BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: SEASON 8 #26
Writer: Jane Espenson
Penciler: Georges Jeanty
Publisher: Dark Horse

Joss Whedon’s eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer continues, and it’s clear that we’re coming closer and closer to the season finale. Several plot threads and side-stories are coming together, and the main characters are finally reunited. Also, after several issues of disappearing into the background, the villains have finally started to make their move. However, before the Slayers can mount a heroic effort to save the world, they must first retreat to save themselves.

The kind with a vagina

With the Slayers’ castle in Scotland destroyed, Buffy has relocated the team (herself, Willow, Xander, Kennedy, Dawn, Satsu, and the army of Slayers) to a small peninsula covered by a thick forest. Willow and her team of Wicca-Slayers have been casting a series of spells to conceal and shield their new castle. Unfortunately, not only are the bad guys looking for the Slayers, but the general public believes them to be menaces thanks to high profile celebrity vampires like Harmony giving them a bad rap, and rogue Slayers committing crimes across the planet.

Meanwhile, Giles and Faith have found an underground bunker in Berlin to hide in. However, when an army of underground demons find them, they break down the door and chase the duo out of Germany. Faith and Giles then stow away on a train, with plans to reunite with Buffy for the first time since leaving Sunnydale.

In Italy, Andrew is leading a small band of Slayers from the Italian branch back to home base, but becomes sidetracked when the team finds an underground cavern to hide under. Andrew leaves the girls to investigate a strange noise, and finds the skinless (yet still alive) Warren crying out in pain. Warren attempts to trick Andrew into joining his side, but Andrew refuses, and a pretty big continuity flop occurs. Andrew complains that Warren made him into a killer, and Warren explains that he genuinely believed that killing Jonathan would turn them into gods. The problem, of course, is that Warren never convinced Andrew to kill Jonathan. The First Evil took the guise of Warren, and it was the First Evil that convinced him to kill Jonathan. Warren never got Andrew to kill anyone. When Warren, Andrew, and Jonathan were “The Trio,” the only people killed (Warren’s ex-girlfriend with a blunt blow to the head, and Tara with a stray bullet) were killed by Warren.

Ha Ha! Callback joke!

Kind of a big thing to remember when you’re trying to give Andrew and Warren a “moment.”

Later that night, Willow wakes up in bed, and tells Kennedy that she senses something. She gathers Xander, Dawn, and Buffy, and tells them that she can sense several parties closing in on their secret location: Giles, Faith, Andrew, five of their own Slayers, and every demon in Scotland. Willow casts a spell to get all of the friendly parties inside, and there’s a touching moment where Buffy and Giles hug. That’s cut short when they suddenly remember that they’re under attack. The main characters and some of their subordinates head to the roof while the army of Slayers faces the demons head on. The Slayers are all getting slaughtered, and the Wicca-Slayers can no longer maintain their protection spells. Willow interrogates a demon and realizes that the series of spells she and the other witches have been casting were being used as a beacon. The more magic they used, the easier it was to find them. Buffy then orders everyone to retreat to the submarine they acquired in a recent adventure in Japan.

Buffy and Giles talk, and Buffy tells Giles about how she went to the future, and learned that her actions will somehow cause Willow to become evil again– permanently. With what’s been going on recently, Buffy can already see Willow changing (she may have tortured that demon I mentioned earlier by peeling off his skin), but she has one last spell she needs Willow to cast before she calls it quits…

At a temple on a distant and secluded mountain top, a man sits and meditates. Suddenly, a large submarine appears a few yards away. Who is this mysterious man that Buffy has run to for help?

It’s Oz

If there’s one thing I love, it’s a story where a disbanded team comes back together. That’s what this issue is, and it’s one of the more enjoyable issues of Buffy I’ve read in a while. Story-wise, this issue is clearly the first part in the team’s attempt to get their stuff together, come up with a new strategy, and strike back. It’s all set-up, but it’s good set-up. The only reservations I have about this issue were Jeanty’s pencils that make the characters look identical, forcing me to distinguish Kennedy from Faith by their clothing. I had to use Jo Chen’s cover and the letters page just to make sure that was Oz at the end. I probably wouldn’t mind Jeanty’s pencils in any other comics, but I like to be able to recognize comic book characters whose appearances are based off of real actors.