Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus 3 is completely entrenched in Season 3 of the television series. That makes it interesting in some ways because it's obvious that the season was moving faster than they could print the comics. Angel's gone for a big chunck then suddenly appears with none of the reactions from the other characters, specifically Xander, than the reader would expect if he or she had seen the show. Faith doesn't appear at all. I'm guessing she makes more of an impression in the collection.
The art is wonderful in this collection. It's easy to tell who everyone is, there's good pacing for the action (something that's very difficult to do in the comics medium), and it's fun to look at. Some of the stories fall flat unfortunately. The pacing is sometimes a little off and sometimes the continuity just doesn't work within the comic, nevermind within the broader aspect of Season 3.
"Wu -Tang Fang". Pretty good story, pretty good art. The depiction of Xander was not great. First, it didn't really look like him and second, Xander? Karate? I don't think so.
"Halloween". Meh. Another Halloween story where something goes wrong when it shouldn't. I was hoping for something a little more inspired but I think this one existed solely to set up something later in the volume.
"Cold Turkey" by Andi Watson with art by Joe Bennett and a Rick Ketchum. A throw away story. Buffy at Thanksgiving where the vampire she defeated at Halloween wants to eat her! Not that great.
"Dance with Me" by Christopher Golden with art by Hector Gomez and Sandu Florea. I really liked this one. It felt most like a Buffy episode. It better captured the soul of the characters and the way the show is put together. The art could have been better.
"White Christmas". Another good one.
"Happy New Year". This one's a miss.
"New Kid on the Block" by Andi Watson with art by Hector Gomez and Sandu Florea. This one is not good. It just doesn't work on so many levels. I don't think there's any reasonable explaination for the disappearance of a pool. Even in Sunnydale.
"Food Chain Part 1" by Christopher Golden with art by Christian Zanier and Sandu Florea. This one succeeds in all the places that "New Kid on the Block" fails.
"Play with Fire" by Christopher Golden with art by Hector Gomez and Sandu Florea. An attempt at a ghost story that just doesn't quite work.
"Food Chain Part 2" by Christopher Golden with art by Christian Zanier and Sandu Florea. Not as good as the first part but still and entertaining read.
"The Final Cut" by Andi Watson with art by Cliff Richards and Joe Pimentel. It's an interesting idea but doesn't really fit the Buffy gang. It's something that Cordelia would have fallen for but I don't think the others would have gotten involved.
"The Latest Craze" by Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski with art by Cliff Richards and Joe Pimentel. At least the art's good. The story, again, just doesn't have the right feel. The characters act with different motivations than one might expect.
I keep getting these because I'm interested in what was done with the comics series in relation to the television series. I can appreciate the difficulty in trying to write something concurrent with something that has an actual story line. It's interesting to see them collected in chronological order. This collection is not the best work. It's a 2 out of 5.
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