Buffy the Vampire Slayer: the Dust Waltz<\/a><\/b>) before debuting in a monthly series.<\/p>\nShe quickly became a major draw for publisher Dark Horse – whose line of licensed comicbook successes included Star Wars<\/b>, Indiana Jones<\/b>, Aliens<\/b> and Predator<\/b> – and her exploits were substantially supplemented by a profusion of short stories in the company’s showcase anthology Dark Horse Presents<\/b> and other venues.<\/p>\n
Scripted primarily by Andi Watson, this particular UK Titan Books edition – with depiction and delineation from Cliff Richards & Joe Pimentel – features stories set during TV Season 3 and re-presents issues #17-19 (January through March 2000), as well as a delicious and timely morsel first seen in Dark Horse Presents <\/b>#141, March 1999.<\/b><\/p>\n
Check your facts here<\/b>: Buffy Summers<\/i> was a gormless charm-free cheerleaderValley Girl until the night when she inexplicably turned into a hyper-strong, impossibly durable monster-killer.<\/p>\n
After being stalked by a creepy old coot from a secret society of Watchers<\/i> she discovered that she was the most recent recipient of a millennial mystic curse which transformed mortal maids into living death-machines to all things undead arcane or uncanny: a Slayer<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Moving with her mom to typical California hamlet Sunnydale, Buffy then learned her new hometown was located on the edge of an eldritch gateway known to the unhallowed as The Hellmouth<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Enrolling at Sunnydale High<\/i> Buffy made some friends and, schooled by new Watcher Rupert Giles<\/i>, conducted a never-ending war on devils, demons and every shade of predatory supernatural species inexorably drawn to the area\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
This slim supernal compilation at last concludes ‘Bad Blood’<\/i> – an extended storyline which pitted the daring, darling \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Scooby Gang\u00e2\u20ac\u009d against ambitious, narcissistic psycho-killer vampire Selke<\/i> and her new breed of modified demonic thralls.<\/p>\n
When vain Selke’s face was ruined in battle she naturally sought out a plastic surgeon. Dr. Flitter<\/i> took up her cause, restoring and improving the vampire with the promise of immortality as his oft-postponed reward.<\/p>\n
However, since scientific procedures didn’t work, he resorted to magic and his researches found a way to turn vampire blood into a super-steroid for Selke and her chosen brood. Now she and her newly-minted children of the night hunt not only humans for food, but other vampires to provide the raw ingredients of the Bad Blood serum\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
Despite a rather full dance card, however, Selke cannot forget what Buffy did and is increasingly obsessed with making the Slayer suffer\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
Selke’s \u00c3\u00bcber-vamps are also making much mischief, and Buffy and recently restored undead lover Angel<\/i> are finding them almost impossible to destroy\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
As a nocturnal civil war breaks out between Selke’s squad and the town’s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153normal\u00e2\u20ac\u009d vampires, Selke urges Flitter to use the blood to make a Slayer antipersonnel weapon – a sorcerous clone designed to hunt down and slaughter the original\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
The saga picks up in ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’<\/i> as Willow<\/i>, Cordelia<\/i>, Oz<\/i>, Xander<\/i> and Buffy are forced to join in school-type activities by building a float for an upcoming parade. Angel, meanwhile, has captured one of Selke’s new ‘Roid Rage Vamps and started obtaining answers in a manner most un-heroic\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
On the midnight streets, Buffy is ambushed by her mystic clone and, after a blistering battle, loses. Elsewhere Selke, unaware that a new faction has sabotaged her modified blood supply, gorges herself on the foul brew\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
After disposing of Buffy’s body down a handy manhole, the doppelganger attempts to infiltrate the Scooby Gang, but although she has the Slayer’s memories, her attitudes are seriously skewed. For instance, her knowledge of fashion rivals Cordie’s\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
Tensions rise in ‘She’s No Lady’<\/i> as the clone starts to degrade. Born of Bad Blood, she casts no reflection and can’t see her face, but once she notices the flesh of her shoulder coming off she heads straight back to Doc Flitter\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
The cosmetic alchemist has already discovered that someone has adulterated his buckets of blood and Selke is completely out of control when the clone arrives, leaking from many lesions.<\/p>\n
None of them are aware that under Sunnydale Buffy is slowly recuperating, assisted by a shambling earlier prototype previously discarded by Flitter.<\/p>\n
As Angel sneaks in and destroys the reservoir of augmented blood, the raging, oblivious Selke orders the duplicate to fetch Buffy’s body and prove she’s dead\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
The gory carnival of chaos concludes in ‘Old Friend’<\/i> as the clone confronts the Slayer and her earlier incarnation in the sewers, whilst above ground Willow and Giles examine \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Buffy’s\u00e2\u20ac\u009d blood on a discarded parade costume and uncover the awful truth\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
When Selke sees the decimation wrought by Angel, she goes berserk, body rapidly mutating into monstrosity, just as the long-awaited procession begins through Sunnydale. Her depredations are interrupted by the battered but victorious Buffy who spectacularly destroys Selke and ends the Bad Blood menace forever.<\/p>\n
However in the shadows, deadly demon lovers Spike<\/i> and Drusilla<\/i> fade from sight, taking their new toy Dr. Flitter with them\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
Supplemented by the usual wealth of photos and covers by Jeff Matsuda, John Sibal, Randy Green & Andy Owens, this chronicle also includes ‘Killing Time’<\/i> – a short adventure by Doug Petrie, Richards and Pimentel wherein three sulky Goth girls manifest chronal ravager Ragginor<\/i> and the Slayer has to defeat the demon before all time ends\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n
Here is another superbly accessible magical fight-fest – even for those unfamiliar with the vast backstory: a creepy chronicle of short stirring sagas as easily enjoyed by the most callow neophyte as by any dedicated devotee.
\nBuffy the Vampire Slayer \u00e2\u201e\u00a2 & \u00c2\u00a9 2000 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Andi Watson, Doug Petrie, Cliff Richards & Joe Pimentel (Dark Horse\/Titan Books) ISBN: 978-1-84023-236-6 Having conquered television, Buffy the Vampire Slayer began a similar crusade with the far harder to please comicbook audiences. Launched in 1998 and offering smart, sassy tales to accompany the funny, action-packed and mega-cool onscreen entertainment, the series began in … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Pale Reflections”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[80,171,66,123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adaptations","category-buffy","category-horror-stories","category-tv-adaptations"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-2Pt","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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