Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus Vol. 5

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus #5

by Christopher Golden

Volume 5 of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer omnibus series begins immediately after Season 3, after Sunnydale High has gone up in flames. Buffy is plagued by dreams of fellow Slayer Faith, who now lies in a coma. Jane Espenson, the celebrated writer from the Buffy TV show, writes the powerful Faith story Haunted. And as summer comes to an end, Buffy and Willow begin their first year of college in The Blood of Carthage, a story written by acclaimed Buffy novelist Christopher Golden. Meanwhile, Buffy embarks on a new romance with Riley Finn, and Willow and Oz's relationship comes to an end in Golden's Oz: Into the Wild. This volume also features work by Buffy Season 8 contributors Cliff Richards, Paul Lee, and Brian Horton.

This book collects Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Haunted, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Blood of Carthage, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Autumnal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Oz—Into the Wild, "Take Back the Night" from DHP Annual 2000, and "Killing Time" from Dark Horse Presents #150.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Vampires, Fantasy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Fiction, Horror

368 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 24, 2004

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN is the New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of such novels as Road of Bones, Ararat, Snowblind, Of Saints and Shadows, and Red Hands. With Mike Mignola, he is the co-creator of the Outerverse comic book universe, including such series as Baltimore, Joe Golem: Occult Detective, and Lady Baltimore. As an editor, he has worked on the short story anthologies Seize the Night, Dark Cities, and The New Dead, among others, and he has also written and co-written comic books, video games, screenplays, and a network television pilot. Golden co-hosts the podcast Defenders Dialogue with horror author Brian Keene. In 2015 he founded the popular Merrimack Valley Halloween Book Festival. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. His work has been nominated for the British Fantasy Award, the Eisner Award, and multiple Shirley Jackson Awards. For the Bram Stoker Awards, Golden has been nominated ten times in eight different categories. His original novels have been published in more than fifteen languages in countries around the world. Please visit him at www.christophergolden.com

Reviews

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

***Indie 500 Buddy Read with the Shallow Readers! Indie Publisher this time: Dark Horse Comics***

This was an awesome volume! I'm just going to go through each of the lengthy ones separately, since there were so few this time around. (There are spoilers for the show ahead, so if you've been living under a rock, you should maaaaaybe wait on this review!)

Haunted by Jane Espenson:
We all knew this one was going to rock. Jane has a history with writing for Buffy and she brought her knowledge to the table and then some. Okay, so the school has just burned down. But the Mayor isn't gone for good just yet. He runs around possessing the dead bodies of animals, people and vampires alike, all to get a shot at Buffy, and to stick around for Faith. Faith is in the hospital from her numerous injuries, and it's still uncertain if she's going to wake up. But that doesn't mean she gets left out of all the action. Buffy starts having dreams about Faith, where Faith is seriously kicking ass and killing Buffy at every turn. Let's not forget all of the talk of upcoming college experiences, and Xander still being conflicted about what the hell he actually plans on doing. Oh, and did I mention that this is actually the first mention we get of The Initiative and thus, ADAM! Sadly, no Riley Finn in this one, but he comes along later, looking as dreamy as ever in all his pencilized glory.

The Blood of Carthage by Christopher Golden:
This was a super fun one for me. It depicted Buffy and Willow in their first months at college. And subsequently Xander just doing his thing. Willow of course is in her element, with Oz ever so faithful by her side. Meanwhile, Buffy is still pondering if she can be an actual human being with a life while simultaneously being the chosen one, the Slayer. There is a bit of angst in this story, but let's be honest, Buffy is angsty in the best way, and she totally deserves to be. Any who, the flashbacks to young Willow and Xander were adorable. Their friendship is one for the ages, and seeing them as youngsters made my heart feel really happy. Then you add in that The Initiative has already been around for a bit, and Spike is in that awesome NO KILLING HUMANS! zone, so he swoops in to help keep a super duper bad demon at bay, while also calling an alliance with some not equally as evil demons in order to ensure success. Lots more happens, but it's more fun if you just read it.

The Heart of the Slayer by Chris Boal:
Enter: Riley Finn. Job description: Initiative agent, college student, mega dreamboat, nicest guy on the planet, kicks serious bad guy ass, has a sense of humor to last lightyears, is sadly Buffy's boyfriend and not mine, and even more sad, he is fictional. That is really the most important thing that you need to know about all of the men in Buffy's life. Riley Finn for the win! (that HAS to be his official slogan for Prez) But in all seriousness, this story was short but fun. Once again another Slayer shows up, this one from the very distant past, and she comes entirely to save Buffy. The guilt that Buffy feels, along with all of her past guilts, is really very sad.

