Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
Even when something is not as good as what came before it and it still manages to beat everything else currently doing the rounds that you can lay your hands upon or let your eyes enjoy in a feasting frenzy of art and literature then it only goes to prove that class is so permanent, so enduring then even the least attractive will shine through.
Such is the case with the sixth Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus. As the television series was going through the mid life crisis that invariably hits every successful programme that has a large percentage of certain age group watching it then the graphic novels that accompany it will probably go through the same change and perhaps dip in fortunes. Unlike many programmes though Buffy the Vampire Slayer managed to get through the sticky period between the end of series 4 and the start of series six and as with the programmes, the graphic novel found its self partly magnificent and at other times staring down the wrong end a wooden stake held by a blonde girl with attitude and quick witted one liners.
Whilst it is easy to overlook stories such as City of Despair, Jonathan-Codename: Comrades and One Small Promise for their lack of warmth and even charisma, Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski’s Past Lives, Amber Benson and Christopher Golden’s Wannablessedbe and Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe’s False Memories which sees the reintroduction of Buffy’s (false) sister Dawn really stand out as great pieces of writing in which are among the finest to grace the entire series. The reason perhaps is that the three stories shine a very large light on the much needed outsider. The ones that can bind a group together without being in the room or part of the close knit community; the ones that events bring to other’s attention and who in the end remain outside the wall but are able to guard it from others peering in. Such is the fate of Angel/Alexa Landra in Past Lives, Tara in Wannablessedbe and Dawn and Spike in the ultimate story of the omnibus False Memories.
It is the re-introduction of Dawn in the final story that perhaps the entire dynamic of the story line, both in the television series and graphic novel adaptations that is the most interesting. Angel for his part had already managed to cross over into his own successful series and set of comics but Dawn had been part of the original story line in graphic novel only. The false memories that warp around her take the vampire hunting/demon killing gang down a route that was both refreshing and original. It reanimated the series, it made the distinction between twilight and full daylight that little bit more palpable and interesting. If the introduction of Tara as Willow the Witch’s girlfriend was ahead of its time in terms of television imposed sexual boundaries, then Dawn was the shot in the arm needed to keep Buffy the Vampire Slayer going till its own natural conclusion and killed off before its time.
Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe skilfully reflect that change with their story and in an omnibus that was reflecting the times on screen, makes it for all the better reading. Whilst not up to the mark of Volume 4 and 5 it was still a cut above anything else that was allegedly making waves at the time.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume 6 is available to purchase from Worlds Apart on Lime Street, Liverpool.
Ian D. Hall