Buffy the Vampire Slayer Vol. 1

This attempt at a comic reboot is full of great nostalgic touches, featuring the beloved characters and high-school setting of early Buffy. But the writers have updated the story with modern touches (and it really is pretty fun to see a modern Sunnydale) and streamlined certain story points (Joyce has a live-in boyfriend, Drucilla is at full health, etc.).

We start with Buffy already paired up with Giles, and the business of revealing her identity to new friends Xander and Willow is dispatched with quickly. And from there, it’s about moving the various pieces into place to get the various narrative arcs rolling.

I really, really want to like this reboot…and I wouldn’t say I don’t like it, but tonally and emotionally, it’s a noticeable departure from the original. Without Joss Weedon’s characteristic dialog and chemistry, the characters and story, even though they contain the same ingredients, are distinctly different. I don’t want to cling to much to the source material, but this incarnation, at least in this first volume, lacks the spark of the original. Essentially, this is an AU Buffy in which the characters and story are flatter and less engaging. But the appeal of nostalgic fan service is hard to deny.