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REMEMBER THE BEGINNING kicks off a four-part arc that marks of the debut of Dawn in the Dark Horse comics.

The story slots into the second half of season five, between INTO THE WOODS (Riley has left Sunnydale) and BLOOD TIES (the Scooby Gang don't know about Dawn).

Dawn's arrival meant that Buffy had yet another thing to juggle, a situation that wasn't helped when she discovered the truth about her sister in NO PLACE LIKE HOME.

REMEMBER THE BEGINNING reflects this. With Riley out of the picture, Dawn sees a vacancy in the helping Buffy while she's out on patrol department. The only drawback is that Buffy doesn't think that her 14-year-old sister should be out hunting vampires.

We also get a look at how Dawn's introduction affects previous events. The writers have opted for her to "remember" them occuring largely as we saw them on screen, only that she played a part in them. So, for example, it was Dawn who dragged Buffy out of the water in PROPHECY GIRL (there's a sizeable flashback to that story), but Xander was still the one who performed CPR.

Of course, Buffy's memory reflects what actually happened, which causes additional tension between the two girls.

Also thrown into the mix is the arrival of an Oriental vampire in Sunnydale, but so far it's the relationship between Buffy and Dawn, and the latter's disobediance of the former that take centre-stage.

Art-wise, there are obvious differences between the Sunnydale and non-Sunnydale scenes, while even the PROPHECY GIRL flashback looks different to the season 5 stuff.

Overall, a decent enough start to the arc, although it's clearly helped by the six-page flashback, which is taken directly from the televised episode. BACK TO THE TOP

REMEMBER THE BEGINNING

Writers: TOM FASSBENDER
and JIM PASCOE

Pencils: CLIFF RICHARDS

Inks: JOE PIMENTEL

Cover: CLIFF RICHARDS


RATING: 6/10


NEXT RELEASE:
REMEMBER THE LIES

PREVIOUS RELEASE:
OUT OF THE FIRE, INTO THE HIVE