Final Girl Support Group

 

Grady Hendrix's latest was really good. Set in 2010, it focuses on a group of "final girls", the last girl left standing after a massacre. Apparently all the slasher films of the 1980s were based on real life events (think "Friday the 13th" and "Halloween" and "Nightmare on Elm Street".). Lynette is one of those girls, and she's paranoid to the millionth degree. She only leaves her apartment to go to the support group and when she goes home it takes her hours because she makes endless, random loops to make sure no one is following her. Andrienne, the final girl from Camp Red Lake, is murdered and it sends Lynette into hyper-paranoid overdrive, convinced someone is out to murder the whole group.

She's actually not wrong. One by one the final girls are targeted and Lynette is desperately trying to keep herself safe while trying to figure out who is after them. There were a lot of really good twists and turns, it was good fun. 

Spike: After the Fall

This is going to be the last Buffy related graphic novel for a while, I swear. Mostly because I don't own any more :)

"Spike: After the Fall" is the story of what happens to Spike immediately after L.A. falls into Hell after the end of season 5 of "Angel". He and Illyria end up together, and he has to keep provoking her so she'll stay Illyria because Fred keeps popping out, and he's afraid Fred will get killed. They move around a lot and as they hide out, find humans who are trying to avoid getting killed. So picture Spike like the Pied Piper, leading along a group of helpless humans (seemed like they were mostly teenagers, too) and being responsible for their safety. Spike is captured by the powerful demon and Lord of Beverly Hills, Non, and tortured. He and Illyria (with help from Connor, who makes a timely appearance) manage to defeat Non and he and Illyria become co-Lords of Beverly Hills and move into Hugh Hefner's mansion. It was fun, although the artwork was a little sketchy. 
 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 2: I Wish; Mike Nichols: A Life; Hollywood Babylon; Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12

 

All right, I skipped "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 10 Volume 2: I Wish" but it finally came in for me so I was able to read it. Dawn no longer wants to live with Xander and Buffy no longer wants to live with her roommates, so the gang gets rid of a ghost in order to score reduced rent in an apartment building. Xander and Spike room together, and Willow, Dawn, and Buffy room together. Giles, the fifty year old former Watcher/Librarian trapped in a teenager's body, somehow gets an apartment all on his own. Didn't he leave Faith all his money? How can he pay for it? 

At any rate. Xander and Spike go out to a bar together to bond over their girl troubles. Xander's still bummed about Dawn not being in love with him anymore (yet?) but Spike is happy with the direction he and Buffy's relationship has taken. They are getting along well and becoming real friends ("You'll never be friends. You'll fight, and you'll shag, and you'll hate each other until it makes you quiver, but you'll never be friends"...). At the bar a couple of ladies pick them up. Turns out they're sirens, and they cast a spell over the boys and take them back to their lair. Luckily they're able to break out of their trap but while they were gone the Vampyr book (the blank book to rewrite the rules of magic) disappears from their apartment. D'uh! The gang heads to the ruins of Sunnydale, where Andrew has taken the book. He wants to try to resurrect Tara for Willow, which is sweet but not terribly bright. Buffy and Spike have a lovely and moving heart to heart while trying to keep Andrew from making a terrible mistake. 

Behold! An actual book! For the first time since May, I finished a non-Buffy related graphic novel! A real book! Why this is the book that broke my book funk I have no idea (I mean, it was well written and interesting, but still). I tried *everything* over the last few months. True crime, mysteries, rereading old favorites. Even Faulkner couldn't break me out of it, and I was starting to get really worried. But here you have it. The life of legendary director Mike Nichols.

The funny thing is that I put this book on hold on a whim. I didn't know much about Nichols, other than the fact that he directed one of my all time favorite movies, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (turns out that was the first movie he directed. He picked a good one to start with!). He had a very interesting life and seems like everyone he worked with really liked him. He won Tony awards for the plays he directed on Broadway, Oscars for his films, Grammys for his albums with Elaine May (look the two of them up on YouTube--hysterical), and Emmys for his TV work. A multi-talented individual to be sure. It was nicely done, I enjoyed it. 

Another real book! Although I use the term "real" loosely (well, and "book"). It was, quite honestly, the worst kind of garbage, but it was entertaining and a quick read. Kenneth Anger dishes all the dirt in Hollywood from the 1920s through the 1960s. Most of it has been disproven by now, but at the time it was all very scandalous. There were a lot of tasteless photos I could have done without. 

And finally, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12", which is the last one. They honestly should have stopped at 11, the ending on that one was good. They just phoned this one in. It was disappointing.

The first half was all about what Giles was doing while Buffy, Willow, and Spike were locked up in the safe zone in season 11. Giles, aged about 16, was at a boarding school, hiding out so he wouldn't get shipped off due to his magic skills. There's a demon in the basement of the school who is sucking out the students' brains -- they're high schoolers, how can you tell? :) 

That was mean. But still. 

