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Title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Origin by Christopher Golden, Daniel Brereton, Joe Bennett, Golden Christopher, Joss Whedon, Dan Brereton ISBN: 1-56971-429-0 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: 15 September, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.69 (13 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Movie You Didn't See
Comment: It reads entirely differently than it performed in the movie - but it's exactly the same script.
This graphic novel version is fabulous. It's the script for the movie that started it all, done the way Joss Whedon obviously intended it. It's still got its good comedic bits, but the drama plays much better. The illustrators have depicted Buffy in her now most famous guise, as Sarah Michelle Gellar, though - oddly - they've opted to utilize the rendition of her first Watcher, Merrick, from his one cameo appearance in a flashback on the T.V. series instead of depicting Donald Sutherland from the film, where everything else is faithful to the movie.
"The Origin" is true to its advertisement: it's Buffy from the beginning, where she came to her calling at Hemery High, trained for her reluctant future role in life, first tested herself against a superior opponent, and prematurely outgrew her frivolous pre-teen youth to adopt a responsible persona. There are only minor changes from the film version, the most notable being that of the demise of Merrick, which makes more sense here than it did on screen, presumably because the movie altered Whedon's vision.
The best thing about this piece is simply the artwork. It's worth the cost for that, alone.
Enjoy the Buffy you never really knew, but only thought you did.
Rating: 5
Summary: And They Say the Movie Was All Wrong ....
Comment: I actually LIKE the movie, although I admit it takes a totally different stab (pun intended) at the TV Buffy storyline.
More recently I've become a fan of SMG in the role Kristy Swanson originated in the film (and also of its spinoff, Angel). And I read that "Origin" was supposed to be the true original concept Joss had for the Buffy motion picture, so I wanted to read it for myself. I have to be honest -- the way people were crying, I expected a major departure from what I had seen on the big screen so many years ago (and more recently, on my DVD player).
Not so. As it turns out, this telling tracks better than 90 percent true to the movie as it was released. The story is nearly identical, and most of the lines remain the same. There is a bit of a darker edge to it, and it's interesting how such little tweaks here and there can make something feel so differently overall.
I won't go into a lot of detail about the storyline. If you want that, read a synopsis of the movie, because it really is the same story, almost word-for-word. Imagine the original movie being redrafted in such a way that instead of being a total comedy, it falls in line with the darker tone of the popular TV series. Other than the minimal reworking required to accomplish this task, imagine the movie remains otherwise intact. Now you have a pretty good idea of what this comic looks like.
There are some changes here and there, which do bring the story more in line with the TV show that follows. An example -- at the end of the movie, the Hemery High School gym remained standing, but in the TV show, we're told that one of the reasons Buffy and her mom had to move to Sunnydale from LA was she was expelled for burning down her high school gym. Ergo, at the end of the comic, Buffy defeats a legion of vampires by locking them in the Hemery High School gym and burning it to the ground (If you are a fan of Buffy at all, I'm sure this piece of information doesn't spoil anything for you). It's a minor rework of the original film storyline to bring it parallel with the TV series backstory. And in essence, that's all this comic really does.
But for the true Buffy fan who can't seem to appreciate how the movie could fit into the "Buffyverse", maybe this comic is what you need to bridge the gap between the two.
Rating: 5
Summary: darker and slyer than the movie
Comment: "The Origin", which is adapted from the original script Joss Whedon wrote for the screen, proves why Hollywood producers should have more faith in the source material for their movies, and why they should have taken a greater risk in the ultimate presentation of the story. With a few, minor differences, the story in the comic book version is almost identical to the one in the movie; however, the artwork and noirish undercurrent help the reader make greater sense of how Buffy became the Slayer. The presentation here is menacingly cinematic, with a richer, more lurid exploration of the Slayer's mission and her foes. Also, in the tradition of the mythic hero's journey, the stakes are raised considerably when Buffy sees for herself the consequences of refusing her destiny. While the familiar Whedonesque humor pervades the smart, sly dialogue, it is not the raison d'etre of the story, as it was in the movie; but as any Buffy enthusiast would point out, one can tell where Whedon's writing ended and the meddling of an inferior script doctor began. For example, Buffy goes off alone to fight Lothos, leaving behind Pike and her classmates to fend for themselves against the vampire army. But, inexplicably, she only kills two vampires, Amilyn and Lothos, while being credited with killing nearly all of them. The look and feel of the sequence is odd and awkward, although we can derive some satisfaction in watching Rutger Hauer die for throwing away his film career. In the comic book version, it makes much more sense to see Buffy kill scores of vampires by hand before burning down the gym with the rest of the blood suckers inside. Perhaps the film's producers were uncomfortable with a woman doing most of the ass-whoopin', and decided to give Pike a little more to do to balance things out. All in all, though the movie has its merits, "The Origin" more fully fleshes out the story behind Buffy's transformation into the Slayer. Pair this with Dark Horse's excellent "Tales of the Slayers", and your desire for more Slayer back-story will be more than satisfied. As for which Slayer had to die so that Buffy could be called? I'm afraid that's for another comic to come.
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Title: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales of the Slayers by Joss Whedon ISBN: 1569716056 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Fray by Joss Whedon ISBN: 1569717516 Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Pub. Date: December, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title:Buffy The Vampire Slayer - The Complete Sixth Season ASIN: B0000DANYD Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video Pub. Date: 25 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $59.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $38.99 |
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Title:Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Complete Fifth Season ASIN: B0000AQS18 Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video Pub. Date: 09 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $59.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $38.99 |
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Title:Angel - Season Three ASIN: B0000TEW8C Publisher: Twentieth Century Fox Home Video Pub. Date: 10 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $59.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $38.99 |
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