Faith, probably the most prickly of characters and arguably not the greatest of team players has had enough. Willow is using a ton of dark magic to cement her role as the pseudo slayer, a task she under took, initially, with Giles’ blessing to save Buffy’s fragile psyche over wrought with Buffy’s experiences and memories. Now Faith looks to redress the balance by unleashing the biggest secret of all; Buffy IS the Slayer!
Sarah Gailey has kept this book simmering long, possibly too long at times, with the burden of having to drop the secret at some point. Its alright replacing a hero, but we all know that the hero will return. Gailey has balanced Willow’s descent with Buffy’s feeling of failure and all round uselessness well, with the scales tipping with each step they both take. I am surprised that for all the concern that the gang showed Buffy, Gailey has them pretty much oblivious to the risks to Willow. Using Faith as the cathartic characters is a bit of a masterstroke; no-one in the gang were going to pull off the band-aid, and in doing so shows that Faith’s desire to be part of the “cool kids” is ultimately undermined by her own bluntness and direct approach.
For me, a large part of the book is spoiled by the inconsistent art of Hannah Templer. For TV tie-in books to work, the art has to resemble the cast. In this case Templer manages to only succeed with Giles; and this only due to wearing glasses; I am glad that characters use names just so I can keep up with who is who! The magical elements of Willow’s situation are well served throughout, though this is helped by the colouring of Valentina Pinto with an assist from Riccardo Giardina. There is quite a bit of dialogue to work through, as you would expect when dealing with an outing of sorts and the ramifications of such an undertaking. This is well handled by Ed Dukeshire whose font shows an ease on the eye with coloured boxes to help display the different voices within.
It may seem that the end is in sight, now that Buffy is “in the know”, but with Gailey you have a writer who is always looking to extend the story. Having gone eleven issues to get this far, I am pretty sure the climax of the story or how the overall arc affects Buffy and Willow done the line are not going to be resolves in just a couple of issues. This then is great news for fans of this thorough and thoughtful alternative to the regular Buffy-verse.
Writing – 3.5 Stars
Art – 2.5 Stars
Colors – 3.5 Stars
Overall – 3 Stars
Written by; Sarah Gailey
Art by; Hannah Templer
Colors by; Valentina Pinto with Riccardo Giardina
Letters by; Ed Dukeshire
Published by; BOOM! Studios
Author Profile
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I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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