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The blurb on FOOD CHAIN's back cover promises us that this is BUFFY's "biggest-ever graphic novel", but size isn't always everything, is it? Titan have drawn on a variety of sources for the eight stories in this collection, with three from Dark Horse's regular BUFFY series, and two each from the BUFFY ANNUAL '99 and the LOVER'S WALK one-shot. Only the final story, CITY OF DESPAIR, was new to me, but I assume that this first appeared in one of the WIZARD specials. First up, is FOOD CHAIN, PART 1, which was known as A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU, when it was published as #12 in the monthly series. This is a pretty reasonable story, although monster of the week Ylisandroth stupidly choses a pseudonym that makes the Master's various disguises on DOCTOR WHO seem like a work of genius. The story continues in FOOD CHAIN, PART 2 (well, duh), but to no great effect. The story is pretty dull, and the artwork is inconsistent (although that's hardly surprising given the number of artists responsible). In between this two-parter, we get a couple of stories from the ANNUAL '99. THE LATEST CRAZE sees Sunnydale High's students going mental for horrible-looking Hooligan dolls. This story reminded me of BAND CANDY (the whole town going mad for something that's not good for them), and that was before Ethan Rayne showed up. All in all, a bit average. BAD DOG isn't really much better. It's that time of the month again, and Oz is locked up, only for Buffy to find his cage empty and Willow (who was left guarding him) missing. Storywise it suffers because of the lack of characterisation afforded to the villain, who pops up, reveals some knowledge that he's somehow acquired and gets killed off all within a handful of panels. Ryan Sook's art is perhaps something of an acquired taste, but the only real quibbles I'd have are where it's overly sloppy (e.g. missing facial details) and the fact that the Werewolf Oz looks like a bloke in a bear suit. Doug Petrie's DOUBLE CROSS follows on from GRADUATION DAY, PART 2, as Buffy and Angel go their separate ways. A pretty decent bridge between seasons three and four and a lead-in to ANGEL. The next two stories are both taken from LOVER'S WALK. PUNISH ME WITH KISSES is a fairly enjoyable Tara/Willow story, with some cute (possibly a little too cute in place) art from Chynna Clugston-Major, while ONE SMALL PROMISE is a rather tedious Buffy/Riley piece. Finally, the rarest story here, CITY OF DESPAIR, a crossover story with Buffy and Angel transported to another dimension to fight. It's okay, but rather similar to the ANGEL episode THE RING. The sheer number of stories in this collection means that it was always going to be reasonable value for money. None of the stories are so bad they're unreadable, but there aren't really any stand-outs either. For those without the original Dark Horse releases, this is a sizeable collection, even if the quantity of the stories is more impressive than the quality. BACK TO THE TOP |
THE FOOD CHAIN |
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