Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Season 8

[please be aware that this review will hold spoilers for the end of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series]

BVS, Season 8; Vol. 1: The Long Way Home
Joss Whedon and George Jeanty 136 pages; published 2007

BVS, Season 8; Vol. 2: No Future For You
Brian K. Vaughn, Joss Whedon and George Jeanty 120 pages; published 2008

I visited a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago and came home with a huge back of goodies to watch/read/enjoy. In amongst them all were the first two volumes of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight graphic novels.

This are a sure hit for any Buffy fan. Volume one picks up some months after the end of season seven of the television series: all potential slayers ARE slayers, and are living and training with Buffy in a part-mansion, part-dormitory, part-army/laboratory facility.

This is the same story, just in another medium; even moreso than most novelisations or series-related books, these graphic novels bridge the gap seamlessly. The characters are spot on, the humour perfect. Even in volume two, with Brian K. Vaughn writing, you can see Joss Whedon in every page.

The art work, likewise, is superb. The characters are stylised but recognisable and unique. The colouring finds a balance between the darker palette usually attributed to Buffy and being too dark for the page.

Definitely worth checking out. 4/5

The Texicans

The Texicans Nina Vida 296 pages; published 2007

There’s nothing I hate more than giving up on a book, but I’m afraid this one is going in that pile – made all the worse because it was sent to me by the author.

Nina Vida’s The Texicans is set during the colonisation years of the Texan state. It follows the character of Joseph, a school teacher-come-coloniser, and the group of people he runs into (and seems to collect) as he goes along his way.

I’d like to stress that this was an interesting, well-written book. It was clearly well researched and the characters were real and engaging. While reading the book I did enjoy it, however I didn’t feel the urge to pick it up in the meantime. Because of this it sat on my ‘reading pile’ for well over a month and was starting to slow down the rest of my reading.

My non-completion would not stop me from recommending it to readers of historical fiction.

Graphic series

Runaways [Vol. 1-5] Brian K. Vaughn and Adrian Alphona published 2003-2005

Every teenager, at some point in their lives, thinks their parents are evil. But what if it were true?

Mismatched teenagers Alex, Nico, Karolina, Chase, Gertrude, and Molly dread the yearly reunion of their boring socialite parents. But this dread moves to a whole new level when they see their parents murder a young girl – one not much older than they are.

Thieves, scientists, time travellers, mutants, sorcerers, and aliens, their parents make up “The Pride”, an organisation that runs the dark side of California. A group determined to destroy the world – and their children if necessary. The kids become the Runaways, falsely accused fugitives intent on staying alive and repairing some of the damage their parents have caused.

I flew through the first five volumes of this graphic novel series, and am very eager to get my hands on the rest. I love a good superhero story, but the appeal of this Marvel series is that it’s not really about superheroes at all, nor the villains either. These are real kids (effects of living in the Marvel universe aside) with real issues who are just forced into a bad situation.

I did find the characters a little clichéd at the start of the first volume – the gamer, the goth, the nerd, the jock, etc – but the fact that these characters all have a true personality to go along with it makes the cliché work to the series advantage.

Comic book fans will appreciate the appearance of regular superheroes, major and minor (yes, I did have to make use of my brother’s Marvel Encyclopedia to identify one or two heroes), but for the most part they play their role and move on, in no way overshadowing the main characters.

The illustrating, both pencilling and colouring, was excellent – very Marvel, of course, but a few new touches here and there. A few edition in the later volumes were pencilled by a different artist, giving a slightly different look to the established characters, which I found a little off-putting but not to the detriment of the story.

