Close Menu
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Get Your Comic On
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube
    • Hot Topics
      • BOOM! Studios
      • Dark Horse
      • DC Comics
      • Fantastic Four (2025)
      • IDW Publishing
      • Image Comics
      • Marvel
      • Power Rangers
      • Star Trek Universe
      • Superman (2025)
      • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
      • Titan Comics
      • Transformers
      • Universal Pictures
    • Features

      Are the FINAL DESTINATION Films All Linked to the Events of 1968?

      May 17, 2025

      The 10 Most Memorable Deaths In The FINAL DESTINATION Series, Ranked

      May 7, 2025

      Spotting the ALIEN Franchise References in the PREDATOR: BADLANDS Trailer

      April 24, 2025

      ANDOR Season One Recap: All the Details You Need Ahead of Season Two

      April 16, 2025

      You Don’t Need to Know My Hero Academia to Enjoy Vigilantes, But It Helps!

      April 10, 2025
    • Comics

      THE LAST DAY OF H.P. LOVECRAFT to be Adapted at BOOM! Studios 

      June 19, 2025

      Dark Horse Comics to Publish URI TUPKA AND THE GODS From the Legendary Mike Mignola

      June 19, 2025

      Top Shelf to Travel to THE LAND OF UNFINISHED DREAMS in August 2025

      June 18, 2025

      STAR TREK: OMEGA (2025) Review

      June 18, 2025

      NIGHTWING (2016-) #127 Review

      June 18, 2025
    • Film

      David Corenswet Talks SUPERMAN Casting, Training and Christopher Reeve in New Interview

      June 19, 2025

      28 YEARS LATER (2025) Review

      June 19, 2025

      Clark and Lois Clash in New First Look Clip from DC Studios’ SUPERMAN

      June 18, 2025

      Reel Outreach Continues Fundraising Campaign to Bring SUPERMAN to Underprivileged Children

      June 18, 2025

      A MINECRAFT MOVIE Holds on at Number One for Another Week in the UK Official Film Chart

      June 18, 2025
    • TV

      Paramount+ Announces New Original Thriller THE REVENGER CLUB Starring Martin Compston

      June 18, 2025

      Dream is on the Path to Hell in New Trailer For Netflix’s THE SANDMAN Season 2

      June 17, 2025

      Eric Bana Stars in Tense Teaser Trailer for Upcoming Netflix Thriller UNTAMED

      June 17, 2025

      First Impressions With STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Season 3

      June 15, 2025

      Apple TV+ Debuts Official Trailer for FOUNDATION Season 3

      June 13, 2025
    • Gaming

      Koei Tecmo Introduces the New and Familiar Characters of ATELIER RESLERIANA: THE RED ALCHEMIST & THE WHITE GUARDIAN

      June 13, 2025

      Squanch Games Shares First Look at HIGH ON LIFE 2 With Official Trailer

      June 13, 2025

      Crunchyroll Game Vault Adds Survival Horror WHITE DAY

      June 12, 2025

      David Corenswet’s SUPERMAN Set to Join FORTNITE Alongside Robin

      June 8, 2025

      The Fate of Battle Royale Island Hangs in the Balance as Fortnite’s STAR WARS: GALACTIC BATTLE Comes to an End

      June 6, 2025
    • Anime

      Crunchyroll Acquires Rights to Heartwarming Film MISS KOBAYASHI’S DRAGON MAID: A LONELY DRAGON WANTS TO BE LOVED

      June 18, 2025

      Crunchyroll To Release JUJUTSU KAISEN: Hidden Inventory / Premature Death – The Movie This Summer

      June 12, 2025

      Crunchyroll Game Vault Adds Survival Horror WHITE DAY

      June 12, 2025

      Crunchyroll to Celebrate Anime’s Global Growth at Annecy International Animation Film Festival

      June 6, 2025

      Crunchyroll Kicks off GACHIAKUTA World Takeover With New Trailer

      June 6, 2025
    • Podcast
    • Interviews

      Director Dean DeBlois Talks Bringing the Isle of Berk in to Live-Action With HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

      June 10, 2025

      Exploring DOWNLANDS With Writer and Artist Norm Konyu (Exclusive)

