Buffy Season Eight in Review

25 Jan 2011 01:19 PM

by Drew Kolar, Staff Writer

It took nearly four years—40 issues, three one-shots, eight story arcs and a ton of drama—but the end is finally here. As of January 19, Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s season eight comic series has reached its conclusion, which is both optimistic and heartbreaking.

Generally known to go out with a bang, it seems Joss Whedon has backtracked a bit, ending issue 40 with a return to simpler times, when it was just vampires versus slayers—one slayer. After putting an end to the world’s magic, Buffy is pretty much left on her own, with everybody else feeling betrayed by her last-minute choice. There are, of course, stores to tell in season nine-whenever that is set in motion-but for now, we’ve come to a pretty anticlimactic close.

Let me start by getting one thing straight: I’m a die-hard Buffy fan for life, so it’s pretty much impossible to give an unbiased opinion. Of course with Buffy, is it ever really possible to be unbiased? As with any great TV show, it’s all about the characters and the investment we put into their lives, as though they’re our best friends or, more so, reflections of ourselves.

Comic book enthusiasts may say that the likenesses weren’t always true to form (Dawn never really looked much like Michelle Trachtenberg, but Georges Jeanty always had the Sarah Michelle Gellar nose right on point), while TV show fans argue that the gaps between issues were too long and the over-the-top story arcs were nowhere near faithful. With Joss’s “unlimited” budget and ability to do crazy things, it’s no wonder why he chose to change the world, sending the cast to majestic locations and bringing back pretty much every character ever created. However, it’s really all about the story and Buffy’s self-discovery and fragility.

For many, the story ended with the destruction of Sunnydale in the final episode. Buffy and friends are left wondering what to do next, though their slayer army-building is alluded to in Angel’s fifth season. The comics then follow up on these events and clear up any confusion that may have been brought up on Angel—Buffy is a full-fledged general of an army of slayers, still fighting the good fight and looking for the next “big bad.” Oh, and she’s not dating “The Immortal”—that was a decoy. By the end, it definitely becomes a new monster in both story and style, like the time Buffy gained superpowers comparable to most comic book heroes in order to have sex with a superpowered Angel to create a new universe—yep, that happened.

Maybe it’s ridiculous. Maybe Joss took his girl way too far beyond the readers’ comfort zone. There were moments that had me questioning my own fandom, wondering why I was still reading and if I should consider this part of the real story or just filler until he or Fox decided to make a movie (and not just a crappy reboot starring a young newcomer like Taylor Momsen). Of course, in his letter to the fans at the end of the comic, he acknowledges these concerns.

“I was so excited to finally have an unlimited budget that I wanted to make the book an epic,” he says, “but I realized along the way that the things I loved the best were the things you loved the best: the peeps. The down-to-earth, recognizable people. And Mecha-Dawn. (She has a tail!)”

Through all the superpowers, renegade slayers, time traveling, Dawn’s transformations, Harmony’s rise to fame, the Buffyverse’s acknowledgement of the actual vampire craze in pop culture, high-flying sex antics, major deaths and ultimate betrayal, it really does come down to the story—the people. Say what you will about how much Joss has changed his universe beyond repair, but just remember the fun times we had watching the show, arguing about plotlines and discussing whether Buffy should be with Angel or Spike (I vote Spike).

In whole, the comics sparked just as many debates and controversies as any episode. Isn’t that all we can ask for? Isn’t that all we can hope for—a world to help us escape ours and characters to relate to? Buffy has always been about hope and carrying on through hard times, and the final issue, however sad it may be, still has that small glimmer. Buffy lives, my friends. Buffy lives.

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