Buffy and The Scooby gang

           I just discovered Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic books recently.  I watched and adored it all 7 seasons on television. This year my son watched and adored all 7 seasons.  Though I am now reading the comic books,  I still yearn for Sarah Michelle Gellar's portrayal of Buffy. The spunky blond girl doing a flip over a grave stone and kicking a vampire in the head, then when he down, staking him in the heart.  Sigh....The film came first. It is where the idea of  “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” came from.

             I personally will never watch the movie. The story goes that in the world, at any one time, there is only one slayer to fight vampires, demons and dark entities.  A watcher helps train her and guides her in her battles.  The slayers are chosen from birth, or “fated”, and usually they lead a short, lonely existence. That is until Buffy Summers transfers to Sunnydale, California from Los Angeles. She was in a lot of trouble, so her mother moved her to the suburbs to give her a fresh start.  This slayer is fresh all the way around.  Petite, blond, rather cynically perky ( I know that is a contradiction in description, but true nonetheless), and she can kick the butt of any or all the demons and vamps necessary.  Sunnydale sits on top of Hellmouth. The portal to hell is in the HS library, also known as the lair of librarian Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head).  Giles, is Buffy’s watcher. So the demons and evil creatures are constantly available to fight.

              Buffy unlike most slayers has friends, her side kicks helped her fight demons. She calls them the Scooby gang. On a slightly interesting note, Sarah Michele eventually plays in a Scooby Doo movie with her real life husband Freddie Prinze Jr.  Anyway, I am veering off topic.   She meets Xander (Nicholas Brendan) and Willow (Alyson Hannigan) when she first comes to Sunnydale High.  Xander and Willow have been friends for a long time, and are socially nerds.  Willow has a secret crush on Xander, who pretends not to notice mostly.  A couple of seasons go by and they can’t seem to keep their hands off each other until they are caught and damage their own relationships.  Xander also always is crushed on Buffy but they remain  friends. Well except for that episode when Xander does a spell that  makes all the women love him. 

              The characters that appear in the show are some of my most favorites in television.  Buffy dies twice in the show. Once very briefly, which introduces Kendra Young (Bianca Lawson), a new slayer.  For the first time ever in history there are 2 slayers.  She is killed by vampire Druscilla. When Kendra dies, obviously "the powers that be" have not caught up as to what is happening, and that generates Faith (Eliza Dushku), the dark slayer.  Faith appears in the books, and the comic books. At first she tries to fit in with Buffy, and then goes Rogue. She is as bad as some of the vampires she kills. Cordelia (Charisma Carpenter), and Harmony (Mercedes McNab) are the two popular girls who play rivals to Buffy during high school. Cordelia eventually dates Xander for a time, until he hooks up with Willow and is caught in a compromising position. Willow finds a quiet boyfriend in OZ (Seth Green) who plays a band and is a werewolf.  Eventually he needs to find himself and leaves Sunnydale.  Willow then meets Tara (Amber Benson), falls in love and is forever more a lesbian. Willow also becomes a powerful witch during the show. Now I almost forgot one of the most interesting characters, Dawn (Michele Trachtenberg).  One day Buffy comes home to find out she has a sister.  She is the only one who remembers a time before Dawn. To everyone else she has always been there. She was not a real person, but a "Key" created to protect Buffy From the villainous Glory ( Claire Kramer).

           The high school is destroyed after graduation, Cordelia goes to Los Angeles and works for Angel (David Boreanaz) in his spin off. I actually like Cordelia, as she grows and evolves in Angel.  One of my favorite characters is Anya Jenkins (Emma Caufield) the vengence demon that dated, almost married Xander.  She was hilarious.  I read Joss Whedon considered her comic relief. She was a cross between socially awkward and a girlfriend from the 1960's. She seemed to struggle with being human.  She was a vengeance demon, turned human afraid of bunny rabbits, that's right I said bunny rabbits. Then there is Druscilla (Juliet Landau) and Spike (James Marsters).  A pair of co-dependent vampires that come to Sunnydale. Druscilla is gone and leaves Spike behind. Spike really needs a blog of his own. He is a bane of Buffy, and helps eventually save the world.

              Buffy has really 3 lovers (except for the creepy guy freshman year) during the show. Angel is the first. Their story line is a Romeo and Juliet kind of love. I say that because Angel is a Vampire with a soul.  When he sleeps with Buffy the pure joy makes him lose his soul, and eventually Buffy has to send him to hell.  Not to fear, he comes back, and when it is unbearable to be around a woman he loves but can't have, he moves to LA and has his own show. Angel then helps the helpless. Riley Finn (Marc Blucas) is a straight arrow, boy scout-military type guy, Buffy meets in college. Where Angel was elusive and mysterious, Riley was reliable.  He is participant in a covert government project to rid the world of Vampires and demons. He was was written out of the show, and off he went. Which brings me to my favorite lover of Buffy's-- Spike. He was a complex character which seemed to be a bit of  martyr. He seemed lack character, was selfish and yet he truly loved Buffy. For a long time Buffy hated him, then they were lovers. Buffy seemed to hate herself for her feelings for Spike, and was not afraid to let him know that constantly. In the end Spike sacrificed his life to save the world, proving him to be a true hero.  Then he showed up in LA and was in Angel's show.

That is the basics, and if you have not had the pleasure of meeting or viewing Buffy and the Gang please do, I will introduce the comics later.  I could go on and on with the topic of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  The comics start after (SPOILER ALERT)the demise of Sunnydale and the television show. You can find these seasons on Amazon.com. I am sure they are on Ebay, and probably your local second hand entertainment store.  So, Happy viewing and have a great week!!