A New Age, Same Old Issues: Reviewing ‘Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer’ #2
by Scott Redmond
Overview
Take another deep dive into what characters are dealing with as ‘Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer’ #2 continues to flesh out the world it has created. If introspection and self-discovery are your jam then this is an issue that will likely resonate, not so much for fans of vampires and demons and other things that go bump in the night.
Overall
8/10Being a young adult is tough. It’s even tougher when you’re a Slayer, being babysat by an ancient vengeance demon. All those emotions and people doing things that make your life tough are not exactly an easy burden to be carrying alongside the fate of the world itself.
Good thing there’s plenty of room to explore these things in the character-heavy second issue of Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer. We get a bit deeper into this world as delivered by Casey Gilly, Oriol Roig, Nicola Izzo, Gloria Martinelli, and Ed Dukeshire.
If you’re hoping for a lot of slaying and such, this isn’t the issue for that. Gilley spends a lot of time building the world and characters, just like the first issue. Those not as interested in character stuff or lots of exposition probably won’t dig this one that much. I’m one of those who loves those sorts of things but also found it a bit tough at some point.
Not because anything is wrong. In fact, I think Gilly has an awesome handle on these characters and their current world, delving deep into the issues at hand. Where it has issues is that some of the conflict does feel a tiny bit forced. The type that comes out of the trope of people just not talking to one another, and therefore they end up butting heads. In a few cases that works, like with Buffy and Spike, but in others it’s just a bit odd.
Also, I’m still not sure what the central threat or point of the story is quite yet, but maybe I just missed the beats. It’s still work reading and learning about these characters.
Artistically, it’s still a fun story. Roig and Izzo have very naturally whimsical fun styles with an edge of roughness that bleeds through. All the emotions, forced or not, are very clear and precise on the page. A ton happens with characters here and all of it feels unique and personality-filled. Martinelli’s colors shift between darker and vibrant to match the mood of any given sequence. Plenty of weight can be felt through this chosen color palette.
The exposition-heavy nature of the story gives Dukeshire plenty to do here. As usual, it all flows quite well and frames the surrounding artwork in the best way. As much emotion as we see in the artwork is always felt and seen within the lettering. Dukeshire makes sure that every single voice feels authentic and has weight with just a few simple choices.
Buffy The Last Vampire Slayer #2 is now available from BOOM! Studios.