Overall, a good graphic series aimed at Marvel fans 12-16. An excellent story with nice artwork; plenty of action but not too violent. 4.5/5

Vol. 1 -  Pride and Joy Vol. 2 - Teenage Wasteland
Vol. 3 - The Good Die Young
Vol. 4 – True Believers
Vol. 5 – Escape to New York

Ex astris, scientia

Capture the Flag (Starfleet Academy, #4) John Vornholt
114 pages; published 1994

Starfleet Academy attracted only the best, the smartest, the most ambitious. They were young people who didn’t fear outer space or the unknown. They didn’t fear Romulans or Tholians. They wanted to command starships, space stations, planetary outposts, and have hundreds of people following their orders. Only failure at the Academy could stop them, and each cadet had his own secret fear about that. (1)

I don’t read a great deal of science fiction*, preferring to watch it (though I watch plenty to make up for it). I do, however, have a real fondness of Star Trek fiction. Moreso than any other genre, these are my real comfort reads. The character are already oh-so-well known to me, the world already so real. it’s something I can read for pure, stress-free enjoyment.

So this week, in between lots of naps and rushed assignment completing (fun, fun week) I picked up one that I’d been saving.

This book is part of the Starfleet Academy series (“before they became officers aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise, you favourite characters struggled through the Academy…”) aimed at YA fans of the series. This was focuses on Geordi La Forge during his first year at the Academy. Having travelled the galaxy with his ’fleeter parents, Geordi’s blindness and reliance on his VISOR has never been a problem, but now at the Academy he finds that it separates him from the others, causing him to always be chosen last.

When he wins a game of elimination against the strong, athletic and very arrogant Cadet Jack Petty, La Forge is made a captain in the upcoming round of offworld war games. He picks himself an unusual team – an Andorian, a Tellarite, a Vulcan, and a Saurian – all those who are usually chosen last. They’re not exactly an imposing group, but they intend to do their best. After all, as Geordi sys, that’s the most anyone can ever ask of you.

I was very curious to read these books, interested to see how they would approach the characters for a younger audience – especially considering that, presumably, they are already fans of the show and, as such, would reject too heavy a modification.

In that regard I think Vornholt did a well. Characters, locations and procedures all stayed true to form. I was hoping for a little more of a back story (along the lines of Jeri Taylor’s wonderful treatise on Kathryn Janeway, Mosaics, or the rest of the Voyager senior staff, Pathways), but not being a writer involved in the creation of the show I can understand why this was not the case. I also would have liked to have seen more of Academy life than just Geordi’s gym class, but as this was only one part of a larger series (and not the first part at that), I imagine I can look forward to that in other installments.

If you’re an avid fan of the show(s) who likes to taste all the different avenues this universe has explored then I’d recommend the series. I did enjoy it, and found it a nice change of pace from the action of the mainstream novels. If you’re a non-obsessive fan of show (as if that exists) then I’d maybe just stick with the regular novels. The book did not have a great deal of substance and didn’t reveal anything too exciting about the characters. 3/5

*I’d like to try to change this – anyone got a favourite they’d like to recommend?

Lights... Camera.... Vampires!

Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion
Mark Cotta Vaz
141 pages; published 2008

The mantra of the movie makers was to be faithful to the novel. Meyer, who approved the final screenplay … also saw the advantage of the old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words – long passages of text where Bella describes the beauty of Edward’s face could be summed up in a single shot, for example. “We just took the book into film language,” Hardwicke [the director], explained. “The novel had to go through the condensing machine for a movie; we had to boil it down to its essence…”

Having an obsessed 18 year old “Twilighter” in the house, this book has been sitting around for about a month now and, seeing how I went to see the movie last week, I was finally able to read it.

The book mostly covered the finding the various locations and the actual shooting of the film - though every once in a while an interesting piece of information (such as the mechanics of Edward dinting the truck) or the invention of a Cullen family crest, would find it’s way through.

Interviews with the director and producers were all smoothly integrated into the behind-the-scenes information. However, I would have liked to see more interviews with the cast and Stephenie Meyers if possible. Also, further information on the writer’s translation from the book to movie would have been good.

For the most part, I’d have to say that it’s aimed more at a fan of the movies than a fan of the books (it is, after all, a movie companion). And with it’s beautiful glossy photographs and clean easy layout it’s sure to be a top seller for Christmas. 3/5

Purchase Twilight: The Complete Illustrated Movie Companion here

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