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Buffy the Vampire Slayer (trade paperbacks) #3
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Blood
Buffy the next runway supermodel? Believe it! Buffy pursues a potential modeling career only to learn that beauty isn't just skin deep. Selke, the vampire Buffy thought was killed in a mausoleum fire, returns with a vengeance, and convinces a plastic surgeon to find a solution to her "cosmetic" complaints. She's back, and she's out for blood literally! Expanding the mythos of television's hottest horror/adventure series, Bad Blood is high-stakes graphic-novel entertainment served up Buffy-style!
88 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2012
1 person is currently reading
196 people want to read
About the author
Andi Watson
150 books92 followersAndrew "Andi" Watson (born 1969) is a British cartoonist and illustrator best known for the graphic novels Breakfast After Noon, Slow News Day and his series Love Fights, published by Oni Press and Slave Labor Graphics.
Watson has also worked for more mainstream American comic publishers with some work at DC Comics, a twelve-issue limited series at Marvel Comics, with the majority at Dark Horse Comics, moving recently to Image Comics.
Watson has also worked for more mainstream American comic publishers with some work at DC Comics, a twelve-issue limited series at Marvel Comics, with the majority at Dark Horse Comics, moving recently to Image Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 12, 2023
I didn't expect to like this as much as I did, which was a nice surprise since the last couple of comics has been easy and fun to read but Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Bad Blood was really well written and the illustrations were on point, well done!!
The only part of the Selke story that I find difficult to swallow is with the plastic surgeon and Joyce acted out of character for me of being willing or toying with the idea of plastic surgery.
I guess I was drawing from Kristie Sutherland's performance as Joyce Summers from the TV show and my impression was that she was always comfortable in her own skin, even though, on the show AND in this story, Joyce struggles with self-doubt and self-image due to her age and her desire to find love and that is an honest fear anyone would have, no matter anyone's age.
I also liked the beautiful scene between Buffy and Joyce too, concerning this issue, and this mother and daughter duo appreciating inner beauty and self-worth.
I really liked the end story with the sea monster whose similar life mission echoes Buffy's responsibility as the Chosen One.
The only part of the Selke story that I find difficult to swallow is with the plastic surgeon and Joyce acted out of character for me of being willing or toying with the idea of plastic surgery.
I guess I was drawing from Kristie Sutherland's performance as Joyce Summers from the TV show and my impression was that she was always comfortable in her own skin, even though, on the show AND in this story, Joyce struggles with self-doubt and self-image due to her age and her desire to find love and that is an honest fear anyone would have, no matter anyone's age.
I also liked the beautiful scene between Buffy and Joyce too, concerning this issue, and this mother and daughter duo appreciating inner beauty and self-worth.
I really liked the end story with the sea monster whose similar life mission echoes Buffy's responsibility as the Chosen One.
March 16, 2015
It's been a while since I read any of these Buffy comics, hasn't it? Got a bit sidetracked. Anyway, the Bad Blood collection contains a mere three issues (#9-11), the first part of a larger long-running arc. Andi Watson is still going strong as the writer, and Joe Bennett subs back in as the artist for this arc. These three issues are available either here or in Buffy The Vampire Slayer Omnibus Volume IV.
Life goes on apace for the Scoobies in these three issues. Nothing too life-changing happens in the parts of the story focused on our favorite slayer and her friends, as these issues blend a fairly episodic approach to the Scoobies with a long-game story featuring Selke, the vengeful vampire who got torched back in Cold Turkey. Hey Good Lookin' (issues #9-10) sees Selke recruits an amoral plastic surgeon to try and fix her "cosmetic issues" while Buffy tries to balance tracking a band of ghouls who have been using the local cemetery as a diner with her surprising new gig: modelling! Then in A Boy Named Sue (issue #11) Buffy and the gang have to deal with an arrogant and duplicitous something-or-other, frontman for a band that rivals Oz and the Dingoes while being utter tools. Todd Dahl has decided that it's time to add another "S" to his little black book of conquests, and he's settled on our favorite Ms. Summers despite the fact that she's not interested. Amy is, though, and she can be quite vengeful when spurned....