Giles ends up falling for a vampire named Roux (cue me screaming at him to go and APOLOGIZE TO BUFFY right this minute for all the grief he gave her over being with Spike in season 7 of the show. Hypocrite). In the end Roux died while helping him kill the demon. 

The second part is a little while later. Giles is magically back to his own age (late forties? early fifties?). And for some reason that was never explained, Buffy and Spike have broken up. 

Fuck you, Joss Whedon. I guess my happiness means NOTHING to you.

Seriously, though, there was no explanation. Just, oh, we aren't together anymore. Why?! Everything was perfect at the end of season 11 and you were so happy and...sigh.

Xander and Dawn have moved to the suburbs and have a little girl they named Joyce after Buffy and Dawn's mom. Buffy is once again upset about how everyone else seems to be moving on with their lives but she's 30 and stuck doing the same old thing she's done since she was 15. I tried to feel sorry for her, because I've been there and I know the feeling, but since I 100% blame her for the Spike breakup it was hard to be too sympathetic. On the plus side, she was very nice to him, and they were sweet to each other when they were around each other. I think that's what made the whole thing that much worse. Well, and Angel's smugness when he found out. Can someone please punch Angel in the face for me? Thanks.

Everyone makes an appearance for this one: Angel and Illyria come back (guess they're a couple now? Okay), Faith, Andrew. The slayer that Buffy went into the future for back in season 8, Maleka, her twin brother absorbed her slayer memories and as a vampire is able to figure out a way to come back in time and kill Buffy and everyone else (honestly, it was all a little confusing and I was so pissed about Spike and Buffy I wasn't really paying close attention). The resolution was super lame. The artwork was lame. The whole damn thing was lame. 

Ironically enough, the best seasons were 10 and 11, and those were the two I didn't buy since they were so expensive. So there's that. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 Volume 2: One Girl in All the World

 

So Season 11 of "Buffy" is only two volumes. The second volume picks up where the first one left off: Buffy, Spike, and Willow are still in the safe zone. The government is offering everyone a deal: if they'll allow their supernatural powers to be drained they can leave. Spike of course can't do that, since it would kill him, but after much discussion Willow and Buffy decide to take the deal. They figure if they can get out they can hopefully think of a way to expose what the government is doing and rescue Spike. Faith (Faith!!) comes back from her posh life in England to help out. She still has her slayer powers, of course, even though Buffy is now just an ordinary girl. Buffy realizes as much as being the Slayer sometimes weighed on her, it's what she was meant to do and misses having her powers (no word on if she misses, you know, actually KILLING VAMPIRES).  

They are able to break into the safe zone facility and shut down the force field keeping all the vampires and demons in, freeing all of them. Buffy and Spike are reunited (Faith to Willow when she sees them kissing: "Still?" Willow: "We're all pleasantly surprised"). Well, as you can imagine, a bunch of half-starved vampires suddenly being freed isn't terrific and they go on a killing spree, basically vindicating everyone who was afraid of them and advocating that they should be locked up. Buffy & Co. figure out the government is using the magic they sucked out of everyone to make hybrid creatures that are part animal (or human) and part magic (think Adam from "Buffy" season 4). The machine the government is secretly building is a satellite that will be able to suck the magic out of everyone on earth, effectively killing all the vampires at once. Again, I see why Buffy wouldn't want this because of Spike, but the rest of them? Not really such a bad thing, right? They find out who the ringleader in the government is and fight her. Willow and Buffy were able to get their own magic back, and Willow does a reverse spell on the scythe to take the Slayer power away from all the other girls in the world and give it all to Buffy, effectively making her the one and only Chosen One again. They defeat the Big Bad, destroy the magic sucking machine, expose the evil plan to the world, and go home. Some of the former slayers show up at Buffy's apartment and ask her to give them their power back, and she does.

I wouldn't have, but clearly Buffy is more forgiving than I am. 

The Scoobies have a lovely barbeque and celebrate and Buffy and Spike are happy together and all's right in my little corner of the world and I have a really bad feeling I should quit reading these comics now before something bad happens.

Because something bad always happens. 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11 Volume 1: The Spread of Their Evil

 

Season 11 of Buffy! Almost done. I'm actually kind of sad about that. Not that there aren't hundreds of comics out there in the Buffyverse, but I've (for the most part) really enjoyed these. 

The artwork was definitely better in this one than some of the previous ones. Or my standards have slipped.

