The Twilight Mexican
Ex-SeeD-ingly good
- AKA
- TresDias
Well, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season Twelve: The Reckoning" #4 came out yesterday. This will be the last Buffy comic published by Dark Horse, and Joss Whedon (who co-authored these last four issues) has indicated it could very well be the final installment in the Buffy continuity we've known since 1997. There is an impending franchise reboot after all.
How was "The Reckoning" as an end for one of the most beloved series of my youth and adulthood? In some ways, awesome.
It really casts a satisfyingly wide net on characters from across the mythos, and made good on my longstanding hope of one day seeing the actual events of the climactic demon battle of the 21st century, the foreboding existence of which was brought to our attention in the first issue of the "Fray" limited series from 2001.
Otherwise, though, it's pretty much what you've come to expect from the Buffy comics. If you love them, you'll love this. If you find them kind of middling, that's how you'll feel about this too.
It does take a couple of extra steps to feel more like an ending than some of the previous comic season finales, but is largely indistinguishable from them in a sense of finality. That's probably purposely done here, though. If any mood has ever defined Buffy finales (on TV or on the comics page), it's "life goes on." That's absolutely the case here as well -- it just has one or two more bows on it this time.
The illustrations, if you concern yourself with such things by the way, are about par for the course for this series as well. That is to say, the cover art is gorgeous, then what's inside is quite messy, Georges Jeanty having returned to illustrate this finale after previously pencilling all of Buffy's Season Eight and Season Nine (not including the covers), as well as some of Season Eleven.
This negative review of his work is a subjective assessment, though, of course. Some comic readers really dig Jeanty's style (Joss Whedon even requested him specifically when Season Eight was going into production); I'm just not one of them, unfortunately.
Let me be clear: I certainly don't mean to imply that "Reckoning" is bad. It's not. Absolutely not.
It's a solid "fine" with some standout character moments in its writing, even if not its illustration. Overall, though, it's just fine, and I think most of us who are diehard fans expect more than that for the last "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" story.
If you're not a diehard BtVS fan, you can probably skip this. If you are, give it a go, even if you haven't read the previous comics.
It's actually pretty accessible to people who haven't picked up any of the comics, though I might recommend reading the eight-issue "Fray" limited series first, if you've not already. You'll know who everyone else is just from the TV series, and those personal developments in the characters' statuses you've not seen yet from over the past four comic seasons will probably amuse more than frustrate you when you learn about them.
If nothing else, I guarantee you'll have to at least feel five by five at the end. How many other Buffy finales have you gone into with that promise?
How was "The Reckoning" as an end for one of the most beloved series of my youth and adulthood? In some ways, awesome.
It really casts a satisfyingly wide net on characters from across the mythos, and made good on my longstanding hope of one day seeing the actual events of the climactic demon battle of the 21st century, the foreboding existence of which was brought to our attention in the first issue of the "Fray" limited series from 2001.
Otherwise, though, it's pretty much what you've come to expect from the Buffy comics. If you love them, you'll love this. If you find them kind of middling, that's how you'll feel about this too.
It does take a couple of extra steps to feel more like an ending than some of the previous comic season finales, but is largely indistinguishable from them in a sense of finality. That's probably purposely done here, though. If any mood has ever defined Buffy finales (on TV or on the comics page), it's "life goes on." That's absolutely the case here as well -- it just has one or two more bows on it this time.
The illustrations, if you concern yourself with such things by the way, are about par for the course for this series as well. That is to say, the cover art is gorgeous, then what's inside is quite messy, Georges Jeanty having returned to illustrate this finale after previously pencilling all of Buffy's Season Eight and Season Nine (not including the covers), as well as some of Season Eleven.
This negative review of his work is a subjective assessment, though, of course. Some comic readers really dig Jeanty's style (Joss Whedon even requested him specifically when Season Eight was going into production); I'm just not one of them, unfortunately.
Let me be clear: I certainly don't mean to imply that "Reckoning" is bad. It's not. Absolutely not.
It's a solid "fine" with some standout character moments in its writing, even if not its illustration. Overall, though, it's just fine, and I think most of us who are diehard fans expect more than that for the last "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" story.
If you're not a diehard BtVS fan, you can probably skip this. If you are, give it a go, even if you haven't read the previous comics.
It's actually pretty accessible to people who haven't picked up any of the comics, though I might recommend reading the eight-issue "Fray" limited series first, if you've not already. You'll know who everyone else is just from the TV series, and those personal developments in the characters' statuses you've not seen yet from over the past four comic seasons will probably amuse more than frustrate you when you learn about them.
If nothing else, I guarantee you'll have to at least feel five by five at the end. How many other Buffy finales have you gone into with that promise?
