Comic Review: Buffy The Vampire Slayer #7

Buffy The Vampire Slayer #7

BOOM! Studios

Writer: Jordie Bellaire

Artists: David López & Raúl Angulo

 

Some of you might remember what happened last time I reviewed a Buffy comic, a couple of months back. Issue 5, left me distraught and empty inside. My review (link) reflected those feelings. I confess, at the time, I really feared for this comic run. Everything from the writing to the art directing fell to pieces in that 5th issue. However, I wasn’t going to let one unfavorable issue ruin the revival of Buffy for me. I picked up #6 with apprehension but found it much improved. I breathed a sigh of relief. Now that issue 7 is in my hands, I can honestly say I think (hope) issue 5 was nothing more than an unfortunate hiccup due, perhaps, to a change of artist. So what does #7 offer up here? Let’s dive in.

Issue 6 left readers on something of a cliff-hanger. It’s only fitting that the next issue deals with the immediate consequences of prior events. IN holding with the Buffy tradition of creating character-specific episodes, #7 highlights the emotional trauma Willow has taken on when she saved Xander. As so commonly was the case in the Buffy tv show, the supernatural swirling about in this issue can be easily interpreted as a metaphor for real-life problems. The story asks the question: after giving a part of yourself up (physically, mentally, spiritual) for the savior of a friend/loved one, what consequences do you face?

As stated, this is, by and large, a Willow issue. Buffy, herself, doesn’t even make an appearance. I would be disappointed if Willow’s conundrum and internal conflict hadn’t been so wonderfully executed. The writing has fully recovered from what seemed to be something of a downturn in the last two issues, and both the captioned narration was well as the spoken dialogue throughout feels concretely Willow’s voice. The pace of this installment also feels balanced in terms of the action, dialogue, and forward movement through time, which is dictated by Willow, herself.

While I still miss Dan Mora’s work on the first 4 issues of this run, David Lopez has grown into the characters over the last couple of issues. There is more consistency in character-concept overall, as well as the improved facial expression on a panel-by-panel basis. Speaking of panels, those too have improved in quality in terms of creatively laid out pages. This is especially true in the dream sequence and the two-page spread, which is truly beautiful. One note and I don’t know whether this is a positive or negative, but David Lopez’s artistic style is decidedly more rounded than that of Dan Mora’s. I mean this literally. There are just more thick, round lines in Lopez’s renderings. It’s a distinct change, but I’m learning, that it’s also an apt one.