Buffy the Vampire Slayer # 1: High School is Hell… Again

The first thing I want to comment on is the art. The art is very nice and is some of the best I have seen in a Buffy comic in a long while. Dan Mora does a good likeness of most of the characters from the show. You can tell Xander is Xander and Willow is Willow. Also, Mora draws action well. Overall, I am very excited about the art of this series. The covers catch the eye as well. There are multiple variants.

As for writing, Bellaire manages to capture the voices of the characters. Buffy is very much what I remember of teenage Buffy. Giles and Xander seem familiar as well. They are how you would expect them to be. There are a few surprises though. Willow, for example, is very different than her early incarnation in the television show.

This version of Willow is more confident. She seems to own her geekiness. She doesn’t wear the ugly pink sweaters and act mousy. Willow, in the new series, is also already out. These changes made sense to me. Being well versed in computers is not considered as nerdy now, and it is in fact considered a marketable and necessary skill. Also, being LGBT is becoming more accepted even though there is still work to be done. This iteration of Willow is more self-aware and sure of herself, at a younger age. Willow shows an interest in Wicca, but does not appear to be a witch yet.

Another difference in this version is Anya. She has already appeared and owns the Magic Shop. So I am curious if she is a bit older than the others now. So far, I am not sure if she is an ex-demon, as they have not delved into her origin yet. Another character that has changed is Drusilla. She seems to be the big bad. She also seems to be less crazy on first impression. Drusilla, in the show, was often having visions and not fully engaged in reality. From the little we have seen of her,  she seems to have a firmer grip on reality.

The way that Buffy meets Willow and Xander is similar to the series, but seems more rushed and less genuine. They seem to just automatically become friends. Of course, the writer was probably just trying to shorthand that and get to the good stuff. It’s a given that Buffy is going to be friends with Willow and Xander.