      May 13, 2025

      DC’s SUMMER OF SUPERMAN SPECIAL Writers Talk Caretaking the Man of Steel’s Story (Exclusive)

      April 15, 2025

      Diving in to a Brand New AQUAMAN #1 with Writer Jeremy Adams (EXCLUSIVE)

      December 25, 2024

      The Architects of DC’s THE NEW GODS Discuss Bringing the Fourth World to New Audiences (EXCLUSIVE)

      December 18, 2024
    • Directory
    Get Your Comic On
    Home»Comics»Comic Book Reviews»Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20
    Comic Book Reviews

    Buffy the Vampire Slayer #20

    Neil VaggBy Neil VaggNovember 17, 2015Updated:May 3, 2023No Comments6 Mins Read
    Artwork from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Season 10 #20 by Megan Levens & Dan Jackson
    Artwork from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Season 10 #20 by Megan Levens & Dan Jackson
    Share
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest Reddit WhatsApp Email
    Cover art for 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' Season 10 #20 by Steve Morris
    Cover art for ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Season 10 #20 by Steve Morris
    • Script by Christos Gage
    • Art by Megan Levens
    • Colours by Dan Jackson
    • Letters by Richard Starkings
    • Cover by Steve Morris

    Called in for a supernatural-crimes case, Buffy and Spike discover an incubus demon is targeting women in San Francisco. Meanwhile, Xander and Giles work on an exorcism that stirs up some questions about Ghost Anya.

    Get your copy of ‘Buffy’ #20 at Comixology now!

    My woes with he ongoing comic ‘seasons’ of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ are very well documented at this point. Each season I hesitate about whether I will subscribe or not then I pickup the first couple of issues and feel a renewed love of the franchise and decide that yes this is going to be the season I love from start-to-finish and I once again subscribe and find myself meandering through the journey of the characters as they lurch from story to story.

    Season 10 is holding my attention much better than season 8 and a little more than season 9 so that’s the good news. The bad news is that once again it feels as though the season is starting to wander off the beaten track and on to uncharted territory… not the good kind. With Giles now a teenager ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ has had a chance to look at its characters from a new angle. For years the main cast has looked up to Giles and then spent a year grieving his death. Now he has to look up to them and they need to prove to him that they can survive without his parenting. For comedy purposes there’s also the endless storyline potential for an out of control hormonal Giles, we all know how that turned out the first time!

    Events in the companion series ‘Angel & Faith’ should also have had a huge impact on the franchise which, at present, it does not.

    Last month Giles got a brief reprieve and was allowed to be a grown up for a day. It was a nice character piece and added weight to the frustration that his situation has caused him but overall the issue broke the momentum which season 10 has built up over the past (almost) two years and it’s that stop-start nature which eventually puts ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ to the bottom of my to-read pile.

    ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ #20 picks up a new story, dubbed ‘Triggers’, which focusses less on the villain-of-the-month and more on the relationship dynamic between Buffy and Spike. The two have been on a merry dance now since season six of the TV series so essentially this is now four whole years that the story has dominated and it is getting a little old. Once again deciding that now is the time to be together Buffy and Spike take on the case of an Incubus and his victim together.

    Unfortunately for us readers it’s a full on metaphor for their relationship and it brings back echoes of their sordid past, in particular the shower scene from season six episode ‘Seeing Red’. The metaphorical ‘Triggers’ that the title refers to are those which set Buffy on a collision course with her emotions and separate her from those she loves.

    By the issue’s climax the two have once again ironed out their issues and with very little dialogue on the page are able to express their feelings for each other without any nudity for once. It’s not that I don’t like either character, I can take-it-or-leave-it with Spike but Buffy I have always been a fan of even during his preachy phase in season seven of the TV show. It’s just that together they make for an incredibly dull story that we’ve seen too many times before.

    Luckily for us there are other things going on in ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ #45! The highlight of this issue is by far poor old Xander. He’s been a little sidelined this season particularly after his breakup with Dawn and his betrayal in season nine, although all is forgiven the consequences have been far reaching and he now spends much of his time talking to Ghost-Anya.

