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| Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 1: The Long Way Home | 
 enlarge | Authors: Joss Whedon, Andy Owens
Creators: Georges Jeanty, Jo Chen
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
Buy New: $8.30
You Save: $7.65 (48%)
New (42) Used (21) from $7.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 1706
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 136
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 10 x 6.6 x 0.2
ISBN: 1593078226
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5973
EAN: 9781593078225
ASIN: 1593078226
Publication Date: October 31, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Since the destruction of the Hellmouth, the Slayers - newly legion - have gotten organized and are kicking some serious undead butt. But not everything's fun and firearms, as an old enemy reappears and Dawn experiences some serious growing pains. Meanwhile, one of the "Buffy" decoy slayers is going through major pain of her own. Buffy creator Joss Whedon brings Buffy back to Dark Horse in this direct follow-up to season seven of the smash-hit TV series. The bestselling and critically acclaimed issues #1-5 are collected here for the first time, as are their covers by Jo Chen and Georges Jeanty.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 33 more reviews...
 A fanboy's dream come true November 15, 2007
48 out of 52 found this review helpful
Nobody loves his fans more than Joss Whedon. This is a man who once said he'd rather make something that 100 people NEED to see then something 1000 people WANT to see and the man works tirelessly and continuously to bring us the very best in sci-fi/horror/fantasy entertainment. So yeah, I'm a fan. "Buffy: Season 8" shoved off in spite of worthless television politics and Sarah Michelle Gellar's refusal to play the character (until her bank account bottoms out, anyway) by switching mediums entirely and making the official leap to the printed page. The transistion has been exemplary.
"The Long Way Home" picks up some time after the end of the 7th season. Buffy Summers is leading an army of awakened slayers in surgical strikes against demons worldwide. Instantly, the reader is greeted with a feeling of complete comfort in the old "Buffyverse"; the dialogue is so spot on you will hear the original actor's voices in your head as you read. Sly references to past events abound: Xander, still sporting his eyepatch, fancys himself a Nick Fury-type commander and fills the pages with geeky references, Dawn is suffering some very literal growing pains, Andrew makes us question his sexuality and continues pontificating at length about "Star Wars", etc; hardcore fans will not be let down. Villains with scores to settle return, including at least one you seriously never expected to see again. Each returning character is given the coolest possible introduction to the comic medium and if it possible to cheer while reading a book, you will.
The art is more than a little bit endearing, stylish, and cool. And the covers! Good God, the covers! Each month I spend what seems like minutes on end admiring the jaw-dropping artwork that greets me before I can even turn a single page. I will boldly declare the cover art of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8" to be the best of any comic I've ever seen. Long may it continue.
The story is something much more epic than anyting that could realistically be portrayed on a television budget. The settings are varied and as cool as they come, the battles are large in scale, and the cast is expanded leading the series to become more of an ensemble than ever. Misleads (usually romantic) that make you gasp are dangled in front of your eyes and then expertly diverted in a way that will make you smile about being had. Well done, Mr. Whedon. The creatures are no longer limited to men in costumes and low-budget CG, the demons are large in size, and others are just odd, such as an underground colony of slug monsters and fairies. This adds yet more depth and possiblities to the story.
Issues #1-4 chronicle the actual "Long Way Home" arc, while #5 is an excellent self-contained story about a slayer chosen to serve as one of Buffy's several doubles. It is arguably the strongest issue in spite of the fact that Buffy isn't even in it and the supporting cast only make token appearances. It's a real testament to Joss Wheson's great storytelling skills. And did I forget to mention the excellent humor that peppers each issue? Well, I guess that goes without saying, doesn't it?
Even if you have never read a comic in your life, this is a great time to begin. "Buffy: Season 8" is off to a fantastic start and if you missed
the boat, thank God for trade paperbacks. If you are already a comic fan then you know what the potential here is and you can rest assured that the hype is warranted. Next stop: "Angel: Season 6".
Season 8 is a hit in print December 9, 2007
43 out of 47 found this review helpful
Have you wondered what Buffy, Willow, Xander and Giles have been up to since Sunnydale imploded? Joss Whedon has the answers. Have you pondered the effect on the world of the sudden existence of countless powerful young women with Slayer powers? Joss knows, and he's willing to share. Has it occurred to you that someone -- or something -- might have survived in the rubble of Sunnydale? You might be surprised by that one.
Did you think it was kind of lame when we learned in "Angel" that Buffy was off bopping in Italy with the powerful Immortal? She wasn't. Whedon handily explains that away -- without messing up the continuity even a bit.
"The Long Way Home" is the first story arc of the new series, and it takes us to the Scottish castle where Buffy hangs her hat as leader of a Slayer commando unit, where Xander acts as a new Watcher and ops coordinator, where Willow takes care of both mystical and technical affairs, and where Dawn -- still kind of whiny, damn it -- parks her very, very, very large sneakers.
Without giving too much away, I'll say that Buffy is hit with a magical assassination attempt and the American military takes an unfriendly view of the Slayer army, which strikes where and when it sees fit without respect to international boundaries. And, to round out the book, there's the very touching and well-imagined stand-alone tale about a very special Slayer with a very unique assignment.
I was pretty sure that nothing would fill the large Buffy-shaped hole in my heart. I'm not sure a new comic series is as good as a new TV series or a string of big-budget films (hint, hint), but it does a far better job than I could have expected. With Joss at the helm, you know the story is good and the specific voices of his beloved characters sound exactly as they should. The art, by Georges Jeanty, falls just short of photorealism; it's beautiful stuff, well drawn and fluid, and the characters are instantly recognizable as the actors who portrayed them.
