Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (mini-series)

by Dan Brereton, Christopher Golden, Joe Bennett (Illustrator)

The first chapter of Buffy's rise to slayer stardom reveals a somewhat reluctant teenager gradually accepting her role as L.A.'s protector and principle stake-master in the face of an undead invasion. Original.

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

117 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Daniel Alan "Dan" Brereton is a Comic book storyteller, 5-time Eisner not-winner. Responsible for The Nocturnals and a lot of comics.

Reviews

[Wren (fablesandwren) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember that "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" movie that kind of got shoved under the couch and forgotten because it wasn't that great and so then the show happened and heaven opened up and showed us the glory of Buffy and all that she can be?

Yah this is basically that movie without the bad acting.

Buffy was the "IT" girl in school. Hot guy on her arm, head of the dance committee, and the girl all the boys drooled after. She even had the whole lollipop thing going for her that was a big thing in the 90's.



So when a watcher shows up and tells her about her destine, she isn't happy about it. But she also sees that she has little choice in the matter, sadly.

This issue is all about Buffy and what she went through from learning she was The Vampire Slayer to before she went to Sunnydale High School. This issue is about how Buffy became the Buffy we know and love.

[Penelope (Penelope’s Picks) · Rating 5 out of 5]

*5.0*

Dude, this is where it all started. How could I not give it 5/5 stars??

[Taha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ekim Ayı Cadılar Bayramı Temalı Kitap Maratonu'mun son gününde Buffy'nin avcı olduğu ilk zamanı anlatan bu çizgi romanı okuyarak küçük bir ironi yapayım dedim:) Bu ironiyi yapmak için çok kafa patlattım.

Tabii Buffy'nin Gentlemenli bu bölümüne gönderme yapmak için patlattığım kadar değil.

Neyse...
-Bu kitapta Buffy the Vampire Slayer'ın 1992 yapımı "origin" hikayesini tekrardan çizgi roman tarzında yazmışlar. Orijinal filmi bilenler bilir; Buffy karakteri fena değildi ama film genel olarak 7 sezonluk TV dizisinin çok çok altında bir seviyedeydi. Burada da filmdeki konunun dışına pek çıkılmamış ama ben yine de filmden biraz daha çok sevdim bu çizgi romanı. Ayrıca espriler tam Buffy'nin o eğlenceli havasını yansıtan ve sesli kahkahalar atmama neden olan cinstendiler:)
-Bugünü -günün anlam ve önemine binaen- patlamış mısır eşliğinde Buffy'nin "Cadılar Bayramı" temalı bölümlerini izleyerek geçirdim ve finali de bu çizgi romanla yapmış oldum:)
+Mutfağınızdan balkabağınız, hard diskinizden korku filmleriniz eksik olmasın. Cadılar Bayramınız kutlu olsun;)

[julia ☆ [owls reads] · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. Very of its time.

[MyOwnBookAdventures · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently diving into the Buffy-fanlife. I'm loving the show and really wished I had tried it out sooner!

So I figured I could give some of the comics a chance too!
This one's a nice settup for the origin story of Buffy.

There are 3 issues to read btw (I'm pretty sure Goodreads puts them all under the same name/comic so the rating is for all 3).

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an adaptation of the screenplay of the movie Buffy the Vampire Slayer with the likeness of the tv show versions of Buffy and Merrick and without any of the bizarre line readings or miscasting. It's completely functional. If you really need an origin for Buffy then this does the job perfectly competently, albeit very rushed. Not a must read by any means, but doesn't hurt.

[WyrmbergSabrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meet Buffy, the vampire slayer, right at the start.
While this may come across as an abridged version of the movie, this comic is still full of snappy quips from Buffy, some seriously gross vampires, and Pike, the first of the Scobbies.
If you've not seen the film, this is a pretty good place to start with the Buffy verse.

[Georgia Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a massive Buffy fan, it was a lot of fun to experience Buffy’s origin as it was originally intended. The art style was cool and the characterisation was fun. A very nice addition to my favourite tv show.

