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‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Willow #5’ – Comic Book Review

Quick recap: With the bloom of Abhainn behind her, Willow is now forced to confront the less-than-savory stuff that’s going on in Abhainn. Too bad, it seems like her crush may be in the center of the whole mess.

Willow learns that part of the point of joining a collective is so that you’re never alone again, but does that unity come at the price of individual choice? Can she convince the other inhabitants of Abhainn to change their approach, or will things get supremely witchy?

Mariko Tamaki ends her run in some surprising ways. It does pay off many earlier threads and alludes to both the place of the witches and Abhainn in the events to come. What is especially enlightening to me is in the maturity that’s displayed by Willow’s approach to conflict. It’s perhaps a very male-centric view that all conflicts must come to a prolonged bloody end. Tamaki’s script flips that, and I can think of no better example of why #StoriesMatter, especially when they bring new perspectives to the table.    

The synergy between Natacha Bustos’ artwork and Eleonora Bruni’s colors results in some really beautiful art. One particular double-page spread pretty much has it all: tension, dynamics, and believable character work, and it actually feels like such a climactic moment! Jodi Wynne’s lettering once again does the heavy lifting in terms of carrying tone and the volume of the events all around.

Overall, Willow #5 brings us up to date to where Willow was before reappearing in the main series. It also adds a deeper layer of complexity to Willow’s relationship with Xander, which I can’t help but think is going to be a key plot point moving forward.   

Creative Team: Mariko Tamaki(writer), Natacha Bustos (artist), Eleonora Bruni (colorist), Jodi Wynne (letterer)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Click here to purchase.

Wenxian Tan, Fanbase Press Contributor

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