Out of the Woodwork

This book was put out in a different format. Mostly story line, but a few pictures. I absolutely loved it, and hope more will be coming. So much better than the comics, where there are just a million pictures of monsters, and almost no story. Glad to see Spike taking a more prominent role. Any story with Spike (or Angel) is worth a look, and this is one of the better ones.

Everyone has a little bug problem or two during the summer. Ants in the kitchen, wasps in the picnic, they are all part of the grand scheme of things. Ancient creatures trying to get on in a world full of Raid-bearing humans. It only figures, though, that if Buffy were going to have an infestation problem they would be larger than life and twice as nasty. Welcome to the summer of Buffy's fourth season.Buffy has already had one confrontation with these bad news bugs during the term. She and Riley barely managed to stop the infestation and they thought they had solved the problem. But, that was then, and this is now. When the ghost of a vagrant killed by a vampire puts Riley into a coma, Buffy is back on her own, and worried to distraction. While she desperately tries to hunt down the cause of the ghosts anger the bugs show up - right in the middle of Giles date with a beautiful librarian. Giles loses and Rebecca the cataloger disappears. Now both Buffy and Giles are at their wits end. Fortunately, the rest of the gang is there to pitch in. Even Spike tries to do his part. Tara and Willow find out that the insects are Urukhai, cheerfully bent on the conquest of the earth. Even as the magical duo start to work on supernatural insecticide, it is obvious that the team is in for a tough struggle. To or three really bad vampires are one thing, but thousands of superbugs the size of Volkswagens is an entirely different challenge.This is the perfect summer graphic comic. Lots of fiend bashing, suspense, and, if you count Giles, even some romance. Fassbender and Pascoe once again turn out a potboiler, and Richards and Pimentel get it down beautifully on glossy paper. Now you can worry about things that go 'chitter' in the night.

Buffy is having increasing difficulty adjusting to her return to the living in the sixth season. No matter how hard she tries, she has been unable to reconnect with her life and friends. During her absence, everyone seems to have developed a completely new set of problems. Giles cannot decide if he is leaving. Xander and Anya are engaged, but do not seem very happy about it. Tara is increasingly distressed about Willow's compulsive quest for increased power. Spike is in love with Buffy and not handling it very well. And Dawn, well, Dawn seems intent on becoming a juvenile delinquent. Nobody seems to have much time for Buffy, except maybe Spike, and he has too much time.Now Dawn has taken up sneaking out at night with her friend Melinda and hanging out at the local rave. This is a tough scene, and the guy Dawn likes best, Skeeter, makes a hobby of drug dealing. This is bad news, since Skeeter is hung up on Velatti the DJ. Velatti has one major flaw, her other night job is drinking blood. The beautiful vampire convinces Skeeter to team up with Parnassus another bloodsucker, with a new drug to sell. This concoction gets its human users high and then turns them into a whole new flavor of vampire intoxicant. Dawn and Melinda, teenagers anxious to be cool are drawn right into the middle of this vampire's version of a meth lab.While Buffy frets about Dawn, and tries to figure out how to get her life back, Willow discovers an ancient volume called 'The Book of Tears.' Unable to control herself, Dawn delves deeply into the book's spells and somehow unleashes a new horror on Sunnydale. Parnassus suddenly finds himself entranced by the Queen of Tears. In return for a promise of the ultimate high, he begins the process of opening a portal to the Queen's dimension. The main ingredient for this is the sacrifice of a virgin. Enter Dawn, once again.With the entire Scooby gang dealing with one kind of addiction or another, Spike turns out to be the hero of this piece. He is the only one who realizes that there seems to be a disaster in the making. Unfortunately, no one wants to listen to him until it is nearly too late. By that time, Dawn has vanished and everyone is clueless.On top of the show, we have Buffy comics, graphic novels, plain novels and now, illustrated novels. One has to admire the determination of the BTVS marketing folks for continually finding something new for Buffy's fans. Brian Horton and Paul Lee have combined forces to provide some excellent color and ink work. This makes up a bit for a novel that reads a bit too much like a comic book. Fassbender and Pascoe are good with snappy dialog, but they lack the skill of someone like Chris Golden when it comes to making an entire novel hang together. Still, it's good reading, but not to die for.

This is an an intriguing, well written Buffy novella by the soon to be former creative team of the Buffy comic book.There's a new vamp in town, and he's got a plan to get the ultimate blood high. add to this the undercurrents of subplot from the jsut-finished sxith season of the tv show, and this is an enjoyable quick read. FYI: There is also a sequel to this story: issue #46 of the ongoing Buffy comic series.