Buffy strikes straight at the heart, but this time not literally.
Creative Staff:
Script: Christos Cage and Nicholas Brendon
Art: Megan Levens
Colors: Dan Jackson
Letters: Richard Starkings and Jimmy Betancourt
What They Say:
“Love Dares You Part Two”
Buffy and the gang struggle with their newfound responsibility—rewriting the rules of magic. Between that and trying to understand the regular ol’ rules of love, things are a little heated for our heroes. But this rock-solid group of friends are still enjoying adulthood in a thriving city (oh, er…except Giles), until a seriously bad, bad guy comes to roost in the most unexpected place.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
I guess this villain isn’t going to stick around too long. With a series title like “Love Dares You,” I guess I should have expected it would be relatively short lived. This arc is about internal demons, specifically the ones you feel in your genitals. I’m talking about sex and Buffy gets straight to the matter of both sex and love tactfully.
Five seasons ago, a soulless Spike almost raped Buffy because he would take what he wanted. It spoke to Spike’s character that he stopped, even being soulless at the time. Spike’s a good dude with his own demons. Buffy’s a good girl, who’s always been a good girl, with her own demons. Through circumstance, they’ve never been able to be with each other except that one time Buffy was invisible.
This time it’s different. Both of them aren’t ready for a relationship, but they may never be. She’s a Slayer, the protector of the world, the chosen one. Yeah, there’s like a few hundred other Slayers out there right now, but Buffy used to be the only one until she died, like, twice. He’s a vampire with a soul that’s lived since the 1700s. She goes after guys like demon possessed Angel and soulless Spike. He goes after terrible women like Drusilla and Harmony. They’ll probably never be suited for anyone but they’ll never know if they never do anything.
And Andrew! He kissed the guy, it was adorable, then Xander ruined it. Fucking Xander. But really, this was Andrew at his absolute peak. He was literally the embodiment of the perfect version of Andrew. But this is the Andrew that lives within the timid nerdy one (though “after” Chris Evans Andrew was still totally nerdy). It shows that you literally only need the confidence to take the leap in order to do it. The only thing holding you back is you.
Poor Giles is stuck playing video games though.
In Summary:
I knew the previous issue of Buffy was only bad because it was a setup. And it wasn’t even bad, it was just mediocre. This issue, however, was fantastic. I can’t believe that these words still resonate from these characters so well and so true after 10 seasons. I remember little Buffy jumping to her doom to save the world at the end of season five. I remember the Spike that sacrificed himself at the end of season seven. And look at them now. They grow up so fast and I love to read it happen.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A
Released By: Dark Horse
Release Date: February 18, 2015
MSRP: $3.50