    This issue brings us confirmation that she is a real ghost and not a figment of his imagination and finally the story begins to develop from her occasional guest starring moments to something with a little more weight behind it. I didn’t believe the Ghost-Anya story was more than a way to bring her back in to the story but now I understand that all along it has been a slow burn towards something which will clearly take centre stage in the back half of the season.

    Season ten has yet to develop an overall arc but there are loose plot threads which may well tie themselves together is Gage has a whole season mapped out that is true to the original Whedon style.

    It’s hard to fault the quality of the dialogue throughout this run and even in this somewhat dull issues as the characters continue to perfectly reflect their TV counterparts with a few added years of life experience. It’s nice that after four years in comics the writers haven’t felt the need to breakup the core group in order to breathe new life to the franchise.

    The artwork, as always, is outstanding. There’s guest artwork in this issue by Megan Levens but it neither interrupts to visual narrative of the series nor ruins it. If Isaacs and Gage could run both ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ‘Angel & Faith’ then both would vie for the best Whedon related continuation series. The artwork continues to breathe life in to the idea that ‘Buffy’ would have worked as a cartoon series but also proving that a comic which deals with as much serious content as this doesn’t need to languish under heavy handed artwork.

    Another good read albeit one that wishes it was a great read.

    3 stars

     

     

    3 stars

    buffy summers Buffy The Vampire Slayer christos gage dan jackson Dark Horse Dawn giles joss whedon megan levels rebekah isaacs richard starkings season 10 spike steve morris willow xander
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn WhatsApp Reddit Email
    Neil Vagg
    • Website
    • X (Twitter)

    Neil is the Editor-in-Chief at GYCO. He has a BA in Film & TV and an MA in Scriptwriting; he currently works 9-5 in an office and 5-9 as a reviewer. He has been reading comics for as long as he can remember and is never far away from any book which has the word Bat in the title.

    Related Posts

    Dark Horse Comics to Publish URI TUPKA AND THE GODS From the Legendary Mike Mignola

    June 19, 2025

    Display the Journey With New Premium THE LAST OF US Statue From Dark Horse Direct and Naughty Dog

    June 18, 2025

    Dark Horse Books Presents Mark Millar’s PRODIGY LIBRARY EDITION For January 2026 Release

    June 17, 2025

    Dark Horse Reveals Cover Art & Preview for MINOR THREATS LIBRARY EDITION Vol, 1

    June 16, 2025

    Dark Horse Reveals Tony Fleecs STAR WARS: HYPERSPACE STORIES – TIDES OF TERROR Knowhere Games Exclusive Variant Cover

    June 16, 2025

    Dan Brereton Reveals New NOCTURNALS: THE SINISTER PATH #1 Cover for 2025 Trick or Read Campaign (EXCLUSIVE)

    June 13, 2025
    Add A Comment
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Latest

    David Corenswet Talks SUPERMAN Casting, Training and Christopher Reeve in New Interview

    June 19, 2025

    A Bold New Era Begins in First Look at New BATMAN #1 Cover Art

    June 19, 2025

    THE LAST DAY OF H.P. LOVECRAFT to be Adapted at BOOM! Studios 

    June 19, 2025

    Dark Horse Comics to Publish URI TUPKA AND THE GODS From the Legendary Mike Mignola

    June 19, 2025

    28 YEARS LATER (2025) Review

    June 19, 2025
    Latest Podcasts
    News

    Reviewing FINAL DESTINATION: BLOODLINES and Apple TV+ Series MURDERBOT

    By Neil VaggMay 21, 2025
    News

    Captain America: Brave New World and News Roundup

    By Neil VaggFebruary 21, 2025
    News

    Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, Plus Fantastic Four & Jurassic World

    By Neil VaggFebruary 6, 2025
    News

    Harley Quinn, Star Trek: Section 31 and Prime Target

    By Neil VaggJanuary 23, 2025
    News

    What We’re Looking Forward to in 2025

    By Neil VaggJanuary 8, 2025
    X (Twitter) Instagram YouTube TikTok Facebook LinkedIn
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Community Guidelines
    • Directory
    • Pitch to Us
    GetYourComicOn.co.uk is a property of Get Your Comic On Ltd. © 2024 All Rights Reserved. Images used on this website are registered trademarks of their respective companies/owners.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.