Cemetery of Lost Love by Fassbender and Pascoe:
Typical Twilight bullshit: Girl wants to live forever, and her vamp boyfriend says "Baby, whatever you want so long as you keep taking my gross vampire man bits" and she's allllll for it. Until Buffy intervenes. And thus, the rest of the story: Pissed off girlfriend who now has dust for a boyfriend, calls up a pal to help with some voodoo so that she can live eternally, shit goes down, blah blah blah, it backfires, she dies. Thank god there's only one Bella in the world of fiction because that's five too many.

Oz by Christopher Golden:
I love Oz, and I love what he did for Willow while they were together, and while he fought to get back to her. This entails everything that he did after separating. And it is intense. I love his devotion. I love his willingness to help even when he's not doing so hot. I even love his optimism, though the last two lines hurt me majorly (does anyone else always forget that Oz goes BACK for Willow and turns out she's a lesbian now??? BECAUSE I ALWAYS FORGET THAT HEARTBREAK). Anyways. Awesome story for Oz discovering how to control himself, and how to be free ultimately.

Awesome volume, once again! I am really excited to get the sixth!

[Arie ☂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best omnibus so far. And not even Riley's presence could hinder my enjoyment of this installment!



Haunted: Finally we get some Faith! And in the form of creepy dreams- my favourite! Plus, Faith and The Mayor has always been one of my favourite criminal mastermind/henchman turned quasi father/daughter relationships.



The Blood of Carthage: A strong story arc with multiple character flashbacks over many eras. My favourite was probably visiting little Willow and Xander in 1987-1989. They looked absolutely adorable. I loved the art for this section.



The rest of the art was pretty blah. But Spike (and a little bit of Dru) more than make up for it.





The Heart of a Slayer: We meet another Slayer (11th century) chasing a pesky demon through time and Buffy is none too plussed to meet her.



Cemetery of Lost Love: Zombies, rats and a little bif of Spike. What else do you need?



Oz: Chronicles Oz's travels when he left Willow in season four to learn to control his beast. He starts in Hong Kong and encounters these cool shape-shifting fire demons that give him a hand, and eventually ends up in Tibet learning from a master. I really liked the art in this one.



Oz really gets a chance to shine. The tone is so hopeful and heartwarming, it's a little depressing knowing what's going to happen when he returns to Sunnydale. -sniffles-

[Sandra (youmaysayimareader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

[Nori Fitchett · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Love this series

[Cristina (bibliotecadepueblo) · Rating 3 out of 5]

.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm currently watching season four of the TV show, so this tied in nicely to the episodes I've recently seen. My favourite story was definitly Haunted by Jane Espenson - it picked up right where season three left off and I could just imagine The Mayor saying the lines in his smarmy voice as I read it. The artwork is good, but I didn't think Xander looked very much like Nicholas Brendon in any of the stories. Also Oz's story wasn't very satisfying or informative, which was pretty disappointing. He was an awesome character in the TV series and I feel like he deserved better in his comic book afterlife. This still gets a fairly good rating because IT'S BUFFY, and it's hard to make that bad

[Fugo Feedback · Rating 3 out of 5]

Qué lindo poder disfrutar de una historia completa dedicada a Faith y el Alcalde. Sin duda lo mejor del tomo, y quizás de la serie en general. El resto de las historias también están bastante entretenidas, sobre todo la de Oz. Lástima que tiene un dibujo deplorable. Sin duda lo peor del tomo, y quizás de la serie en general.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an explosive volume. With everyone stuck in the in-between of leaving high school and into uncertain futures, it was the storylines I'd been waiting to read. That moment between the end of season 3 and the beginning of season 4. The dissonance was jarring but really added to the BTVS anthology. Even though there's always danger, always a fight, and always an apocalypse, but that doesn't always mean a happy ending. Makes me laugh since BTVS isn't known for too many of those. This volume was extra in the sad though.
However, I loved the focus on some of the characters that left, like Oz. Getting his own story was fantastic. So much fun and it was a great experience outside of Sunnydale. This. on top of the other ones in this collection filled in so much and really brought the emotional rollercoaster. Definitely a big favorite of mine.

