of all four.

WHO MADE WHO- tells the tale of Spike and Dru's final break up in Brazil. This is an epilog to Buffy's season three episode " Lover's Walk".

The only downside to this graphic is the artwork. Highly stylized, it's a deterant to fans who like Spike for his rugged good looks.

Still, if you like Buffy, Dru, or Spike and can find a copy of this graphic, than by all means buy it!

Spike has gradually become one of the most popular figures in the Slayer world. A hopeless romantic when alive he managed to cross over to the dark side with his capacity for love intact. His loyalty to Drusilla, who made him, was remarkable considering Dru's own flighty nature. Of course, his complex relationship with Buffy once again showed us a Spike who can be stubbornly in love despite every possible roadblock.

Dru of course, is the mad mistress. Psychically hypersensitive and more than a little kinky, her relationship with Spike actually lasted for a very long time. Her beauty is hard to define and her mind is, well, let us just say she is a bit distracted. Sometimes it is hard to see what the two lovers saw in each other, other than Spike's willing compliance with Dru's every wish. Certainly, as Spike developed more independence, the relationship between the two deteriorated.

This trade paperback collects the contents of three Spike and Dru comics, two from 1999 and the other from the end of 2000. In addition, there is a short from the "Lover's Walk" comic issued in 2001. The stories run from the Chicago World's Fair in 1933 to a more contemporary Carnivale in Brazil. During this journey, we will learn much about what makes our anti-heroes tick.

"All's Fair" takes a short flashback to China and the Boxer Rebellion and then jumps forward to the Chicago Fair. Spike and Dru treat the fair as a giant delicatessen until they run into some characters bent on vengeance from their past and a demon who wants to make earth its home.

To open "The Queen of Hearts" the lovers eat an entire topless bar and then move on to a riverboat casino. No one seems to have warned Spike that winning too much draws the wrong kind of attention - in spades.

In "Paint the Town" Spike is so frustrated with Drusilla's obsession with Angel. He ends the relationship in a fiery blaze and heads of for Turkey for a prolonged escape. Unexpectedly Dru tracks him down with a new friend in tow - a necromancer. She wants to get even, but before long, everyone is in trouble.

The final story, "Who Made Who," is a short finds the newly made up lovers in Brazil. However, Dru's attention once again wanders and Spike spoils the party.

I don't care all that much for the pencil work in these stories. Two were done by Eric Powell and the other two are by Ryan Sook. The work isn't bad, just a little to simplified and roughed in for my tastes. Since Sook has become quite well known, I am probably in the minority. Regardless of the artwork, the stories are all excellent, Chris Golden doing the lion's share on all of them. Certainly, any Spike fan will find this required reading.

This trade paperback is pretty hit and miss, collecting all the Spike and Dru one-shots to date with a 10 page backup story from an anthology.

As far as the art goes, Ryan Sook's rendering of Drusilla is nearly spot on but his Spike leaves something to be desired; at times, there are so many superfluous lines on the vamp's face that he looks like George Hamilton without benefit of tanning butter. Eric Powell's slightly more cartoony style is better suited to the story, his fight scenes are fluid and easy to follow, rather then awkward, angular, and ink-laden like Sook's and his characterization comes across much better.

Golden's writing improves considerably with each issue. Queen of Hearts is dark, maudlin and, if not for Dru's ramblings, could easily be the story of any two vampires, while All's Fair is very much a Buffy tale, containing a lot more of Spike's caustic commentary, Dru's wily ways, and the two's crushingly codependent romance.

If you're a diehard Spike and Dru fanatic, who's delirious at the couple's every mention, you won't be disappointed but the more casual fan might be left wanting.

I would have to say this collection of issues are hit and miss. Some are really great and others are the kind you read only once. Of course, Spike and Dru are that kind of a disturbing couple. Dru has great lines such as, "the glass [in the light] are so pretty, I can see all of my selves." The first part of the trade deals with Spike and Dru when they're together in times like the early 1900s and then as the issues progress they become estranged. It is a very interesting read, and the artwork ranges from okay to very good. There are a lot of gruesome demons so be forewarned.

This graphic novel is a delightful collection of stories. Set in the Twentieth Century, Dru and Spike love, fight and love again. That is when they are not feeding on the unsuspecting. The writing is excellent. The themes are fresh and new. The dialogue is crisp. I enjoyed the action sequences. The artwork is dark and interesting. The characters are well drawn with great detail. It is impossible to miss Spike wonderful cheek bones. Spike and Dru fans will certainly enjoy this graphic novel. I found it quite entertaining.

This was a gift for a friend who had been looking for it for years. Unfortunately it didn't arrive in the best of conditions,
Regardless my friend loved it and I will have her give a review of this for all.

Fans of Buffy the show won't find much to enjoy in this. Fans of Buffy the comic series won't hate this, but they won't love or like it either. Overall, these four "Spike and Dru" stories are mediocre efforts from an above average Buffy writer (Christopher Golden). I doubt anyone would love this book, but the only people that would really hate it are hardcore Spike fans... because this book doesn't do the character, or Drusilla, justice.

The first story, "Alls Fair" has Spike and Dru facing off against Lovecraftian monsters at a fair. This is the worst of the volume, featuring a story that you won't tolerate long enough to try to squeeze a smidge of sense or any semblance of logic out of. The art, by Eric Powell, is a rush job. The second tale, "Queen of Hearts" is a bit better. Golden's attempt at writing good Spike & Dru dialogue is marginally more effective here, and the art is better... because it's done by a different person. Ryan Sook pencils this tale, and while the scenery looks better and there is more detail than in Powell's art, the faces don't match Spike or Drusilla at all. Sook's art is by no means pretty, but there are other Buffy comics that Sook worked on where it looks like he put in more effort. Fans won't be pleased. This comic, again, has Spike and Dru facing off against Lovecraftian horrors, though this one feels like it was thought-out and actually had a plot, unlike "All's Fair."

The next story, "Paint the Town Red," is the biggest incentive for fans to buy the book. James Marsters (the actor who plays Spike) co-wrote the script for this comic with Christopher Golden. Ryan Sook, again, was on pencils. This one is set after Spike and Dru's departure from Sunnydale at the end of the second season, so it was at least interesting to see something set during the actual series that answers some questions about where Spike has been. Spike's dialogue seems to ring truer in this comic (likely due to James Marsters writing, as he was a method actor at the time of this writing), but the story seems rather cheesy. Sook's art, again, was nothing exceptional compared to what he's done before. Something about this, however, cannot be forgiven--Angel was shown to be Spike's sire, though fans know that Drusilla is the vampire who truly sired Spike in the official continuity of the series.

And that's basically what's collected here. There is a bonus story at the end called "Who Made Who" that shows Spike and Drusilla at odds with each other and leads right into Spike returning to Sunnydale as a solo-villain in the fourth season. Like the rest of this book, it won't hold your attention for very long. If you're looking for a good Spike comic, you can do much better than this.

5/10