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After
the slightly disappointing PAST LIVES crossover,
the BUFFY comic returns to its usual format
with this story from the new regular writing team of Tom Fassbender
and Jim Pascoe.
Unfortunately,
it's not really an improvement on their previous offering, CEMETRY
OF LOST LOVE.
The
story is straightforward, in fact, too straighforward - vampire
kill a tramp in a deserted alley and steal his real, vampire wants ring
back and haunts alley, Riley is knocked into a coma and Buffy sorts
things out.
And,
to be honest, that's about it. There's a secondary storyline that involves
Giles and a potential new girlfriend, but this had rather too many nitpicks
for my liking - would he really sing Raspberry Beret, and his
chat-up lines are so cheesy I'm supposed they weren't served on toast.
In fact, his observation that demon activity peaks around the end of
each school (and television!) season is just about his only good line
here.
Potential
new date Rebecca isn't particularly interesting, although I suspect
that she's more than she appears to be (which wouldn't be particularly
interesting or original in any case).
The
Scooby Gang aren't particuarly well-used either.
Buffy
is at a loose end because it's summer and Riley is off with one of his
Initiative buddies. Surely she should have been able to find something
to do without having to wait around for Captain Cardboard?
Meanwhile,
we've got Willow being Net Girl once more and a brief appearance from
Xander and Anya.
Of
course, having Riley end up in a coma falls a bit flat since most readers
probably couldn't careless whether he survives or not. But, unless Dark
Horse are prepared for some major deviation from the television
series, the former is the only option anyway.
The
artwork is as variable as ever as well, with some good work, but some
very dodgy stuff as well. For example, the final panel on the penultimate
page has Giles looking so smug with himself that he looks a complete
idiot, while some of Buffy's fight scenes look plain daft.
The
final page appears to lead into something else but on this evidence,
it's unlikely to be that rivetting. BACK
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