My reactions this time are...mixed. The art is definitely improving, even Xander is mostly recognizable. Probably a mix of the artist improving and me getting over my grumpiness with his appearance in these books. Everyone else is pretty well done though. Kudos to Mr. Bennett, he's put my complaints to rest. The writing is where I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's perfectly spot-on when it comes to dialogue and characters sounding like themselves. On the other hand, there are deep flaws in this story arc. I don't buy that Joyce Summers would be considering plastic surgery--it just doesn't seem consistent with her character. The plastic surgeon suddenly becoming adept at magic? Maybe, I can buy that, especially if he's a quick study. He seems to accumulate enough arcane books quickly enough, probably from Selke. But being able to pull off a tricky translation from an ancient language? Not exactly something they teach at medical school. This is of course somewhat balanced by the sheer hilarity of his attempt to buy time by passing off a jar of mayo as some mystery salve. Why did he have a random jar of mayo sitting in his operating room? I have no idea, and for once I don't care. The writing was occasionally quite abrupt, switching scenes without warning, and I think each of these issues could have benefited from another couple pages, but that's not always an option.
CONTENT: No profanity that I can recall. Vampire violence consistent with the Buffy television show. Some mild sexual innuendo, from tight clothes consistent with a comic book to a character attempting to seduce a girl (and then lying about his failure the next day), plus the requisite jokes when a male character gets magicked into a female. Buffyverse vampires could be considered occultic due to their demonic nature, but it didn't bug me.
Life goes on apace for the Scoobies in these three issues. Nothing too life-changing happens in the parts of the story focused on our favorite slayer and her friends, as these issues blend a fairly episodic approach to the Scoobies with a long-game story featuring Selke, the vengeful vampire who got torched back in Cold Turkey. Hey Good Lookin' (issues #9-10) sees Selke recruits an amoral plastic surgeon to try and fix her "cosmetic issues" while Buffy tries to balance tracking a band of ghouls who have been using the local cemetery as a diner with her surprising new gig: modelling! Then in A Boy Named Sue (issue #11) Buffy and the gang have to deal with an arrogant and duplicitous something-or-other, frontman for a band that rivals Oz and the Dingoes while being utter tools. Todd Dahl has decided that it's time to add another "S" to his little black book of conquests, and he's settled on our favorite Ms. Summers despite the fact that she's not interested. Amy is, though, and she can be quite vengeful when spurned....
My reactions this time are...mixed. The art is definitely improving, even Xander is mostly recognizable. Probably a mix of the artist improving and me getting over my grumpiness with his appearance in these books. Everyone else is pretty well done though. Kudos to Mr. Bennett, he's put my complaints to rest. The writing is where I have mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's perfectly spot-on when it comes to dialogue and characters sounding like themselves. On the other hand, there are deep flaws in this story arc. I don't buy that Joyce Summers would be considering plastic surgery--it just doesn't seem consistent with her character. The plastic surgeon suddenly becoming adept at magic? Maybe, I can buy that, especially if he's a quick study. He seems to accumulate enough arcane books quickly enough, probably from Selke. But being able to pull off a tricky translation from an ancient language? Not exactly something they teach at medical school. This is of course somewhat balanced by the sheer hilarity of his attempt to buy time by passing off a jar of mayo as some mystery salve. Why did he have a random jar of mayo sitting in his operating room? I have no idea, and for once I don't care. The writing was occasionally quite abrupt, switching scenes without warning, and I think each of these issues could have benefited from another couple pages, but that's not always an option.
CONTENT: No profanity that I can recall. Vampire violence consistent with the Buffy television show. Some mild sexual innuendo, from tight clothes consistent with a comic book to a character attempting to seduce a girl (and then lying about his failure the next day), plus the requisite jokes when a male character gets magicked into a female. Buffyverse vampires could be considered occultic due to their demonic nature, but it didn't bug me.
December 16, 2024
In the main story here, Buffy and her friends begin investigating the arrival in Sunnydale of a gang of corpse-eating monsters. Meanwhile, the vampire Selke, who has twice run afoul of Buffy, attempts to recover her former beauty and position among the undead society of Sunnydale.
In the back-up story, Buffy encounters a suicidal sea monster.
In this book Andi Watson works really hard to try to sell the idea of Selke as a decent recurring villain for the comics, but I'm just really not buying it. Aside from surviving being stabbed and burned by Buffy, there is nothing about Selke that makes her stand out as an antagonist. She's not especially powerful, she's not terrifyingly evil and she's not especially cunning. She's a bland, middle-of-the-road villain for a bland middle-of-the-road story.
The back-up story, featuring a Creature From The Black Lagoon-esque monster, is a bit more engaging but is far too short to redeem the book as a whole.
