By Doug Petrie & Ryan Sook (Dark Horse/Titan Books)
ISBN: 978-1-84023-200-5
A hunger to be frightened is printed on our genes and courses through our surging blood. Psycho-killers, ravening monsters, unsuspected epidemics, funfair rides, overdue bills and a host of other things – daft and not – all trigger our visceral, panicky fright, fight or flight response and thus always feature highly in our mass entertainments.
These days however the slow-building tension and cerebral suspense of the printed genre has been largely overtaken and superseded by the shock-values and sudden kinetic surprise action of both small and big screens with the entire oeuvre also doused in a hot sauce of teen alienation, unrequited love and uncontrollable hormones – all making for a heady (if often uncomplicated and flavourless) brew.
That transition was very much the result of a landmark American TV show and assorted media spin-offs which refocused the zeitgeist. However Dark Horse Comics’ clever, witty graphic interpretation of the cult global mega-hit TV franchise Buffy the Vampire Slayer is what interests me most, so here’s another look at the still-active illustrated narrative iteration to revel in and reel over.
Once the company secured the strip licensing rights, they began producing an engaging regular series, a welter of impressive original Graphic Novels, numerous miniseries, spin-offs and specials. Moreover, long after the beloved TV show finally died, from 2007 onward comics delivered creator Joss Whedon’s un-produced continuity-canonical Season Eight and beyond to the faithful fans and followers.
In case you’re young or just terminally clueless: Buffy Summers was a run of the fashion mill bimbo-ised Californian Valley Girl and hip teen cheerleader until she suddenly metamorphosed overnight into a monster-killer: latest inheritor of a mystic, unpredictable genetic lottery which transformed mortal maids into human killing machines historically known as Slayers.
After moving to the small Californian hamlet of Sunnydale – secretly situated on the edge of a mystic portal The Hellmouth – she and a close band of friends battled devils and demons and every sort of horror inexorably drawn to the area and all of whom, what and which considered humanity a snack and our world an eldritch “fixer-upper†opportunity…
Scripted by prominent screenwriter and producer Doug Petrie (in his time a writer, director and co-executive producer on the Buffy show) and sublimely illustrated by Ryan Sook, Ring of Fire was released in 2000 as a slim, full-colour, all-original graphic novel which firmly established the artist as a major comics talent.
I’m concentrating here on the Titan Books British edition and – if you’re asking – the tale is set during TV Season 2 (which ran from Autumn 1997 to Spring 1998) when Buffy’s mysterious vampire boyfriend Angel had reverted to a soulless slaughterer of innocents.
His latest victim was High School computer teacher Jenny Calendar, who moonlighted as a gypsy witch and practising technopagan. She was also the one true love of Buffy’s mentor Rupert Giles, a Watcher of the venerable cult tasked with training and assisting Slayers in their anti-arcane endeavours.…
The suspense unfolds one dark and stormy night twelve miles off the coast in ‘The Rising’ as a Japanese cargo ship transporting ancient Samurai armour weathers staggering waves and a visit from a ghastly vampiric horror calling himself “Angelusâ€â€¦
The 500-year-old war suit once belonged to warrior demon Kelgor, who tied his power to it and raised an army of undead killers in 16th century Japan.
Now all Angelus and his less-than-willing allies Spike and Drusilla need to bring on the necromantic End of the World designated “The Ring of Fire†is the corpse of Kelgor himself (hidden by Watchers half a millennium ago) – and they’re expecting the Slayer to find that for them…
Cool vampire villain and über-predator Spike eventually became a love-interest and even a moodily tarnished white knight, but at the time of this collection he was still a blood-hungry, immortal immoral jaded psychopath – every girl’s dream date – even though he was severely wounded and confined to a wheelchair. His eternal paramour was Drusilla: a scarily demented precognitive vampire who originally made him an immortal bloodsucker. She thrived on new decadent thrills and revelled in baroque and outré bloodletting…
With Giles all but paralysed by grief, “Scooby-Gang†stalwarts, Willow, Xander and Oz are left to search the reference files for information. As their painstaking study bears dark fruit Giles is ambushed by Angel and Dru at Jenny’s grave. Buffy is there to rescue him, but that just gives Spike the opportunity to follow the merely human vampire hunters and activate the Samurai’s blazing revival spell…
Rushing to their side Buffy manages to (mostly) destroy the freshly resurrected Kelgor, but as she pursues the Slayer is arrested by Federal spooks who know exactly who and what she is…
Frustrated but not thwarted the vicious vampire trio are at each others throats until Dru realises that there is still a little life in Kelgor’s remains. Moreover, the demon is offering to share his centuries old back-up plan with them.
Hidden with the scattered remains of ‘The Seven Samurai’ graves throughout the state is the secret of true resurrection, and if they gather the contents of those hidden toms, all their wicked wishes can still come true…
Meanwhile, locked in a covert police detention centre Buffy faces exposure to the world and worst yet, her mother…
Giles is gone: fallen far off the deep end and reverted to his old, manic persona of “Ripperâ€, but that’s not a bad thing since he knows the people who arrested Buffy aren’t government agents… or even people.
However before he can get to her, back-up Slayer Kendra busts her imprisoned predecessor out.
(When Buffy once briefly died the next Slayer was activated, and even though the Blonde Bombshell was subsequently revived, Kendra, once here, wasn’t going away…)
The manic action ramps into high gear as the Japanese hell-lord is finally fully reconstituted and forms an alliance with Dru, leaving Angel and Spike twisting in the wind even as the “Feds†are exposed as opportunistic demons trying to secure the resurrection spell for themselves in ‘Kelgor Unbound’.
They are ultimately frustrated in that diabolical dream as Ripper has taken off with it, crazily hellbent on bringing back his Jenny…
…And across town Buffy, Kendra and the gang are too late to stop the final ritual. Dru and Kelgor exultantly awaken a colossal flame-breathing devil bird to expedite their conquest of humanity and, forced into a tempestuous alliance with Angel and Spike, the vastly overmatched Buffy and Co need more magic than Willow can conjure.
They need Giles back or the world is lost…
Visually engaging, sharply scripted and proceeding at a breakneck rollercoaster pace, this smart and furious action-fest perfectly captures the brittle, intoxicating spirit of the TV series and remains an easily accessible romp even if you’re not familiar with the vast backstory: a creepy chronicle and torrid thriller as easily enjoyed by the most callow neophyte as by any dedicated devotee, and this compulsive chronicle also includes a quirky introduction by author Petrie and a fascinating sketchbook/commentary section by editor Scott Allie, liberally illustrated with production art and preliminary designs from Ryan Sook.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer ™ & © 2000 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.