Product Description

Buffy's world goes awry when former-classmate-turned-vampire Harmony Kendall lands her own reality TV show, Harmony Bites, bolstering bloodsucking fiends in the mainstream. Humans line up to have their blood consumed, and Slayers, through a series of missteps, misfortunes, and anti-Slayer propaganda driven by the mysterious Twilight, are forced into hiding. In Germany, Faith and Giles discover a town where Slayers retreat from a world that has turned against them, only to find themselves in the arms of something far worse. A rogue-Slayer faction displaces an entire Italian village, living up to their tarnished reputation as power-hungry thieves. And finally, with the help of a would-be demon lover, Dawn addresses her unfaltering insecurities.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1335 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781595823427
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Wow! That really sucked ...
(warning: spoilers!)

Buffy Season 8 comics continue their downward spiral with this latest collection.

This is a series of one-shot stories designed to set up the environment for the next big arc. You can almost hear chess pieces being moved around on a board. The problem is that the chess players are on drugs.

Briefly, the episodes can be summarized as thus:
1) Harmony creates a reality TV show on herself as a vampire - and suddenly the world falls in love with vampires and considers the slayers a menace, who must go into hiding(!?). No, I don't understand it either.
2) Lesbian Slayers Kennedy and Satsu discover a race of robotic toy vampires created by Twilight who temporarily de-gay Satsu (no, I am not making this up)
3) In the only half-sane plot, Buffy and Andrew bond as they track down a cell of rogue slayers. There is a demon, among other things, and wackiness ensues.
4) Giles and Faith discover a town with a nasty secret concealed by the only other surviving Watcher.
5) Dawn is in trouble. Again. Buffy rescues her. Again. The Summers Sisters reconcile. Again.

The comic concludes with two short stories on Harmony and the robotic toy vampires. These are intended to be humorous but come across as completely lame.

In fact, that is the problem with this whole collection. The plots are so thin, weird and contrived I can't believe they were meant to be taken seriously. The writers must have been going for wry amusement instead. Strangely, I am not amused. I have seen better writing from teenage fanfic.

Oh, the art hasn't improved either. It remains passable at best.

I'm not sure what the problem is at Whedon enterprises. Was everybody having a bad couple of months? Has this little season 8 shindig run out of steam (and ideas, and credibility)? All I can tell you is that if the next collection is this bad, I will be sorely tempted to cut my losses and stop buying further issues.

I think people missed the point...
I actually thought the premise of Harmony getting her own reality-TV show was pretty hilarious. I think, rather than trying to cash in on the whole "vampires integrating into popular culture" thing like the True Blood series, Joss and Crew are generally poking fun at all the Twilight/True Blood fans who have suddenly gone... well.. vampire crazy! Everyone wants their own vampire, and everyone is sooo in love with Vampires that they fail to see that vampires would actually be dangerous. Harmony has always been a huge comic relief for me, she's absolutely silly and fails to feel like a threat, when in truth she totally is (well, okay mostly she's hilarious and ineffectual as a threat). I could totally believe that she took her Angel-certified recommendation, her former ties to W&H and her glowing/whacky personality and went straight to TV execs with her "woe is me! I'm a misunderstood vampire!" angle to cash in. What's even better is that they bring to light the damage that misrepresenting certain groups can do, and how easily people are swayed. I mean, vampires easily get people to turn against the "Slayer Threat" even though the Slayer "Threat" is their only real defense. I think it's more of Joss just poking at current pop-culture and maybe even the current political climate.

As for the rest of installment, I can see where this is setting up the plots for the next story arc, and that's fine. Just remember that exposition and pawn placement is always a little... dry.

Oh, and just for fun, "Dawn's in trouble. Must be Tuesday." <-- Oh how I miss Tuesdays with Buffy <3

Awful, awful, awful
I have enjoyed season 8 so far but this volume is just awful. Really not worth the read apart from the fact that some significant things happen. Mainly that thanks to Harmony, vampires are out and adored by the public. (Way to channel The Southern Vampire Mysteries/True Blood - Except that in Harris' universe the outing of vampires is dealt with intelligently and in this story it's nonsense). And thanks to a renegade slayer, slayers are hated and feared. (Perhaps Wheadon spent too long on the X-Men.)

This is a bad, bad book and I don't recommend anyone waste their time or money on it. I would give it "no stars" if Amazon would let me.