Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
The final episode of the television spectacular Buffy the Vampire Slayer thankfully didn’t see the end of the adventures of the woman who had captivated an entire generation and set a standard that many have tried to emulate but few have actually attained.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
With all the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus editions produced by Dark Horse, one overriding thought comes out of the dark like a stake aimed straight for the undead’s heart, that Series Editor Scott Allie had some incredible talent at his disposal during the long run and the result was arguably the best set of graphic novels and comic books produced, the most superb stories to grace anything outside of the Marvel and D.C. universe and ranked possibly on a par with the classic Watchman series.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Genesis could well be one of those very unique bands that splits opinion in the wider music world and in amongst their own very loyal fans, the before and after brigade. The question always being, are you a Genesis/Gabriel fan or Genesis/Phil Collins acolyte? Unless you are one of those satisfied with all areas of the bands work from the very daring and dark Genesis To Revelation to We Can’t Dance, then the question can be utterly perplexing.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Even when something is not as good as what came before it and it still manages to beat everything else currently doing the rounds that you can lay your hands upon or let your eyes enjoy in a feasting frenzy of art and literature then it only goes to prove that class is so permanent, so enduring then even the least attractive will shine through.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The problem with graphic novels that are tied in to a television series is the sudden jump in character in one of the leads or the dropping in of new individual to the storyline, it can cause havoc. Unlike graphic novels or comic books that were produced first, for example the D.C./Marvel range or the likes of Sin City, Graphic Novels tie ups can leave the dedicated reader somewhat off balance. Not so with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus collections which even though are produced after the initial series of Buffy The Slayer programmes finishes have a wonderful way of keeping everything tidy, in check and thoroughly interesting.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
If the third omnibus edition of Buffy the Vampire Slayer saw the collection of tightly packed stories and incredible artwork come of age then the fourth edition sees arguably Dark Horse’s finest adaptations of a television series or film mature and become everything you could ever want from a collection of artists and script writers.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
With the popularity of Buffy the Vampire Slayer assured, there really should have no question that the equally admired series of graphic novels in collected form would continue.
Volume Three of the omnibus editions though would take the wise-cracking Vampire Slayer from the Californian setting of Sunnydale catch straight up with the television series and make the Slayer part of that recognisable group ‘The Scooby Gang’ and focus on the attention of the growing friendship between Buffy Summers, Xander Harris, Cordelia Chase, the sometimes introverted, sometimes female geek fest but loyal and as brave Willow Rosenberg and her watcher Giles. It is this focus that makes Volume Three such an interesting read and makes the hard work that Dark House put in the previous two volumes even more enjoyable and darkly entertaining.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The great appeal of Buffy The Vampire Slayer was not the manner in which took on the darkness, the evil that surrounded her, the matter of the dead coming back to life and making Sunnydale a literal Hell on Earth, it was that this was a young woman with real problems, real issues that affected so many across the Western world and how she overcame them. If Joss Whedon’s heroine had been a lad, a boy slayer, it’s doubtful that the show would have been as successful, except to those whose interest in the Twilight series is more driven by rampaging hormones that plot lines.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When Sarah Michelle Geller burst onto the television screens in 1997 as Buffy Summers, the reluctant Vampire Slayer who typified a growing confidence in women being given meaty roles, a whole generation of viewers were hooked. In the days before the genre seemed to become over saturated with young girls fighting off the attentions of vampires who wanted to kill them or romance them, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a breath of fresh air in a field that had become tired and almost mundane, so mundane that even comedy pastiches were as tired and anaemic as a Vampire at a N.H.S. transfusion run on the day when nobody is around to give a pint.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Of the three science fiction films of the 1980s in which were successfully captured in graphic novel form, perhaps the one that struck a chord and a sent a distinct chill up the spine the most was The Terminator.