Buffy and Willow search for a cure for Xander’s vampirism, but may have caused a whole new set of problems.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer 6
Written by Jordie Bellaire
Pencils and Inks by David Lopez
Colors by Raul Angulo
Six issues in to this re-Vamp and and there are so many deviations from the classic TV series. Despite all the differences, it all feels comfortable and familiar. This may be a series updated for a new generation, but make no mistake, this is Buffy. Everything about the story Jordie Bellaire is telling could have been part of Joss Whedon’s original Buffy-verse.
Buffy’s relationships with Willow and Xander are still in the formative stage, but they’ve been through a lot together in a short amount of time. We can believe in how attached they are to each other, not because that’s the way things were back in the late-1990s, but because Bellaire established a bond between them. And even though it’s being tested early, the connection between these three are so strong that Buffy and Willow would go confront a weird snake lady to try and help Xander after he gave in to temptation and allowed Drusilla to turn him into a vampire.
Their quest gives us more questions than answers. Why does the snake lady continue to assume there’s one more person in the deep underground cave? What does she mean about Willow having a soul big enough for two? And just what is up with Robin Wood, who hunts Buffy and Willow down underground, helping them out before he gets a text from “The Council” asking him if he’s in?
The little teases that permeate throughout the issue will no doubt be answered somewhere down the line. There were probably enough clues to create a couple of years worth of stories.
While there were a lot of great moments in the sixth issue, but my favorite was the conversation between Watcher Rupert Giles and Jenny Calendar. When he gets called out on being too hard on Buffy, Giles tells Calendar she’s wrong, and ensures her that Buffy is so much stronger than even she knows.
It’s a touching moment from Giles that was all the more poignant because I could hear Anthony Stewart Head’s voice giving the speech.
Every issue so far has been a guaranteed can’t-miss as Bellaire and company builds a completely new world around Sunnydale. There’s no reason for any fan of the Buffy TV show to not be picking up this series.