Another month passes, another new issue of Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 11 hits comics shops everywhere, and with it brings another opportunity for the brilliant creative team of writer Christos Gage and artist Rebekah Isaacs to flex their storytelling “muscles” and add another fantastic chapter to the Buffy mythos.
SPOILERS BELOW
Buffy: Season 11 #8 opens with Buffy and Willow leaving the supernatural internment camp they’ve been in for the last few weeks and navigating the challenging process of reintegrating into the “normal” world. The country has changed while Buffy and Willow were in the camp, including constant drone surveillance, emboldened bigots, and more, all on top of their adjustment to having recently had their supernatural abilities removed by the government as part of the requirements of their release. While our heroines struggle to deal with day-to-day life on the outside, they haven’t forgotten about Spike who is still a permanent resident of the camp and unable to leave. It’s not long before the whole team is working together on a plan to rescue their vampire buddy with the help of some old friends.
At one point during this issue, Willow comments to a fellow internment releasee that, “It really is two different worlds, isn’t it?” Gage’s script feels like it’s channeling the current tone of the country, a trend that this gifted writer has been maintaining since the first issue of Buffy: Season 11. There’s an undeniable weight and feeling of despair that Buffy and Willow carry with them after their release that, I’m sure, will feel all too familiar to many readers. Much of this burden they bear seems to come from not only what they’ve lost in the supernatural sense, but what’s been lost through the normalization of the hateful and fearful actions being taken against those in the supernatural community under the government’s (and some of the public’s) full endorsement. Having spent time in the camp, Willow and Buffy are more aware than most how different these two “worlds” operate, and while the abusive nature of their custody certainly had an effect on them, this issue makes it clear that it’s the apathy of the average citizen that really is the most shocking, most depressing, and, unfortunately, most realistic. That said, as any good Buffy fan would expect, Gage doesn’t write either Buffy or Willow as pushovers who are revealed to be nothing without their powers or give up when things look grim. (Buffy even kicks some ass sans super strength.). But, the tone of their plight certainly reminds me of deeply determined (and deeply wounded) individuals in my own life who dread each day’s headlines, yet bravely keep making phone calls, keep marching for the cause, and keep fighting the good fight.
Isaacs’ artwork in this issue is absolutely phenomenal, and her skills really shine in the incredibly powerful moment when Buffy unleashes her repressed anger on a violent bigot who harasses a former-Wiccan and then attacks the former-slayer. While she does take a hit or two, Buffy’s years of training and experience are enough to give her the edge. Losing herself in the inner rage she’s been bottling up, she nearly beats the man to death before stopping to notice the large amount of human blood on her hands. Emotionally crumbling while cowering behind a tree, Buffy’s fear and hate of this world she currently lives in are unquestionably clear. Furthermore, her disgust at what this world has forced her to become is even more palpable. This entire scene, one of the standout scenes of the entire season, is all done – for the most part – sans dialogue. It’s a true testament to Isaacs’ talent as a visual storyteller.
Miscellaneous Notes:
– That MMA meathead full on clocks Buffy and, boy, does it look like that punch hurt! As an audience, we’re so used to Buffy’s ability to dish out violence that it’s quite shocking to see her in a scenario where it’s not a powerful, ancient demon or an especially ripped vampire who terrifies our hero, but simply an angry, hateful human being. It might be “outside of the box” to see the Slayer threatened by an aggressive and toxic human male, but maybe it’s worth taking a moment between panels to reflect on how often this situation occurs in our own world with far more tragic results.
– As one of the three total Riley fans out there (Just kidding… I know there are five of us.), I really enjoyed seeing army boy and his wife Sam pop back up. In addition to really enjoying Sam’s snarky reply to Xander’s labeling her as “wife of Riley,” it was an interesting complexity to have the two governments operatives reveal that “there are a lot more people who agree” with them in the chain of command. It’s a subtle and interesting parallel in a country where our intelligence agencies, forestry service, and other government organizations and officials seem at odds with the the goals and methods of the current leadership.
– It’s an absolute dream to have Faith back in thetoy box for Gage and Isaacs, and the “slayer revolutionary” thing she’s got going on fits her very well. It seems like Buffy and Faith have reached a certain place of understanding at this point, and it’ll be interesting to see what this fan-favorite character will bring to the eleventh season of Buffy.
– It’s a lop-sided slayer face-off in the next issue! This could get brutal really fast.
FINAL VERDICT: Every issue of Buffy: Season 11 has been absolutely stellar, and this issue is no different. With over half of the series released so far, Gage and Isaacs are shaping up for a “flawless victory” with Buffy: Season 11. If you’re a Buffy fan who isn’t reading Season 11, do yourself a solid and catch up on this series.
Buffy: Season 11 #8 hit shelves on Wednesday, June 21, so get out to your local comic book retailer and pick up a copy!
That’s all for now, my fellow comic book sniffers.
‘Till the end of the world,
-Bryant the Comic Book Slayer
@ComicBookSlayer
