For months now, Buffy
and the gang have been dealing with superpowered vampires and slayer dopplegangers.
Selke’s finally coming out of hiding, but Buffy’s not quite up to speed
to deal with her. A massive conclusion to the nine-part "Bad Blood" story!
Double Cross
Written by: Doug Petrie
Pencilled by: Jason Minor
Inked by: Curtis Arnold
Cover by: J. Scott Campbell
At the end of season three,
Angel left Sunnydale without looking back, and without saying good-bye
to Buffy. This story takes up directly from the season finale, following
Angel as he heads to L.A., and Buffy prepares for her life without him
in Sunnydale. They earned a lot of enemies together, and now that they're
apart, those forces are closing in. But the connection Buffy and Angel
had was closer than anyone knew, and those who thought to take advantage
of their separation are in for a surprise. Series writer Doug Petrie takes
a crack at his first full-length Buffy comic, and it's a doozy. Exploring
in-depth the events in last season's finale, and topping it all off is
a cover by J. Scott Campbell.
Olwen says:
Art: 4/5 ~ Well drawn fight scenes, good use of
color and the panels have a very even flow,
following the parallel storylines is no trouble.
Personally, I felt Buffy and Angel's faces could
have been better rendered.
Cover: 3.5/5 ~ Cute, very cute. It's like the
whole show in a microcosm, done in almost a
caricature style. But has nothing to do with the
storyline. One of the few cases where the photo
cover is more appropo.
Story: 4/5 ~ A stand-alone, taking place directly
after Angel leaves Buffy in the aftermath of
Graduation. A demonic force that seems to feed
on despair attacks them separately, but at the
moment of death their spirits are joined and find
strength to survive in one another. Doug Petrie
as writer gets all the lines perfect (as well he
should) and the story on the whole gives some
sense of closure to the Mayor's Ascension
storyline.
Buffy #21
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The Blood of Carthage: Part I
Written by: Christopher
Golden
Pencilled by: Cliff Richards
& Chynna Clugston-Major
Inked by: Joe Pimentel
Cover by: Jeff Matsuda
Buffy #21 kicks off the
five-part Blood of Carthage story arc. In a town like Sunnydale, you can
bet the local "boogeyman" legend ain't just hot air. But killing it is
a LOT more trouble than it's worth.
Olwen says:
Art: 4/5 ~ At first I had a problem with the
rendering of Buffy's face, it just didn't look
right. But it sort of grew on me, and by the end
I liked it fine! There are some flashbacks to
Willow and Xander's childhood adventures, and
they are great, colors are brighter (as memories
often are), and the faces are done in a cute
anime style that I really enjoyed!
Cover: 4.5/5 ~ Very good, especially the use of a
blurring mist in the foreground; it adds a
three-dimensional look to the picture.
Story: 4.5/5 ~ It's the beginning of another
story-arc, The Blood of Carthage, and this one
looks excellent. With Christopher Golden as the
writer, all the characters are right on the mark.
The plot seems simple, but the careful
foreshadowing reveals lots of nuances; and it is
nice to see our guys finally going on to college!
