Buffy, The Vampire Slayer - The Collected Comics

The Remaining Sunlight Uninvited Guests Ring Of Fire Bad Blood Crash Test Demons Pale Reflections The Final Cut (from the Supernatural Defence Kit) Angel - The Hollower (Not reviewed here The Dust Waltz, The Origin) Published by Titan Books Out Now, £8.99 each Supernatural Defence Kit around £20 Buy from Amazon

Now up to about nine Buffys and one Angel comic, this comic series gives fans of The Chosen One a chance to keep things ticking over nicely while they wait for the next series' to start. They also make a good port of call for RPGers looking around for a few story ideas for their campaigns, Buffy-style or otherwise.

So far as the stories go, this is a reasonable series. There are some weaker stories (Uninvited Guests is particularly bad, and The Final Cut is a bit silly), but the books settle down once you get into the Selke story ark (The Remaining Sunlight, Bad Blood, Crash Test Demons, and Pale Reflections). There are various one-offs dropped in here and there, some of which are quite fun, with MacGuffins (part of The Remaining Sunlight) an especial favourite that deserves to become part of any horror campaign.

Interestingly, the very best of the Buffy books, both in art and writing terms, is a single story. Ring of Fire is set during the time when Angel went a little mental after exchanging body fluids with Buffy. The art by Ryan Sook, nicely coloured by Dave Stewart, is very tasty, and the plot and dialogue are cracking - perfect Buffy stuff! The story Angel - The Hollower is a close second, with an excellent script let down by terrible art and colouring.

Continuity to the series varies. The weakest part of Ring of Fire sees Angels mansion getting torched rather severely by the fire bird helper of an ancient daemon. There are other little inconsistencies here and there, but fans of the show really won't mind. Other folks likely won't even notice.

This is a general review of the comic series as a whole. So far, I've been reasonable impressed. My big, big, big complaint is that the vampires are coloured in green, unless they are Angel, Spike or Drusila. I cannot understand why this is done, and it really does distract. Shame really.

The Buffy comics get an over-all 7.5/10. Without the green vamps and the dud that is Uninvited Guests, the mark would have been higher.

Review by Iain Lowson