Even though we always endeavour not to spoil there may be unintentional spoilers for season 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7 or 8. It may be worth your while looking at our synopsis of the first season or better still grab a visual copy of Buffy on DVD, or through Netflix etc and have some slaying fun of course from this point I will also add from Dark Horse Comics as well.. If you don’t mind learning a little more of the comings and goings centred around Sunnydale high then read on McDuff.
At the culmination of Season 8 some odd things were afoot in the Buffyverse, thanks to the destruction of the “Seed of Wonder” magic has now been removed from the world. As usual though things are not that simple as beings infused with magic still retain their powers. This means while Buffy remains the Slayer, Willow is now completely lacking of power. This change in the world resets what we know and helps Season 9 to remove some of the larger plots that weighed down Season 8. The back to basics principle serves Buffy very well and some of the stories in this run are much more human in tone. This is led by an abortion storyline that really shook up the media and readers alike, Whedon’s lack of fear in diving into an extremely sensitive area is one of the highlights in the lore of Buffy.
 Image courtesy of Dark Horse | Of course Buffy is still able to handle herself when it comes to dispatching the undead, she does however have a new breed of enemy. Namely Zompires, these new breed of vamps are brought about by the removal of magic from the world. They are a new threat to the world, due to their lack of restraint they are a huge threat to the general population as well as the Slayer. It’s great to see a new enemy to face and the way their formation is brought about shows how well the overall plot is crafted. Buffy seems to be mostly just trying to survive for the majority of the stories whether that be in battles with the undead or just trying to keep to a semi normal life. With this regard she really needs the help of her friends but due to deaths and falling outs the Scooby Gang is not as large as it once was. We do get friends new and old within the season, their interactions with Buffy lead us to a new battle which takes up the largest section of the end of the season. That is not before Buffy has to deal with the realities of being a former student as her loan is due. However the collector is not a normal collection agent as he introduces himself with the phrase
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Much like the previous season this one has multiple arcs and one shot’s that together form the narrative at large. We do get multiple writers throughout the season and all bring their own subtle influences on to the world. This is coupled with more than a few pencillers; the art does feel pretty high throughout the run and some of the covers like the one above by Jo Chen are really something.
The new status quo is set by the end of the season and we can look forward to the continuing Buffyverse growing along these new lines. If we take Season 8 as a bit of a learning curve then this ninth season is the proof that the lesson has been learnt. It felt that bringing Buffy back to more realistic stories (realistic is taken with a pinch of salt), made the narrative have more impact. Season 10 is perfectly set up with more than a few twists in the tail form the ninth, we also have a side running storyline in Angel and Faith add these two together and what you get is a whole heap of Whedonverse goodnes
You can find our review of Buffy Season 10 #1 here
The new status quo is set by the end of the season and we can look forward to the continuing Buffyverse growing along these new lines. If we take Season 8 as a bit of a learning curve then this ninth season is the proof that the lesson has been learnt. It felt that bringing Buffy back to more realistic stories (realistic is taken with a pinch of salt), made the narrative have more impact. Season 10 is perfectly set up with more than a few twists in the tail form the ninth, we also have a side running storyline in Angel and Faith add these two together and what you get is a whole heap of Whedonverse goodnes
You can find our review of Buffy Season 10 #1 here
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