In my review of the first two installments of “Buffy: The High School Years” – “Freaks and Geeks” and “Glutton for Punishment” (both from 2016) – I noted that they seemed to be aimed at the youngest theoretical fan. The stories both center on Buffy’s school-Slaying conflict and have simple resolutions; if one wanted to be generous, they almost matched the shallowest episodes of Season 1 in depth.
The next two entries — both by Kel McDonald with art by Yishan Li and colors by Rod Espinosa and Tony Galvan – are much better. So of course the line got canceled after this.
“No Need To Fear, The Slayer’s Here” (Free Comic Book Day, May 2017)
This is everything you could want out of a 10-page short story – witty, fun and funny. Xander goes on his weekly jaunt to the comic shop, with Buffy in tow. The story name-drops “X-Men” and Dark Horse’s own “Hellboy,” which should make comic-shop owners happy. Xander discovers the proprietor in the back, being attacked by a vampire.
Vampire (strangling proprietor): “What do you mean you got rid of my pull box?!”
Proprietor: “Y-y-you (gak) died.”
Vampire: “So?!”
Buffy, of course, stakes the vampire, impressing a young girl buying a “Sailor Moon” comic; she now sees there are real superheroes in the world. Interestingly, Buffy rolls her eyes when the girl notes that Sailor Moon is cool because she fights evil by moonlight. Regardless of where you stand on the “Buffy”-“Sailor Moon” rivalry, it should be noted that “Sailor Moon” started first – in 1991, a year before the “Buffy” movie – so we shouldn’t be too hard on it.
4 stars
“Parental Parasite” (June 2017)
“The High School Years” saves the best for last with this 78-pager. Joyce is a consistent presence in Season 1, mostly representing the normal-life side of Buffy’s “Slaying versus normal life” conundrum, but she doesn’t get an episode to herself. “Parental Parasite” rectifies that with a clever idea.
I don’t recall that we’ve ever before seen a villain quite like this: A demon disguises itself as a young girl and uses a mind-whammy to get an adult to take care of it. The latest victim is Joyce, and luckily because of the mind-whammy, she forgets the whole event, thus making it possible for this story to exist in Season 1.
I love the visual gag in “Gingerbread” (3.11) where Joyce pops up on patrol with a baffled Buffy, as I’m a sucker for characters behaving in humorously incongruous fashion. McDonald repeats that gag here, as Joyce suddenly walks into the school library, with an aim of helping Buffy with her homework. (Come to think of it, it’s similar to how the Mayor randomly enters into the library in Season 3 … although not quite as frightening.) It’s fun to watch Buffy, Xander, Willow and Giles scramble to try to act like they weren’t just discussing demon research.
Li’s likenesses are not always spot-on (although her rendition of Joyce is very good), but I’m not bothered by that. She’s one of my favorite non-actor-accurate Buffyverse artists. It’s always clear who is who in this small cast (Angel is the only other main character in this issue), and she gets the clothing choices right. After all, if a blonde girl is wearing a short dress with high boots, who else can it be but Season 1 Buffy?
Unlike “Freaks and Geeks” and “Glutton for Punishment,” “Parental Parasite” feels like a missing Season 1 episode – and a good one, at that.
4 stars
Click here for an index of all of John’s “Buffy” and “Angel” reviews.