Buffy the Comic Book has been hit-or-miss over the years. This new incarnation is a bullseye. I can only hope the creative team, led by Whedon, can maintain this outstanding level of quality.
by Tom Knapp, Rambles.(net) editor
Like the sweetest hit for an ex-smoker November 3, 2007
27 out of 31 found this review helpful
I must admit that as a Buffy fan who hasn't read a comic since age 7 I was a skeptic...but a skeptic in serious withdrawal willing to slurp down just about any Buffy chum Joss flung my way (sorry fan-fictors but there's Payless and then there's Prada). This volume seriously delivers. I read it twice in 24 hours, once quickly to get the major points (who's back, who's bad, who's bedding who), and then again slowly to savor the dialogue and story line. It comes off as basically a two-hour, two-dimensional Buffy movie in what would naturally be a trilogy of films (ahh, only in my and James Marster's dreams I'm afraid). Artwork really pops, transitions are smooth and cinematic, and the trademark Buffy-speech humor is dead-on. Sure there are a few small holes in the storyline (like where a certain character mysteriously recovers from grotesque disfiguring brain surgery w/out a single panel's explanation). Ok, that's a big hole. And yes there are baby slayers with bad Euro trash accents to ignore. But let's chock it up to suspension of disbelief and ooh! look at Buffy she still has her shiny red axe thingy! This volume probably would be meaningless to anyone who had not watched all 7 seasons and memorized the lyrics to Once More with Feeling when they couldn't get a date to the prom, but who cares about them! Losers!
 Season 7 Is Still The End January 1, 2008
23 out of 41 found this review helpful
Man, this book is so Whatever.
I think it's pretty awful.
Buffy is one of my for real favorite things. I love Buffy. I am the second biggest Buffy fan. I didn't really need an eight season though. I thought seven wrapped it up good.
But here it is, Season 8, holy damn. Mixed in with the above feelings, I was actually calmly excited for new canon Buffyness when I heard the news that'd this was a go project. But I didn't feel let down when I hated it after the second issue.
The writing and structure is confusing, and I read my fair share of a lot of so many comics. I couldn't articulate what it was the lost me until I heard someone comment it was trying to tell a story like a television show, rather than a comic book. Wasn't it Alan Moore who said "don't do that, that's dumb" ?
I'm frustrated with how some of the characters still behave when it seems like they worked through those problems already. It almost seems like character growth attained in the last two seasons got rewound to keep things "normal".
Then there's the art. I hate the art. For this kind of thing at least, Jeanty has his thing going on and I think he'll be pretty pro some day, but right now he's amateur (excluding backrounds, which are ace, but it's the character art I care about). Why let someone so underdeveloped handle SEASON EIGHT of goddamn BUFFY? It's nuts. Animals riding motorcycles. (Wacky? Dangerous?)
This isn't based on anything but it feels like a fan who networked his way into the position of main artist. Just thinking out loud here.
But what I'll say out loud is rock on Georges Jeanty, you draw your thing and keep on going. People who don't think you rule will think you rule eventually.
Thirdly, I just plain don't like what's happening. How it is written or drawn or not.
Anyway, I did give this series a second chance. I have to admit the first time I went through it I really didn't - it was hard for me to care after a few pages and I just sort of floated until 3/4 of the issue was done then I would find something to eat. I decided this wasn't so fair and I really sat down and read the thing. I liked it better. Looked forward to seeing issue 9 even, then issue 9 came out and I wished I didn't care again. Such were my emotions.
But in the end it is okay, because Joss Whedon is beautiful, and my feelings about the eighth season don't take away anything that the others gave me. And check out all the other fans who dig it. So, Whatever.
So why do a review? Well I know from talking to others that I don't have a monopoly on this opinion. I'm also a person who does a lot of decision-making using Amazon reviews. So with a page of glowing reviews (which are to me personally loaded with false promises) I'd like more of the Other Side to be represented.
So if Your a big B fan and You find some of my words familiar, You should not get Your hopes up. It can be a fun read, but it is not necessarily Your season eight, season eight being something that could represent an important thing to a guy. Give it a chance, You might like it, careful though. Not dive friendly.
How 'bout those covers though? Wow.
Buffy lives November 1, 2007
22 out of 26 found this review helpful
It's no secret that every Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan on the planet has been missing the snappy brilliance of Joss Whedon's critically acclaimed series, but fear not. Whedon, who has crafted the best X-Men stories in quite some time for Marvel with Astonishing X-Men, returns to his most popular creation with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight; a canon comic continuation of the series that picks up where the show left off. Buffy is in Scotland training and leading groups of newly cristened Slayers in the battle against evil demons and vamps, but soon finds that a sinister plot is at hand which involves a cult and the government. Soon enough, some surprising old foes re-appear to wreak havoc on Buffy, Xander, Willow, and the rest of the old crew. What makes Long Way Home so good is that Whedon is relishing in crafting a Buffy flavored comic, while he also ties up some loose ends and adds a nice deal of in-jokes to boot. The dialogue is poppy and snappy, the action is fierce, the twists and surprises are great, and by the book's end, you'll be begging for more. The TPB concludes with a stand alone segment entitled "The Chain" (featuring guest art from Paul Lee), in which a newly powered Slayer is given a very special mission. The rest of the artwork by Georges Jeanty and Whedon's Fray inker Andy Owens is great as well, and rounds out this excellent package. Needless to say, The Long Way Home is a must own for any and every Buffy afficiondo, regardless of whether or not you're into comics in the least.
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