Fresh Out of the Oven: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8″ #26
by Honk Mahfah on Jul.28, 2009, under Comics, Whedonverse
With “Retreat, Part 1,” Buffy the Vampire Slayer enters what promises to be a major new story arc for season eight.
This issue was written by Jane Espenson, who somehow — between her gigs on Dollhouse and Caprica – managed to squeeze in some time to return to her old Slayerverse stomping grounds. Espenson, of course, is an excellent writer, and she doesn’t disappoint in this issue, which is crisp and epic and all the good things we tend to hope for from the Buffy comics.
In other words, after several slightly disappointing issues, #26 is a return to form for the series.
The issue opens with Willow transporting Buffy the the secret slayer stronghold by having them both in animal guise: Willow as a seagull carrying Buffy as a fish. It’s a humorous image, but it also gets at what promises to be a key point of this story arc: Willow’s dangerous relapse into the overuse of magic. The image of Willow clutching Buffy in her talons is funny, yes … but it’s also ominous.
One of the happier story developments is the reunion of the whole team, including Faith and Giles rejoining the main slayer group (for the first time in season eight, if my memory serves me). This leads to Buffy confiding in Giles her fears over Willow’s impending fall back to the dark side, and that’s a good, welcome scene; the Buffy/Giles relationship is one of the most important in the series, and it’s never quite the same without it being present.
There is a cool battle sequence involving, amongst other things, tanks, and it culminates in the slayers having to abandon their hideout and go on the run … which they do via sumbarine.
The comic ends with the submarine being magically transported to a Buddhist temple, where we meet — wait for it! — Oz.
Yep, that’s right, Especnson has the good sense to bring Oz back into the story. Of course, I wouldn’t know it was Oz if the letters column didn’t clue me in; that’s one problem with comics, they sometimes think that artwork which only sorta looks like the original character will be immediately recognizeable. Me, I wouldn’t put too much stock in that assumption.
