Customer Reviews

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 14: The Death of Buffy

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

 

 

This volume contains two stories: "The death of Buffy" and "Withdrawal".
- "The death of Buffy" is a bittersweet story of what happened after the season 5 finale "The gift", about how the Scooby gang dealt (or at first didn't deal) with the death of Buffy. I could especially feel Dawn's pain. It's a wonderful fill-in the blanks story between "The gift" (5.22) and "Bargaining" (6.01 & 6.02). We get to see how the Buffybot came back into the Scooby scene, how Willow and Tara came to live in the Summers household and how Willow got the spell to resurrect Buffy. Great story! 5 stars out of 5.

The second story "Withdrawal" is a short story that takes place after the episode "Gone" (6.11). This story features Velatti, a character that was introduced in the book "Creatures of habit". So I would recommend reading this book before reading this story. I give this story 3.5 star out of 5, only because it was so short.

All in all, a great volume! I'd recommend this volume to every BtVS fan, especially if you like comics.

Title notwithstanding, "The Death of Buffy" is not about the death of Buffy. When the book begins, she's already dead. Rather, it should be called "Life without Buffy," as it strives to fill the gap between her death at the end of one season and her resurrection at the start of the next.

It goes without saying that everyone is very sad, that the Sunnydale Scoobies are working extra hard to keep up with the vampire/demon threat without a slayer to lead them, that Dawn is annoying, Anya says quirky things, Xander and Spike argue, and Giles dispenses calm English wisdom.

One senses the story was written less to tell a vital chapter in the ongoing adventures of the Buffy mythos and more because someone thought there should be a story filling in the gaps from the summer rerun season. Just what was everyone doing while Buffy was rotting away in her casket? Someone wondered, and this book was born. But it's pretty dull. Dialogue is flat. And it hammers home the point that, without Buffy, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" isn't very interesting.

by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(n e t) editor

This book fills in the blanks of what happened to the gang during the summer that Buffy was dead. As a trade paperback, this is basically a reprinting of the Buffy comics. The first part is from the Buffy one-shot "Lost and Found", and the rest is the "Death of Buffy" trilogy (Issues #43-45 of the BtVS comic series, if you're trying to keep track.)

Most of the time, the BtVS publications (novels, comics, etc.) tend to stretch or ignore the show's canon or wreck havoc on the timeline, but this one does not. It perfectly captures the emotions and personalities of the characters, especially Dawn, Spike and Xander. I have no problem believing that these events actually happened.

There is also a bonus story, "Withdrawal", which takes place in the middle of season six. This is a sequel of sorts to the illustrated novel "Creatures of Habit" (It intrigued me enough to order "Creatures" also). If you're a fan of the Buffy/Spike relationship, these are probably the only two publications that really do justice to the dynamic between them. I highly recommend them both.

I love this comic book it is really nice.

I was expecting a novel. What I got was a graphic novel- a longer, sturder version of a comic. Still it was terrific. Filled in what happened in between The Gift (season finale of season 5), and the season premiere of season 6.

This volume contains two stories: "The death of Buffy" and "Withdrawal".
- "The death of Buffy" is a bittersweet story of what happened after the season 5 finale "The gift", about how the Scooby gang dealt (or at first didn't deal) with the death of Buffy. I could especially feel Dawn's pain. It's a wonderful fill-in the blanks story between "The gift" (5.22) and "Bargaining" (6.01 & 6.02). We get to see how the Buffybot came back into the Scooby scene, how Willow and Tara came to live in the Summers household and how Willow got the spell to resurrect Buffy. Great story! 5 stars out of 5.

The second story "Withdrawal" is a short story that takes place after the episode "Gone" (6.11). This story features Velatti, a character that was introduced in the book "Creatures of habit". So I would recommend reading this book before reading this story. I give this story 3.5 star out of 5, only because it was so short.

All in all, a great volume! I'd recommend this volume to every BtVS fan, especially if you like comics.