Fans of the classic goth TV series Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its comic book adaptation will get a special treat Wednesday courtesy of Boom! Studios through the company’s new one-off issue of the comic book. Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Lost Summer #1 is scheduled for release Wednesday. The special single-issue story will appeal to its targeted audiences in large part through its featured story, which will be discussed shortly. The dialogue used throughout the story adds its own touch to the presentation and will be discussed a little later. The artwork that went into the special issue is also of importance to the overall importance and will also be discussed later. Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of this new issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. All things considered they make it a fun new presentation from Boom! Studios that all of the franchise’s fans will find engaging and entertaining for one reason or another.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Lost Summer #1 is a presentation that is sure to engage and entertain any of the franchise’s fans, including those of its TV and print iterations alike. The success of this special one-off issue comes in large part through its story, which finds Buffy, Spike, Giles and the rest on the road to find a book of poems that Spike had crafted more than a century ago. As the story reveals Spike thought in his previous identity in the 1800s, he had read poems from the journal to an audience that ultimately laughed him off stage. He thought he had done away with the journal following the humiliation, but as it turned out, he had not done so. He discovers that it is in the possession of some people with a televised antiques show and convinces Buffy and company to help him get to Louisiana to retrieve the journal, only he does not tell everyone the full truth at first. His confession plays later into the bigger picture of the issue’s dialogue. While that is the primary story, it is actually told through the words of Dawn, as she presents her summer vacation to her classmates in the issue’s opening page, and Dawn’s place in the story actually plays into the issue’s secondary story, which will appeal to plenty of the franchise’s female fans.
The story involving Dawn also brings in Buffy and other members of the group as it is revealed they are so caught up trying to help Spike that they forget about her. As a result, she ends up making a wish after the group takes some photos that at first causes some problems for the group, making them look like vampires, but ultimately helps them in their bigger quest to locate Spike’s journal, interestingly enough. Dawn admits that her wish was not meant to harm the group at all, and as a result she is actually rewarded, to a point, for her honesty. She learns in the end that in the end, all a person really has is friends and family. It is a lesson that is certain to resonate, again, with the franchise’s female audiences.
The final resolution involving Spike’s journal will be left for audiences to discover for themselves. It will not be quite what audiences expected, either. Overall, the story featured in this one-off issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer forms a solid foundation for the issue.
Building on that foundation is the dialogue used throughout the issue. From the noted softer moments to more lighthearted moments and even a slightly more serious moment, the dialogue used throughout offers just as much engagement and entertainment as the story. One of the most notable moments in which the dialogue shines comes early as Spike asks Willow for help searching online for the journal. He asks Willow if the “overgrown calculator” could answer a question for him, to which she responds, “After what you left in my search history last time? Absolutely not.” This is a very small moment but makes for plenty if laughs through its simplicity. One can’t help but wonder what Spike must have been searching for, considering Willow’s response. This brief exchange before he convinces Willow to let him look for the journal (originally lying about it, calling it an evil book) is certain to put a smile on plenty of readers’ faces.
Another great lighthearted moment comes as the group is on its road trip. Giles is eating an outdated burrito of sorts as he is driving. He has no clue that the meal is out of date as he tries to act like he knows better than everyone. When he is reminded that here in the United States, the month is used first in dates and the day second, he responds in a classic moment of comic shock, saying sheepishly, “So 7/8 means…Oh good God” before the group has to make a stop at a roadside bathroom for him. He manages to get to the bathroom to do who knows what (which makes for its own comic relief), and as a result, Spike takes the wheel. Again, this is a brief moment, but so lighthearted and welcome.
Later, as Spike confesses that he had not been fully up front with his friends about the journal, the way in which he confesses shows a rare vulnerability from him. He berates himself, calling his work, “the most pathetic things I ever felt all in one place”. He reveals he is nervous that whoever gets his or her hands on the work, that person “will have a good laugh.” That vulnerability from Spike is something fans rarely saw from him on screen and have rarely seen in print, too. So seeing this side of him here makes him an even more sympathetic character for longtime fans. The fact that his friends embrace him instead of making fun of him in his confession heartens the moment even more, making this climactic moment of sorts all the more engaging for readers. Between this key moment, the others discussed here and plenty of others, what audiences get throughout the course of this special issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is plenty of dialogue that will engage and entertain audiences just as much as the issue’s story.
The story and dialogue used throughout collectively do plenty to make the story progress and do so well. They are only part of what makes the issue worth reading, too. The artwork that is used in the issue is of its own note. The sort of rough look to the issue in regard to its art is interesting. It is not that clean, spit-shined look of so many comic books’ art. There is something organic in its look, for lack of better wording. Though the main cover art does have a slight cartoony look, which is fun in its own right.
Along with the general look of the art, the color balance in each frame also plays into the bigger picture of the art. Case in point is the scene in which Buffy and Spike are watching TV early in the issue. The use of the shadows on the couple’s faces, the contrast of the light from the TV against the apparently otherwise darkened room, and even subtle shading on the couch makes that scene stand on its own merits. In another moment, as the group embarks on its road trip, the use of the lines against the car and the colors does just as well to make the car’s motion clear. There is something about this scene that is so comic book-esque, but it works so well.
There are plenty of other moments throughout the issue that show what makes the art in general work so well here. Readers have plenty from which to choose as examples. From one scene to the next the art offers plenty of its own appeal alongside the story and dialogue, putting the finishing touch to the presentation. When it is considered along with all of that already examined content, the whole makes this issue overall such a welcome presentation for any fan of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and its print counterpart.
Boom! Studios’ forthcoming issue of its Buffy The Vampire comic book series is a successful one-off presentation from the bigger, overall franchise. That is proven in part through its story, which finds Buffy, Spike, and their friends on a summer road trip to find a journal containing poems composed more than a century prior. Along the way, there are plenty of jokes, wild experiences (as the map in the issue reveals), and even an important lesson about family and friends. The overall story has so much heart that it is certain to appeal to a wide range of readers. The dialogue that is used throughout the story builds on the strong base formed by the story. It is simple dialogue that will move readers to laughter at times, smiles at others, and even deeper emotion at other times. The overall dialogue adds to that heart in the story, making for even more engagement and entertainment. The artwork exhibited throughout the issue puts the finishing touch to the whole, between the general design look and the color balances. It gives the book its own identity from other issues of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and other books from Boom! Studios (and other studios). When it is considered along with the rest of the issue’s content, the whole becomes a work that the franchise’s established audiences will enjoy reading and that serves as its own positive jumping on point for newer readers.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Lost Summer #1 is scheduled for release Wednesday. More information on this and other titles from Boom! Studios is available at:
Website: https://boom-studios.com
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