Buffy the Vampire Slayer finished after 7 seasons. Joss Whedon then created a comic book that would serve as a series 8. This has now been transformed into a motion comic. An amazingly pointless exercise that has yet to be done in a half decent way.
I’m a fan of Buffy and of comics but I was not interested in the comic book series. Buffy went on for, probably, four series too long. If after series 3 it had ended, we would have had a wonderful trilogy of a Slayer’s time in high school. Series 4 was a let down, Series 5 was particularly poor, and the last two were nothing more than OK. Angel’s spin off show went from strength to strength while Buffy just got thinner and thinner both in terms of plot and physically (Sarah Michelle Gellar was worryingly thin). So I really had abandoned the Slayer way before the show came to a close, so the comic provided little interest.
The little interest I did have vanished the moment I started watching this shamelessly poor product. The comic itself may have been half-decent but this “moving” version is simply appalling. We see panels and the characters slightly move in the direction they are facing, or, in action sequences, they are poorly cut and pasted in different positions. The comic is an amazing format, art and writing coming together. It doesn’t allow for as much imagination as say a book but we are meant to link the gaps. It plays in our head how one panel has moved to another and one’s imagination is far more powerful than the attempts of the technicians on this. We also have to fill in gaps in action, making our own thrilling sequences using the panels provided. The action in this is very poor. Aside from looking terrible this “series” also sounds it. The voice acting (no original cast members’ return) is simply dreadful. No emotion or energy. It sends you to sleep.
But what about the story? Well it is certainly on a larger scale than the television series ever was but it is somewhat silly. It completely lost me when Warren, the main villain of series 6, makes a return despite having died. One of my major problems with the Buffy universe is that death is almost meaningless. So many characters die and come back: Angel, Spike, Darla, and Buffy… Twice! Why should we be frightened or even care when there is always the possibility that the characters will come back. Maybe after writing Alien Resurrection Joss Whedon felt liberated from the barrier of what one can do with characters that have died.
If you’re a fan of Buffy and want to see how it continues then buy the comic, but don’t buy this poorly made piece of crap that was made for people who can’t be bothered to read speech bubbles.
Rating: 1/5
