Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8

Title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8

Publisher: Dark Horse

Review/Summary: Yes, BtVS: Season 8 is a little cheesy. Yes, it makes a person wish they had the show back. But, yes, comic-book form can also take the series to places it couldn't have gone on television (special effects are expensive!). Tweens today might not know Buffy as well as girls in my generation. She's not on TV anymore. She is, however, on DVD and offered as instant-watch on Netflix. I can only hope that tween girls are watching Rory Gilmore and Buffy Summers on DVD as frequently as I did. Buffy has always been a fantastic role model, in my opinion. She does the annoying thing where she whines about her lack of normalcy, and her desire for a "normal life" (just like Claire on Heroes). But she understands that as long as she's not normal, she has to embrace her role as defender of the world. Buffy's a small girl with a big punch; someone who speaks her mind; someone who stands up for the underdog; someone who sacrifices her own interests to protect her friends and to protect strangers (remember prom?).

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: season 8 continues where the show left off. Buffy isn't the only slayer anymore, and she isn't stuck in Sunnydale. What happens when there are hundreds of slayers who can fight evil anywhere in the world? The comic-book series does its best to answer that question. Sometimes the stories are funny, sometimes sad, sometimes exciting, and sometimes a little over-the-top cheesy (Dawn is a centaur? Really?). But for girls who can't get enough of the show, or prefer to read instead of watch, I'd recommend BtVS season 8.