The Scoobies are in dire need for a Giles.
Creative Staff:
Scripts: Andrew Chambliss
Pencils: Georges Jeanty
Inks: Dexter Vines
Colors: Michelle Madsen
Letters: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
“Welcome to the Team”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is back to doing what she does best: slaying. Though it’s not a normal career path for most, for Buffy, this is normal. Working with the SFPD and Billy, a young man determined to make a difference in the world, Buffy takes on the rampant zompire population. She’s getting used to Willow’s absence, Spike’s absence, and Xander and Dawn’s very normal life. But, really, how long can any of this pass for normal?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The ripples keep flowing out of the pebble Buffy threw into the universe when she destroyed the seed. Dawn’s sick. She’s a being created by magic to protect a key that a being named Glory was trying to get and now that magic is gone from the universe, Dawn can’t sustain herself.
Dowling is in trouble himself, of the human variety. He, Billy, and Buffy tried to take out a zompire nest, with one super powered zompire, but things went south. Illyria, the very same from Angel, poofed Buffy out and Dowling got bit. He’ll live, but for now he’s not in good shape. Things are looking down for the new gang.
Everything comes down to what Buffy did. The seed was everything to the universe and when Willow learned that they need it to co-exist in the universe with everything else, that was no joke. The repercussions are endless and the council, not of Watchers but of this universe, are trying to protect what little mystical energy is left in this world. The only difference this time is Buffy isn’t questioning her actions. She knows what she did was right, but now there are other wrong things that she has to try and fix.
The Siphon, once again, threatens to end the world. He wants to save his girlfriend by going back in time and stop his girlfriend from ever being sired. The repercussions of that could cause a mini apocalypse, in the words of Illyria.
So things are fucked, basically. At least, that the impression right now. But there’s six issues left to make them at least slightly less fucked.
In Summary:
I love the stories that Whedon’s team weaves in Buffy and Andrew Chambliss has been spectacular in season nine. He has a lot to deal with, what with magic being nearly completely gone from this universe. But Illyria’s presence proves that there is still a little magic here. And the Siphon is an unexplained anomaly that needs explaining. But what I do know is that what happens next is only going to raise the stakes for everything. Not just the universe, yet again, but for Buffy. Her dad’s absentee, her mom’s dead, and Dawn’s all she has left of her family. She’s not losing that too.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Released By: Dark Horse
Release Dates:
Issue #16: December 12, 2012
Issue #17: January 9, 2013
Issue #18: February 13, 2013
Issue #19: March 13, 2013
