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Sunnydale,
1840: fierce demon-thing bursts into a church, closely followed
by a red-haired female warrior, who pursues it into the streets.
Outside, a portal opens, the demon jumps through, followed by
the warrior...
Sunnydale,
1976: Guess who show up, followed by the opening of another
portal, which opens in...
Sunnydale,
now.
After
a couple of epic stories (at least in length, the quality of
Bad Blood and The Blood of Carthage was somewhat
less than epic as far as I'm concerned), Dark Horse's Buffy
comic returns to the shorter format of its early days.
As
such, perhaps expectations shouldn't be too high. A bit of mystery,
a few good lines and a decent cliff-hanger that sets things
up for the conclusion are perhaps all that's required from the
first half of a two-parter.
Sadly,
even with this in mind, The Heart of the Slayer didn't
really appeal. Okay, so we know that the demon and the warrior
have something going on. And the fact that she kicks the demon
out of the present shows that it's clearly a formidable foe,
and her decking of Buffy isn't the cliff-hanger you would expect.
A
lot of time is spent on issues that don't appear to have any
real bearing on the main plot. Perhaps Willow's transmutation
spell will become relevant next time out, but so far it just
looks like a handy way of padding out the story. Ditto Buffy
turning up late at the Bronze, and Riley getting a bit of a
kicking from the demon. Maybe these will be picked up next month,
but unless they are, I would have preferred to have seen a bit
more background to the demon and warrior than Willow spouting
annoying Willowisms in the Bronze.
Artwise,
it seemed a bit variable. Some good stuff, but a rather samey
looking demon and Buffy looks decidedly dodgy in the Bronze
if you ask me.
All
in all, a fairly average opening installment. BACK
TO THE TOP
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THE
HEART OF THE SLAYER, PART I
Writer: CHRIS BOAL
Pencils: CLIFF RICHARDS
Inks:
JOE PIMENTEL
Cover: CHRISTIAN ZANIER
RATING: 5/10
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