Things are good in Buffy's world. Xander and Dawn are in a good place, Willow is teaching a coven, Giles is getting used to being an adolescent, and Spike and Buffy are happy (I'm not crying, it's just dusty in here). Then one night a Chinese water dragon demon causes a tsunami to hit San Francisco and lots of people are killed. The government pins the blame on supernaturals of all types and regular folks are scared of their powers. At first the government just wants to "register" all the supernatural beings, then they decide to round them up and put them into "safe zones" (basically internment camps). Now here's where things got a bit sticky for me. Buffy is completely against the idea, even though she's technically a VAMPIRE SLAYER. I know Spike isn't evil anymore because he has a soul, but wouldn't she be happy to see the rest of them rounded up and contained so they aren't out killing innocent folks? She makes a speech about how she realizes the world isn't completely black and white, and good for her for finally realizing that (couldn't have figured that out in season 6, hun?), but it still felt super weird to me for her to be arguing for vampires and demons to be allowed to roam wild and free. 

At any rate, Willow as a witch and Spike as a vampire are forced into a safe zone and Buffy insists on going with them, even though Slayers are exempt. As you can imagine, things in the safe zone are not great. They're basically starving the vampires by handing out puny rations. Buffy insists Spike feed off her to keep from starving, and he does, very reluctantly. He doesn't want to weaken her, since she's the Slayer she has a target pinned to her back and obviously he can't be at her side all day long to help protect her (although there are several times where he goes out in the day wearing a hoodie and I'm not going to lie, it's a good look. I'm sorry they never put him in a hoodie on the show). She ends up becoming a guard in order to procure extra rations for him. 

Can I just say how much I love Buffy doing anything and everything to help Spike? It's literally the sweetest thing. There were a lot of sweet moments between them in this volume. 

At any rate, work crews are building something big and Buffy is trying to figure out what, as well as a way to get them all out of the safe zone. 

Angel After the Fall Volumes 3-6

 

"Angel After the Fall Volume 3": everyone is still kung fu fighting (seriously, everyone). Angel has challenged the Lords of Los Angeles, and they all sent champions to fight him. Since he's human, it makes things kind of tricky. I mean, I hate to say "I told you so" (actually, I really don't, it's one of my favorite things to do, but it sounds tacky to say so) but Angel, hun, you *wanted* to be human, remember? I guess you forgot humans are fragile and easily hurt. 

At any rate, Illyria is unstable as all get out, keeps morphing into Fred. Vampire Gunn has been having visions he's convinced are from the Senior Partners, telling him that *he's* actually the vampire from the Shanshu Prophecy, destined to save the world in the Apocalypse and in return earn his humanity back (silly Gunn. We all know the Shanshu is about Spike). Gunn thinks he still has a soul and that he's doing good by murdering humans, it's all part of the master plan. 

"Angel After the Fall Volume 4" is really the conclusion of the storyline. Gunn kills Connor which doesn't go over too well with anyone. Psychic fish Betta George is able to use Wesley and Spike's memories of Fred to bring Illyria down after she becomes her true demon self (I really had no idea Spike liked Fred that much. Not sure how I feel about that). Even though Angel was supposed to battle the champions himself, of course all the Team Angel gang pitched in to help (we know he couldn't have done it without Spike). In the end though Angel realizes he has to die in order to save Los Angeles, and he does. Cordelia appears as an angel to help him let go. Wolfram and Hart are having none of that, so they reset the timeline to just before L.A. went to hell in the alley at the end of "Angel" season five. Angel is able to save Gunn before he turns into a vampire. They win the battle and save L.A., but the L.A. offices of Wolfram and Hart no longer exist. Everyone remembers what happened, though, so now Angel is famous. 

. 

"Angel: Aftermath" was...not great. Or good even. It was very, very stupid. 

First of all, Spike isn't in it, so whatever. 

A shape shifting Jaguar named Dez and an angel trapped on Earth round out the motely crew of misfits. Angel and Kate try to start up Angel Investigations again from scratch but because Angel is famous now it's hard to weed out all the crazies. 

The artwork in this one was truly bad. Everyone looks like they're on steroids. 

"Angel: Last Angel in Hell" was at least amusing, which is more than I can say for "Aftermath". 

Illyria and Gunn take off early in a car on a road trip that is apparently documented in a different series (which I'm not buying). We find out Drusilla is locked in a mental hospital, having visions of the fall of L.A. but no one will listen to her since they think she's delusional. She kills a whole bunch of folks and...escapes? Not really clear on what happened. Maybe she was just dreaming? It was all over the place.

The best bits were when Angel and Spike run into each other at a convention. Hollywood made a movie about Angel (played by someone who greatly resembles Nicholas Cage) and Spike, who is now a hot blonde female and Angel's love interest (it was kind of hysterical). Shades of "Buffy" season two "Halloween" episode when everyone at the convention is turned into their costume. Spike is wearing an Angel costume (long story) and thinks he's Angel, so he starts acting like how Spike thinks Angel would act, which, again, hysterical. The last bit of the book was the actual movie, which was kind of dumb, but realistic in how Hollywood changes everything (not for the better).