“Suck it up, Summers”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home #1

I was lucky that I could go along to Forbidden Planet in central London and get a copy of the Buffy Comic on Thursday. I walked in and there was a woman in the queue with two copies (Chen and Jeanty covers). I inwardly squealed with excitement and there was a couple in front of me who sauntered down the stairs. I'm a not a barger but I so wanted to shove them aside and get there. To cut a long and not very interesting story short I picked up the two covers and, of course, a trade paperback of Fables and the first issue of a new series of BPRD because I didn't want to look like a Buffy geek which is madness because I am a Buffy geek.

The comic exceeded my expectations which had been lowered by Joss Whedon's work on the Serenity comic and the Dangerous arc of Astonishing X-Men plus season 7 was, erm,... As a season opener I was very happy with it though I missed Willow and Giles. The dialogue was superb and I found the action easy to follow. Some commentators have questioned the step up from the poverty of the gang in seasons 6 and 7 to a gang with Global Frequency type communications and at least two helicopters. I say that there has been a step from two Slayers to almost five hundred and some of them must be rich and with connections. And maybe that castle belonged to the very defunct Watchers' Council and rather like the Vatican, I suspect they were a wee bit rich.

My favourite bits were "'cept I feel a little weird about using a crucifix to kill someone" "yeh, dinno much about religion, do yeh?" and "but she'll tell Willow, fine, her first time and it all goes wrong which I'm totally well versed in and anyhow Willow's the expert on boys since when now?"

Criticisms: I hate exaggerated accents, it jarred in V for Vendetta and it jars here. The view of Sunnydale suggests it was a small place without an airport or docks or even a beach though it's a great illustration.

Who was hovering over the church? Who is Amy's boyfriend? Why aren't the Summers girls allowed to lose their virginity without there being huge complications?