Full Review:
https://thescarletreaderreviews.wordp...

[Aaronlisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two things that should be mentioned before I go any further: First this is a re-read for me and secondly, it's probably closer to a 3.5 star read than a straight up 3 star read. That said, it's probably for the more die hard Buffy fan than the casual one.

The collection of stories in this Omnibus start at the end of Season Three and go into early Season Four. Although most of the stories are pretty well done and don't impact canon too much (as in say something important happens and then it never happened in canon) and rather give some explanations for events that happened in canon but we were never told how in canon., the first and the last stories are the best in the collection.

The cover is also a bit of a lie as Faith only kind of appears - as a dream - in the first story. But even dream!Faith is better than no Faith.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to give an overall rating to a collection, and this is a real mixed bag, so I'll settle on 3.5 overall.

I thought the opening Faith story was great, if a little hard to adjust to seeing the Mayor's "afterlife". Unfortunately the collection took a bit of a turn for me with Blood of Carthage; I didn't hugely enjoy it and found it quite hard to get engaged, which is a shame as it made up over half the book.

I did enjoy Heart of a Slayer and Cemetery of Lost Love, but the Oz story I also felt was a little underwhelming, and didn't love it!

[Alma Lectora · Rating 4 out of 5]

un quinto tomo con muchas historias variadas. Donde descubrimos mucho pasado de los personajes más secundarios. Y vemos como los personajes van creciendo en su nuevo entorno de la universidad. Además de la historia separada de uno de los personajes secundarios donde lucha contra su yo interno.

Más sobre mi opinión en la reseña del blog
http://almalectora.blogspot.com/2017/...

[inkspell_blu · Rating 4 out of 5]

This comic omnibus was fairly good! I did think it suffered a bit compared to the rest with the lack of Angel...but then I am an Angel fan so that makes sense. There is a great short story with Baron Samedi and Spike sort of trying to help while completely denying it that I really enjoyed. The look into where Oz was just before he returns in season 4 was also more enjoyable than expected. Not to mention little Willow and Xander were too cute. I’ll be looking into reading #6.

[Lilli W. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finally! Spike. In. Cliff. Richard's. Art. Every piece of media ever made would be better if Spike was in it. Who doesn't love a snarky, British vampire? Also loved the Oz story! I still get whiplash when anyone refers to him as "Daniel" though. Consistently good art and a fun time all around, best volume so far. Angel Omnibus next, but I gotta finish the show first ;P

[Amory · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was another Buffy omnibus that perfectly kept the tone and style of the series. The artwork was also done well and the characters actually looked like their actors. Just 4 stars because having the last like 70 pages be about Oz's journey after Sunnydale bored me.

[Isa Lot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Me ha encantado, como siempre, y que apareciera Faith le ha dado muchísima más acción.

[Cory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice

It definitely feels more like the Buffy world and characters. Loved the time traveling slayer one and the oz story.com

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some very good stories that add to the overall Buffy 'legend'.

[Chrisie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know if the stories are getting better or if I'm getting used to the graphic novel format, lol. Probably the stories. ;)

[Chandler Atkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best omnibus I've read so far! Set at the end of season 3 and through season 4.

[Angela Natividad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Better.

[Randy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This particular collection was meh. This one had more ongoing series vs the previous omnibus. Over all you could skip this one. Takes place at the beginning of season 4.

[Drululu · Rating 4 out of 5]

El dibujo de este tomo ha sido de mis preferidos. Al estar ambientado en la cuarta temporada en su mayoría, tenemos a un Spike cojonero que no tiene precio y, por suerte, Riley sale muy poco.

Mis favoritos han sido hechizada (de lo mejor), la sangre de Cartago y corazón de Cazadora.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun bunch of stories - recommended for Buffy fans of season 3-4+

[clara · Rating 2 out of 5]

me la pela tanto oz

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 . Everything was pretty good except, unfortunately, the Oz story at the end. My dude deserved better than that mess.

[Buffy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Oz comic! The story I didn’t know I needed, but sadly wish there was more.

[Lavender · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun graphic novels that describe what happened in between the episodes of the show.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just more Buffy-verse awesomeness including a story about Oz and Willow.

[Bibliothèque Edmundston Library]

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[Kirsty · Rating 3 out of 5]

enjoyed this