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Nov 11, 2009 Web Exclusive By Jeremy Nisen

Many times, I’ve heard creators (usually writers) interviewed on the difference between writing for film and writing for comics. Comics, they’ve said, are truer to the original vision. Film has so many cooks in the kitchen, the essence of the script often gets lost.

Perhaps in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the comic, that’s not a good thing. Buffy the television show, was very consistent once it found its footing. The comic, while mostly good, has some weird missteps that I really don’t think would ever make it into the TV show. And not just because of budget consideration. We’re talking sensibilities here.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Volume 5: Predators and Prey collects issues 21-25 of the series, as well as short stories from Dark Horse Presents 18-19. The tale where ditzy vampire Harmony is used to make a biting comment on the nature of reality television was worthy of the TV show. The “Vampy Cat” story, which I guess was an examination of some aspects of Japanese pop culture, includes a hoard of Hello Kitty-like toys being led into combat with some slayers with the battle cry of “Eat their #%&@ing ovaries!” Decidedly not TV-Buffy worthy.

But the volume comes back admirably with a great story starring Buffy herself (a nice change), a decent one with Faith and Giles, and a creepy tale focusing on Buffy’s sister Dawn that actually resolves one of the series’ long-running subplots.

Art on licensed properties is always a tricky proposition—how much should the protagonists look like their real-life counterparts? Georges Jeanty, who penciled most of the collection, skirts that line nicely. I wonder if the TV practice of every arc having a different writer, even with Joss Whedon overseeing, may be lending to the somewhat inconsistent storytelling quality. Nonetheless, this is a fine read, particularly for fans of the source material. (www.darkhorse.com)

Author rating: 6/10