Appparently this being the last Buffy comic book, it's supposed to be really good and answers a few questions about Buffy's life before she came to Sunnydale.

Simon | May 09, 18:48 CET

Interesting, but haven't there been quite a few stories already that take place in between the 'movie story' and the start of the show? Didn't know there were gaps left.

EdDantes | May 09, 22:10 CET

Someone just sent me this book the other day. I haven't read it yet.

electricspacegirl | May 09, 22:59 CET

There was the Origin GN that was based on Joss's script for the movie. The previous arc before "Stake to the Heart", "Slayer Interrupted", was also set before the show started, but that's it, I believe. I really liked "Stake to the Heart", haven't read "Slayer Interrupted" though.

KernelM | May 10, 00:23 CET

There's another one called Viva Las Buffy. I think it takes place right after Origin and right before Slayer Interrupted. In it Pike and Buffy go to Las Vegas and they break up. I haven't read that one yet. I have the other ones.

electricspacegirl | May 10, 00:55 CET

Oh yeah, that's right, forgot about that one. Read that one too, and it was fairly enjoyable.

KernelM | May 10, 00:58 CET

We recently bought the 'Slayer Interrupted' issues. Decent, and Cliff Richards' artwork was almost passable for once. (Sorry, but I just don't think he's very good)

Is the Origin GN good? Is that Richards too? And is it very different from the movie? I still have to read Joss' original script.

EdDantes | May 10, 02:50 CET

I got "A Stake to the Heart" a few weeks ago, but I've been taking my time reading it, I'm only half-way through. It's surprising good compared to some of the previous comics they've published, and Cliff Richard's artwork (which I normally hate also) is actually good here. Even better is Brian Horton's painted pages. My version has a better cover than the one linked to; it's an original painted cover by Brian Horton.

The story is decent, but I find it annoying that Dawn's it in yet it's not presented as if it's from a charcter's memories or even one charcter's point of view. And the appearance of Angel and Whistler is gratuitous and forced. I do actually like the subplot with Giles coming to Sunnydale.

"The Origin" is decent, but not really an improvement on the movie (of course, I loved the movie, so I see the comic book version as much inferior). I not even sure I could say that it's closer to Joss Whedon's original vision. The story is very rushed, and you get the feeling that they cut out a lot trying to cram an entire movie script into 66 pages.

The artwork is by Joe Bennett, my favorite Buffy comics artist (the original one). I'd say it's worth having, just to compare to the movie and stuff.

I've never read Joss's original script either, although i do have an early version saved on my computer.

Invisible Green | May 10, 03:25 CET

I got "A Stake to the Heart" a couple weeks ago and didn't like it much. Like Invisible Green I found the way Dawn was handled to be really strange--and I like Dawn.

I'm finding these GNs to be really hit or miss. Some of them I think are quite good. There is one, "Bad Blood", that is rife with errors (although, it does have a cute short at the end by Christopher Golden). I liked the Angel/Buffy crossover "Past Lives". I also like "The Origin". It pretty much follows the movie but somehow, being able to read it with this version of Buffy, it becomes much more interesting. She's better with the quips and it's a much better Merrick.

My copy of "A Stake to the Heart" has a different, and IMO better, cover than the one pictured in the link.

[ edited by marmoset on 2004-05-10 03:12 ]

marmoset | May 10, 05:10 CET

"I found the way Dawn was handled to be really strange--and I like Dawn."

This was never sufficiently addressed, but I believe that now, Dawn was always Buffy's sister. The monks did more than perhaps even they're aware. If that blood bag guy can do all he did for Connor, isn't much of a stretch to think a handful of monks could twist the same reality for Dawn.

I've wished someone would do a graphic or regular novel about this: how when the monks did what they did they didn't just mess with memories, but the very fabric of reality. My ongoing theory is that there was an alternate reality in which Buffy had always had a sister, but that this is the same reality in which Buffy was never found by Giles and was eventually put in an insane asylum (the alternate reality we glimpsed near the end of season six). When the monks did their magicks to hide the green glowy energy ball inside Dawn in the reality shown on the tv show, they had to get Dawn from somewhere, so instead of just fabricating her out of nothing, they actually merged parts of two alternate realities into one, discarding what they didn't want and adding into the reality shown on the tv show with the other alternate reality, and that this is retroactive. So that now, Dawnie has always been in 'our' Buffy's reality, and not in that 'crazy' Buffy's reality, even though the reverse used to be true. However, this paradox could unravel, or perhaps something else could initiate an unravelling (like the two hellgods who banished Glory in the first place). I honestly believe there's still a story here.

ZachsMind | May 10, 19:34 CET

Not to diss your theory, ZachsMind, but I think it was made pretty clear in both Dawn's and Connor's cases that only memories (and positions) were altered, not actual past events.

Invisible Green | May 10, 20:50 CET

I have just begun collecting the Buffy comics, so I guess I'll be starting somewhere near the end.

Ocular | May 10, 22:11 CET

I've wished someone would do a graphic or regular novel about this: how when the monks did what they did they didn't just mess with memories, but the very fabric of reality.

Hmmm, sounds interesting, maybe you should give it a go.

...I think it was made pretty clear in both Dawn's and Connor's cases that only memories (and positions) were altered, not actual past events.

That was what was strange to me about the way Dawn was handled in "A Stake to the Heart". There were some inconsistencies that seemed like they might have later impacted the events between seasons 2 and 3, which, while not so much a problem for the future Buffy storyline, certainly would have impacted the existence of Anne in the Angel storyline.

Ocular--If you like Tara, the "Willow and Tara" one is kind of cute. Also, if you like Jane Espenson, there is one called "Haunted" that covers a story centering on Faith and Buffy and takes place between seasons 3 and 4. Some of the writing in it is not so great but the plot fits into the overall story of Buffy in kind of a neat way.

marmoset | May 10, 22:26 CET