GothamGal on: Keen Fashion Sense, or the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus

GothamGal is a devoted comic fan. Reading comics from an early age (TinTin, Archie, Katie Keene and much more), she has recently revisited her old interest and is branching out into the streets of unread comics and graphic novels! While she favors DC Comics, Marvel is slowly winning her over—but Vertigo, Image and IDW have so many new things to offer, she might just say she’s a comic fan—with no labels. She fights for literature, education and the right for ALL to read comics!

This week, GothamGal tackles a cult classic AND a geek girl-friendly franchise that is popular with geeks of all genders and ages!

I remember seeing the cult classic movie ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ with Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry in the theatre while I was summering with my Grandparents in 1992.  Yes, I realize this makes me *ancient* but I loved the story of a cheerleading-loving California girl who learns the world is bigger than she expected—and there’s VAMPIRES. It was pretty much my life (except for the vampires part). I later heard that there was a show that featured Buffy and while it wasn’t until college that I met some of the more vocal fans, that I realized the show was a big deal. And while I have seen a few episodes, I am woefully behind.

Buffy Summers is your average mall-rat teen cheerleading it-girl, until weird things begin happening in her neck of the woods and she gets accosted by a weird old man who tells her she has powers—that more is expected of her. And then Buffy realizes vampires have infiltrated her school and her town. It’s up to the slayer, Miss Buffy herself, to tackle these odd beasts, as young, strong women have done before her. And then it’s off to Vegas with her ‘boyfriend’ and then a not so relaxing trip to the psych ward. But, if anyone can do this and more it’s Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.

Dark House decided to create a compilation of original Buffy comics, running chronologically throughout the series. It includes ‘All’s Fair’’,’ ‘The Origin 1-3,’ ‘Broken Parts’’,’ ‘Full House,’ ‘Deuces Wild,’ ‘The Big Fold,’ ‘Dawn and Hoopy the Bear’ and ‘Slayer, Interrupted 1-4.’ As a fan of the movie, it was great to fill in a few of the blanks between the movie and the story before episode one. I have only seen a handful of the episodes in the first season, but was able to draw some of my own conclusions (this Omnibus took care of filling in a lot of the blanks).

The Origin part of the omnibus is most like the movie, so I really enjoyed that series. And, additionally I liked Broken Parts, Full House and Deuces Wild because they were in Vegas and there was a bit of a time shift—and included someone from the series (and one of his own) that I was not expecting to see. Also, the Dawn story was also pretty memorable. I am not very familiar with that character, so it was nice to see her in a story all her own.

I think it is awesome the Buffy exists, she’s a stong female character. I also was really happy to see Pike in the Origin and after. Pike was played by Luke Perry in the movie, and I may have really liked him at the time of the movie.

But first and foremost, this is about Buffy and her slaying of the baddies. And she does it well. This is an intriguing concept—brought to readers by anyone else, and it might seem crazy. But Buffy Summers makes Slaying look good.

I read this electronically, because it was a deal of the day and a REALLY great price. I am going to be on pricewatch for other books in the series. I love that Dark Horse makes the omnnibus format available—especially for us newbies.

Are you familiar with Buffy? Share your ‘Buffy’ memories in the comments below.