![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Tales of the Vampires
Tue, Jan. 18th, 2005 08:13 pmI'm never quite sure how to talk about a collection of short stories. Anyhow, this is one (in graphic novel form) centered around the Buffyverse. More specifically, on vampires in the Buffyverse (duh).
Looking back over all the stories, it's not actually quite as depressing and as grim as it felt while I was reading it, but all in all, it's not a very uplifting book, much like Tales of the Slayers (graphic novel) and Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 (book). I like the framing story better than the Tales of Slayers one, probably because it felt a little less like a framing story and had a little more character and plot going on. My favorites in this collection were the stories that weren't mind-numbingly grim. I liked the first story of a man who outgrows his vampire father, as well as the story of the fangirl turned vamp, although I was sort of wondering if Joss was doing the down-on-fans thing. I don't really think so, though, and mostly I was happy and excited to see LoTR referenced. It was also nice having a (very) contemporary vampire.
The three stories that actually involved Buffyverse characters (Spike&Dru, Angel, and Buffy vs. Dracula take 2) were all right but not astonishing, and I particularly disliked Buffy vs. Dracula 2 because of the art.
Ben Edlund's story was incredibly grim and disturbing. Several other stories felt like they should have been more interesting than they actually were. And I really liked the art for the noir vampire piece, although the story itself wasn't particularly remarkable.
I think for some reason the tendency toward grimness (and violence) in the graphic novel disturbs me more than the stories in Tales of the Slayer Vol. 1, probably because I can see the graphicness in the art, and I am very easily squicked by blood and violence.
Looking back over all the stories, it's not actually quite as depressing and as grim as it felt while I was reading it, but all in all, it's not a very uplifting book, much like Tales of the Slayers (graphic novel) and Tales of the Slayer, Vol. 1 (book). I like the framing story better than the Tales of Slayers one, probably because it felt a little less like a framing story and had a little more character and plot going on. My favorites in this collection were the stories that weren't mind-numbingly grim. I liked the first story of a man who outgrows his vampire father, as well as the story of the fangirl turned vamp, although I was sort of wondering if Joss was doing the down-on-fans thing. I don't really think so, though, and mostly I was happy and excited to see LoTR referenced. It was also nice having a (very) contemporary vampire.
The three stories that actually involved Buffyverse characters (Spike&Dru, Angel, and Buffy vs. Dracula take 2) were all right but not astonishing, and I particularly disliked Buffy vs. Dracula 2 because of the art.
Ben Edlund's story was incredibly grim and disturbing. Several other stories felt like they should have been more interesting than they actually were. And I really liked the art for the noir vampire piece, although the story itself wasn't particularly remarkable.
I think for some reason the tendency toward grimness (and violence) in the graphic novel disturbs me more than the stories in Tales of the Slayer Vol. 1, probably because I can see the graphicness in the art, and I am very easily squicked by blood and violence.