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[Note -- this is my first read of the comics. I'm not re-reading them. I know I'm behind everyone else. But I despised the last five issues of Season 8 Comics, and the first six issues of the Season 9 comics. So gave up. Then accidentally hit upon some excellent panels from Season 10, and thought okay, will give them a second shot. So word to the wise, if you want to read these? Skip Season 9 Vol. 1 Freefall, Season 9 Vol. 3 - Guarded, the Last Six Comics of S8, and go from there. Also grab the last two volumes of Angel & Faith S10 -- which are a great character back-study of Giles, and also provide much fodder for the Angel/Spike and Spike/Faith relationships. Since Angel doesn't evolve at all in the comics, he remains the least interesting character in them. I get why they did that, but, it's a tired trope and the writers really need to shake the character up a bit.]
Review of Buffy Season 10 Comics.
With a few weak spots here and there, these are by far the best comics of the series. They do a marvelous job of building two key relationships, Dawn and Xander, and Spike and Buffy. Also a rather good job of continuing to evolve Giles, Andrew, and Willow. Andrew FINALLY is established as gay.
We also get some closure with Jonathan and Anya.
The weak spots are mostly in regards to art. Meghan does a good job with pretty much everyone but Spike, who has the same nose as my Dad. I found this odd. And her art is heavier lined, more cartoonish in character and not quite as smooth as Rebecca Isaacs. I wish Rebecca could have done all of it. I agree with Whedon that changing artists can be jarring.
Xander -- if you are a Xander fan this season is a must. His character is by far the most developed that it has been in the series. And the writers have apparently infused his character with some of Nick Brendan's actual issues. Various issues delve into Xander's anger management issues -- and how his issues with anger have caused problems in his relationships. He also spends a lot of time discussing these issues with Anya's Ghost (which admittedly got repetitive after a bit), and Spike.
The Xander/Spike scenes are by far the best.
Spike -- for the most part is well-utilized in this season. While he spends most of his time with Buffy, working out their issues and building their relationship, we do get bits with Harmony, Xander, and Dawn.
[Also Angel, who makes an appearance, and would be a heck of a lot more interesting if the character had evolved. The writer's justification is that Angel is immortal and his status really hasn't changed all the much. He's either cursed with a soul, or not. I actually think one of the weaknesses here is that the Angel character can't evolve or change -- for both the television series and the comics. I think something major has to happen to motivate Angel to do something -- instead of letting forces around him manipulate him, or manipulating those around him to appease those forces and obtain their approval. He's also so self-centered, he honestly sees everyone's behavior as a reflection of his own, and is somewhat deluded regarding his own. Shame he can't see his own reflection.Anyhow, he's barely in it, and his purposes seems to be to shake up Willow, Buffy and Spike a bit.]
The writers do a marvelous job of building Spike/Buffy as a relationship here -- they address what happened in Season 6 and 7 pretty much in depth between the two characters. Along with all of their issues and the fans issues regarding them. Finally we get a discussion of both the BDSM sexual relationship and the attempted sexual assault. It's well-handled. Kudos. We also have Buffy address with Spike her prior involvements with Angel and Riley and why neither worked. Along with Spike addressing his with Harmony and Drusilla -- and why they didn't work, and how bad he felt about Harmony. (Although Harmony doesn't care -- being a soulless vampire, she's moved on to using Clem like a whipping dog.)
Buffy -- is also well-done. It really delves into Buffy taking responsibility for her role in the verse, as the holder of the magic book. Also responsibility for her inter-personal relationships, instead of just running away from them.
Dawn -- the powers of the key are finally explored. And Dawn is given a chance to grow up a bit more.
The plot is okay, it gets a little convoluted in places -- and the main villain appears to be D'Hoffryn, which is an interesting choice. The most frightening villain is the Soul Glutton, who also appears to be a social commentary on well vegetarianism? There's a lot of social commentary in here, although not as blatant as in the previous series.
Overall, a good read. I highly recommend.
I skipped Angel&Faith, mainly because I'm not interested in any of the characters. It's not worth the money. These cost between nothing (if you can borrow) to $16.99. The Angel & Faith are pricier actually.
Review of Buffy Season 10 Comics.
With a few weak spots here and there, these are by far the best comics of the series. They do a marvelous job of building two key relationships, Dawn and Xander, and Spike and Buffy. Also a rather good job of continuing to evolve Giles, Andrew, and Willow. Andrew FINALLY is established as gay.
We also get some closure with Jonathan and Anya.
The weak spots are mostly in regards to art. Meghan does a good job with pretty much everyone but Spike, who has the same nose as my Dad. I found this odd. And her art is heavier lined, more cartoonish in character and not quite as smooth as Rebecca Isaacs. I wish Rebecca could have done all of it. I agree with Whedon that changing artists can be jarring.
Xander -- if you are a Xander fan this season is a must. His character is by far the most developed that it has been in the series. And the writers have apparently infused his character with some of Nick Brendan's actual issues. Various issues delve into Xander's anger management issues -- and how his issues with anger have caused problems in his relationships. He also spends a lot of time discussing these issues with Anya's Ghost (which admittedly got repetitive after a bit), and Spike.
The Xander/Spike scenes are by far the best.
Spike -- for the most part is well-utilized in this season. While he spends most of his time with Buffy, working out their issues and building their relationship, we do get bits with Harmony, Xander, and Dawn.
[Also Angel, who makes an appearance, and would be a heck of a lot more interesting if the character had evolved. The writer's justification is that Angel is immortal and his status really hasn't changed all the much. He's either cursed with a soul, or not. I actually think one of the weaknesses here is that the Angel character can't evolve or change -- for both the television series and the comics. I think something major has to happen to motivate Angel to do something -- instead of letting forces around him manipulate him, or manipulating those around him to appease those forces and obtain their approval. He's also so self-centered, he honestly sees everyone's behavior as a reflection of his own, and is somewhat deluded regarding his own. Shame he can't see his own reflection.Anyhow, he's barely in it, and his purposes seems to be to shake up Willow, Buffy and Spike a bit.]
The writers do a marvelous job of building Spike/Buffy as a relationship here -- they address what happened in Season 6 and 7 pretty much in depth between the two characters. Along with all of their issues and the fans issues regarding them. Finally we get a discussion of both the BDSM sexual relationship and the attempted sexual assault. It's well-handled. Kudos. We also have Buffy address with Spike her prior involvements with Angel and Riley and why neither worked. Along with Spike addressing his with Harmony and Drusilla -- and why they didn't work, and how bad he felt about Harmony. (Although Harmony doesn't care -- being a soulless vampire, she's moved on to using Clem like a whipping dog.)
Buffy -- is also well-done. It really delves into Buffy taking responsibility for her role in the verse, as the holder of the magic book. Also responsibility for her inter-personal relationships, instead of just running away from them.
Dawn -- the powers of the key are finally explored. And Dawn is given a chance to grow up a bit more.
The plot is okay, it gets a little convoluted in places -- and the main villain appears to be D'Hoffryn, which is an interesting choice. The most frightening villain is the Soul Glutton, who also appears to be a social commentary on well vegetarianism? There's a lot of social commentary in here, although not as blatant as in the previous series.
Overall, a good read. I highly recommend.
I skipped Angel&Faith, mainly because I'm not interested in any of the characters. It's not worth the money. These cost between nothing (if you can borrow) to $16.99. The Angel & Faith are pricier actually.