Buffy The Vampire Slayer

"Stake to the Heart" Part II

Writer : Fabien Nicieza Artists : Cliff Richards(p), Will Conrad(i), Michelle Madsen(c), Brian Horton(c) Publisher : Dark Horse

Series continuity and characterization drive the well-honed point home in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Fabien Nicieza opens the book with a contradiction—Buffy doing well in school—that sets the tone for Buffy’s battles against the Heironymous Bosch styled demon known as guilt.

Buffy did actually graduate high school. So in at least some classes she should have passed. Here the creative initiative that a teacher saw in her before a giant preying mantis saw a meal in him guards the Slayer.

Her would-be flesh and blood guardians face their own problems. Mr. Nicieza manipulates Joyce into being swallowed whole by guilt, and her own denial of the outré elements that so obviously plague her daughter can be easily employed to explain her blindness to the demon or her vanishing daughter Dawn—a clever nod to Dawn’s sudden existence.

Angel while trying to help first unleashed these demons. He seems determined to put things right, but Whistler makes a surprising visit that will resonate through Angel’s eternal life.

The story shows Buffy’s striking ability to adapt to any situation and better allows the reader to see how she became one of the more feared Slayers. Mr. Nicieza further uses the Slayer death-wish in an interesting way for the finale, and distinguishes Buffy as the Slayer who most wanted to live.