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In the back-up story, Buffy encounters a suicidal sea monster.
In this book Andi Watson works really hard to try to sell the idea of Selke as a decent recurring villain for the comics, but I'm just really not buying it. Aside from surviving being stabbed and burned by Buffy, there is nothing about Selke that makes her stand out as an antagonist. She's not especially powerful, she's not terrifyingly evil and she's not especially cunning. She's a bland, middle-of-the-road villain for a bland middle-of-the-road story.
The back-up story, featuring a Creature From The Black Lagoon-esque monster, is a bit more engaging but is far too short to redeem the book as a whole.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
May 6, 2025
Ok… the comics are finding their feet. This volume was pretty good. No one accidentally called Sunnydale Sunnyvale, once you look past the glaring differences like the bat features of the vamps, the sets looking all different, etc this was actually pretty good. We have a bit of a comic big bad in the Vampire Selke (I think her name is) who is across multiple volumes now, the first two issues were like a badly developed episode of the show with Buffy getting a modeling gig and the other models turning out to be ghouls, stealing youth. If that was thought about a little more it could have been really good. And then the end was a short story about one of the fish demons like in the second last episode of season 2 (Go Fish), this demon was a chosen one for their people to find a new safer home under the ocean. It wasn’t linked to Go Fish but in my head, as the comics seem to be set in season 3, the fish chosen one Buffy met in this story is trying to find a new home safer and more distant from humans for his kind including the former Sunnydale High swim team.
July 24, 2025
not the strongest buffy comic i've read, but definitely the longest.
it was so long it almost felt like watching a sweet, slightly chaotic buffy movie.
reading about all the buffy clone sisters was honestly such a blast. i wish the show had done something this wild and fun.
spike and dru’s appearances were short but had a strong impact, i'm excited to see where their story goes in the upcoming issues.
overall, a very enjoyable read.
rated it 3.5, rounded up to 4.
it was so long it almost felt like watching a sweet, slightly chaotic buffy movie.
reading about all the buffy clone sisters was honestly such a blast. i wish the show had done something this wild and fun.
spike and dru’s appearances were short but had a strong impact, i'm excited to see where their story goes in the upcoming issues.
overall, a very enjoyable read.
rated it 3.5, rounded up to 4.
August 4, 2018
dit speelt zich af tijdens seizoen 3 van de tv-serie. ze jagen op ghouls en er is een vampier die zwaar verbrand is die niet liever wil dan weer mooi te zijn. het leest een beetje weg als een extra aflevering. ik ben dol op Buffy the Vampire Slayer en heb ook erg genoten van deze strip. heb hem in een keer uitgelezen.
April 26, 2023
Largely featuring a returning villain from a story from The Remaining Sunlight. The story was pretty run-of-the-mill and has no payoff. Research informs me that a later issue will address this, but it was a little galling that the final story of this volume was unrelated to anything else (I liked it, it just didn't give me closure).
June 19, 2019
Illustrations get 4 story 2.
October 3, 2017
I like the last page where the sea-creature swims off under the moonlight ^_^ :P
October 1, 2009
this book is about a girl who is a slayer and kill vampires, so they can't harm innocent people. while she doing this she gets to modeling, but as result the models are vampires. one day they invite her to go out to eat and when she comes to meet them she has to fight them because they try to kill her and somebody help her to kill them. also, she has to find out who is killing people. at the end she goest out by herself and fights vampires who try to kill her and a monster help her because he know her. also, he understands what it mean to be the chosen one and he says thanks to buffy.
December 11, 2010
This is part of the Buffy the Vampire Comic book Series, and seems to take place during season three after angel comes back from Hell. Selke is the villain and is trying to recover her beauty after Buffy sent her and her lair up in flames.
I was a little disturbed by Buffy having to give her mother advice on why not to get plastic surgery, which just seemed bizarre to me and a bit out of character for Joyce Summers. Call me picky but I didn’t like that plot line. The ghoul’s where fun and I found it hilarious who they ended up being in the story.
I was a little disturbed by Buffy having to give her mother advice on why not to get plastic surgery, which just seemed bizarre to me and a bit out of character for Joyce Summers. Call me picky but I didn’t like that plot line. The ghoul’s where fun and I found it hilarious who they ended up being in the story.
April 12, 2011
Selke makes me sick. >.<
February 24, 2014
Interesting book
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews