The major comic companies put out enough comics that sometimes it can leave your head spinning and eyes bleeding as you search the new titles each week for something worth reading. To aid in your Geeky endeavors, Speak Geeky To Me on occasion reviews new titles from the major companies to spotlight the best and worst of what’s available at your local comic shop. So sit back, relax, and enjoy a new Comic Review.

 

The Info Bit

Title: Buffy Season 9 #8

Genre/s: Vampire/Comedy/Dram

Writers: Andrew Chambliss (Dollhouse) & Scott Allie (Star Wars: Jedi-The Dark Side)

Penciler: Cliff Richards (Dollhouse, Flashpoint: Hal Jordan)

Inker: Andy Owens (Green Arrow, Trinity)

Colorist: Michelle Madsen (Batman: Gotham After Midnight)

Publisher: Dark Horse

Page Count: 22

Price: $2.99

 

The Review Bit

 

            After the surprising conclusion to Buffy #7, that left our protagonist armless and a little more cyborg-y than we’re used to, issue #8 was bound to be interesting. Of course, the part that makes this issue truly interesting is that it is Andrew heavy issue. Andrew Wells, for those of you Buffy readers that are a little less familiar, is the fun loving gay Geek who first appeared in season 6 of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series (a little before that lovely musical episode). Being a true Geek, the scenes involving Andrew are packed to death with awesome little Geek references and a whole ton of Star Trek jokes. There is even a great nod to the comic series’ executive producer, Joss Whedon, as at one point Andrew blatantly holds up an Avengers T-shirt in this Dark Horse comic book.

As we might expect with any robo-Buffy moment, Andrew is of course involved. Spike and Buffy interrogate him and we finally get the background of what Buffy did that drunken night back in issue #1 of season 9. Surprisingly this issue is packed with a lot of implied female nudity, which is both ironic and hilarious in an issue focusing so heavily on an obviously (but as of yet un-closeted) gay character. So any fans dying to see what the naked back of Buffy or a few other females in this comic series might look like…this is $3 you simply must spend.

As always with Dark Horse’s Buffy comics, the spirit of the show continues on here to perfection, as editor Scott Allie runs a tight ship with high standards for the loving, if not obsessive, fans of the show and characters. Most of this team actually worked together on Dark Horse’s Dollhouse comic series in fact. And though Georges Jeanty is not handling the pencils on this storyline, Cliff Richards (who will be the penciler for the upcoming Drusilla mini-series) does a brilliant job making the change over very smooth. I might go so far as to say that Cliff Richards is doing a better job that Jeanty did. Buffy #8 is just part 1 of the new C:\>apart (of_me) storyline, but it’s certainly a brilliant start.

 

The Rating Bit

Pandering so beautifully to the Geek fans of the series, with its countless little references and jokes, as well as really returning the supporting cast to the series, Buffy #8 is a truly fun read. Throw in a little bit of implied nudity, funny jokes, and good art, you create an issue of Buffy that even non-Buffy fans might want to pick up. Buffy season 9 #8 is a great read, well deserving of the 8 out of 10 we are giving it. Sure the interior art could be a little more like its regularly lovely covers from Noto (and Jo Chen in the past), but the writing is positively hilarious. Make sure to pick up a copy when it goes on sale this Wednesday.