Funny Pages Friday – Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8

2007 – 2011, Dark Horse Comics

Okay, I might have a bit of a problem\, but I like Buffy a lot, so naturally I wanted to cover the comic continuation of the story. Season 8 gives us what happened to Buffy and the rest of the Scoobies after the show ended. There are mixed opinions about its quality, but I feel that its good points outweigh its bad. One criticism that I’ve heard is that the plot for the comics is very different from that of the show. I don’t want to spoil anything, so let’s just say that the Buffyverse is a very different place at the end of the series than it was at the beginning. I think that that has a lot to do with the change of pace of the narrative. More than that though, I feel that the advantage that the comics have over the show is that they are not constrained in what they can do by a budget. Big battle sequences and ridiculous adventures that wouldn’t have been possible on TV can be easily done in the comic format. That being said, the comic is not better than the show. It;s more of an extra fix for anyone who wants more Buffy. It’s not the same as watching the series, but I thoroughly enjoy it, and I think that any Whedon fan will as well. Most of the dialogue was written by or in consultation with Joss Whedon, so you still get that sharp witty entertainment. Basically I’d say that if you were or are a fan of the show this is something to definitely check out.

Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer_Season_Eight

Amazon –   http://www.amazon.com/Long-Buffy-Vampire-Slayer-Season/dp/1593078226

TV Tuesday – Buffy the Vampire Slayer

1997-2003 – Created by Joss Whedon

I was planning on holding off on Buffy, but I feel like I’m going to be referencing it so many times that I might as well get it out of the way. And I promise, not every post will be from the Wheonverse (oh if only they could be). There’s not a lot one can’t say about this show. It’s got action, comedy, love triangles, the supernatural. For those who are unfamiliar, BTVS begins with sixteen year old Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, moving from LA to the fictional town of Sunnydale, CA. Sunnydale however, isn’t your ordinary west coast town. Nope, it’s sitting on a Hellmouth, a hub of demonic and otherworldly activity. The show follows Buffy and her friends, the Scooby Gang, as they try and contain all of the evil that’s going on, especially the vampires. I know what some people may be thinking. Oh man, this is just another one of those teen vampire dramas. Wrong! Buffy is about as far away from Twilight as you can possibly get. Buffy is a badass slayer who wouldn’t hesitate to stake Robert Pattinson and then bitch slap Kristen Stewart for being so stupid. Granted, the Buffster has her own romantic entanglements with the undead, but those are some special circumstances that I won’t get in to for fear of spoilers. As far as quality goes, you can’t do much better than Buffy. The plot is excellent, even in the first season. The dialogue is unrivaled (what else do you expect from Whedon). And Willow, played by Alyson Hannigan, and Spike, played by James Marsters, have some of the greatest character arcs I’ve ever seen. On top of that, the show is responsible for inventing a large portion of the television tropes that you see today. There is even an academic journal devoted to the study of Buffy. If you decide to watch it, which I hope you do, whatch out for season four, it gets off track a bit, but stick it out, it’s well worth it.

IMDB –    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118276/

Netflix – http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Buffy_the_Vampire_Slayer/70140365?trkid=2361637

Slayage (the Buffy journal) – http://slayageonline.com/

TV Tropes – http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer?from=Main.BuffyTheVampireSlayer