Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

While it's neat to see people - Angel, Pike, Joyce, Dawn, Giles and Wesley to name a few - before Buffy hit Sunnydale high, I found that I missed the usual gang - Xander, Willow, Cordelia and all all the rest - more than I liked seeing the before.  One of the things that made Buffy work so well was those around her, and it's not that she doesn't work on her own - she doesn't work as well. 

At least not for me, not in comparison to the Sunnydale - and post Sunnydale - Buffy.   That being said, this was really a mixed bag.   It had things working for it - characters were in character, I really liked the Hoopy storyline in particular, and the art tended to be amazing.   (A mixed bag leaning more towards amazing.)

The Spike and Dru story was the weakest of the three written in my opinion, and they got rid of Ryan Sook - the cover artist, and interior artist for the previous Spike and Dru stories - and I vaguely recall that maybe it was because one actor didn't like the way Sook drew.   The problem is that he had a very particular style - very much like MIgnola, but not quite the same - and it was moody and shady and it fit Spike and Dru perfectly.   In comparison, this tries to nail the actors' likenesses and instead doesn't give me quite the sense and style of the characters. 

By the way, it was an actor - James Marsters - and it wasn't quite what I thought it was.   He thought they looked feral and ugly; I thought there was a deep beauty to Sook's work, but that, yes, it was supposed to be feral.   It was a story about villains, vampires, and soulless beings and I always thought Sook nailed that aspect of these stories.   (By the way, you can read more about what Joss Whedon thought - he loved Sook's work - here.  It's all about Marsters, Whedon, and Sook and what went down.   I'm glad it wasn't just Marsters ego, but more of a concern for the feel of the comic.)  I go on and on about this because I read these stories when they came out and I was deeply disappointed in Eric Powell's take on Spike and Dru.   This probably took one star off it all; I'm still deeply disappointed, and I long for Sook's sleeker, stylistic take on these two.   Damn, he did them justice. 

The origin is supposedly based on Whedon's original script and not what the movie was turned into, but it wasn't different enough to make a difference.   It felt like the movie, which was a paler shade of what the series became.   One half star off for this, and one half off for the lack of the Sunnydale crew. 

Cliff Richards, who draws all the Buffy regular storylines - Hoopy and Slayer, Interrupted - was the standout artist.   He manages to balance actors' likenesses and a smooth style that allows for action, drama, and comedy.   Just perfect!   I absolutely love him.    

The writing is all decent, but particularly in the regular series gets Buffy's patter down, although it's all pre-Sunnydale.  She gains a lot of confidence when she befriends Xander and Willow - and later on others - and starts seriously being taught what being a Slayer is about.   So while this doesn't feel like Buffy during, or after, Sunnydale, it very much feels like Buffy on her way to becoming that girl and young woman.   

Overall, a nice collection, but not my first choice for a reread of a Buffy graphic novel.