Buffy the Vampire Slayer Viva Las Buffy

Graphic novels aren't something I read often but a few of them have come my way via BookCrossing and the Bookrelay site. Viva Las Buffy is one such book. Over all it is well drawn and well lettered, although Giles doesn't look much like Anthony Stewart Head but in this story he's a minor character so it really doesn't matter what he looks like. Although I don't have many graphic novels (or comic books) under my belt I know that they often branch off each other creating alternate versions of events, worlds and characters. Just look at the numerous incarnations of Batman and Superman over the years! This Buffy story has some points of diversion from both the film and the television show (which by themselves don't quite match up) and I'm not sure if these are specific decisions to make a different Buffy or are errors on the part of the authors who came to the story late in the course of the series. The most obvious difference between the film and the series is the inclusion of Dawn, aka the annoying key from season five. I don't like Dawn! For the most part, Viva Las Buffy is an entertaining and typical Buffy the Vampire Slayer story, although having Angel tracking the vampires to Las Vegas reminded more of the Angel TV series than either the Buffy series or film. Yes, Buffy's parents are still married and Buffy's original watcher is mentioned but that's the extent of the story's reliance on the film. Most of the story is non-canon but still fun. First and foremost: Dawn did not exist in 1996. Sure, her existence was forced into the memories of everyone involved but that doesn't mean she actually existed retroactively. Her inclusion in this graphic novel is the story's weakest point. The other thing that annoyed me were the conjoined fraternal twins. I'm willing to believe that some sort of weird vampirism mojo made fraternal twins become conjoined twins in a botched turning or I'm willing to believe that the one of the twins is a cross-dresser but neither of those seems to be the case. Therefore the brother/sister conjoined twins don't make any sense! Although these two details annoyed me, I'm still rating this graphic novel highly because it was entertaining and well drawn. It was fun to read during a middle of the night nursing.

Do you remember that episode where Buffy woke up in an asylum and her mother and father were together and they told her that she had to kill everyone in her other, fake life in order to get all better and go home with them? And we never know which one is actually the real life and they never touch on it again because Joss Whedon hates all of us and is cackling evilly as we die from anxiety? This one made me feel better. The comic-Buffy actually has been to an asylum because Dawn read her diary and saw what Buffy thought she was (The Vampire Slayer) and her parents (who are still together) put her in there because they believe that she has lost it. You see Willow for the first time! And Cordelia! But they don't talk or anything. You see more of what Giles has to go through as well in order to become The Slayer's Watcher. There's like a little snippet of Angel too. I loved this issue so much. You get to see into comic-Buffy more and how she didn't ask to be The Slayer and how she deals with it. This issue feels more like the show than any of the ones that I have read so far. It's my favorite and I'm going to go read it again.