[Meg · Rating 3 out of 5]

haven’t seen the movie for this one but i like how this gives the background of Buffy getting the call that gets left out of the series

[Andrea Dearborn · Rating 5 out of 5]

love it!

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, my wife and I have been watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer recently. We’re basically on a Joss Whedon kick, to be honest, but that’s not a problem by any means! Aside from all the premature cancellation going on, at least…. Anyway, you may or may not know that before the show there was a movie. Whedon wrote the screenplay, but there were a lot of changes made during the production process that he felt detracted from the overall quality and tone of the work. When he got the chance to revisit that universe with the show, he wrote the pilot as a sequel to his original screenplay, not what eventually made it to the screen, which rendered the show inconsistent with what had come before. For example, the repeated comments that Buffy burned down her old school–in the film, it didn’t burn down. So in an effort to present to fans Whedon’s original vision, Dark Horse comics commissioned a three-issue miniseries based on Whedon’s original screenplay, using the likenesses of the characters as they appear in the show. The result mostly pleased Whedon, who declared that while he still had a few issues with it, he was glad that fans could now see his original vision for the story. For some reason, he also went out of his way to insult Donald Sutherland, who played Merrick in the film. Not sure why–I haven’t seen the movie, but Donald Sutherland is an incredible actor. Possibly just because his take on the character was so different from what Whedon had conceived….Anyway, moving on.

For Buffy Summers, life couldn’t be more normal. She’s on the cheerleading squad, she’s helping plan the fall dance, and is dating the captain of the Basketball team. Sure, she’s been having strange dreams about fighting vampires in different eras throughout history, but that’s normal…right? Then some guy shows up claiming that she’s The Slayer, the one girl empowered to fight the forces of Darkness and defend the world from the vampires and demons that lurk in the shadows. Needless to say, this somewhat puts a crimp in her social calendar….

My first contact with the Buffyverse was actually the novelization of the film, so I was somewhat familiar with this story when I started the show. Still, that was years ago and, as I mentioned above, not totally consistent with Whedon’s vision. So from that perspective, it was nice to see how it all was supposed to get started. The writing was good, not sure how much of that was Whedon and how much was Brereton and Golden. We actually got a flashback to one of these scenes recently in the show (by which I mean the end of Season 2), and I was pleased to see it was nearly word for word both places. The art was…serviceable. Not as good as I’ve come to expect from Dark Horse, but good enough that it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the book. Buffy did actually look like Sarah Michelle Gellar, so that was well done at least.

CONTENT: Vampire violence consistent with the show, with people getting bit and vampires getting staked. Not too gory, since Buffyverse vampires disintegrate into a cloud of dust when they die. No language, though Lothos uses rude language is censored (it gets stylized “b—-,” if you must know). Sexual innuendos, including Buffy finding her ex-boyfriend in the backseat of a car with another girl, being begged to “make her a woman.” There are vampires, which debatably counts as occult content. Normally I would say they don’t, but the way vampirism in the Buffyverse works is that when you are turned your soul is replaced with a demon, so….

[John Pridgen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This retelling of Joss Whedon's original script for the Buffy movie was entertaining but didn't quite reach its fullest potential. It's pitched as an attempt to be faithful to that script while bringing it in line with the show, but it oddly doesn't go quite all the way. The vampires dust and have vamp faces, but some just outright look like bat creatures for reasons that aren't explained (which isn't in the original script, movie, or show that I could see)? And because I had rewatched parts of the show so recently, it's bizarre that they went partway to squaring it with the flashbacks shown in the show, but not all the way. Merrick looks closer to the show version than the movie version, though still different. The initial scene with him meeting Buffy is pulled near word for word from the show's flashback, but with some added lines about Jeffrey, since she was talking about a guy named Tyler (seriously, why not just make Jeffrey into Tyler with a few narrative changes), and the visual presentation of these scenes doesn't match the scenes shown in the show. And with the first bout of vamp training, they straight up ignored the flashback from the show where she missed the heart at first (which is referenced later in the show when she's training Dawn), instead choosing to go with a straight-up adaptation of the script in this case.

Because of these changes, the comic can't really square with the show, which is bizarre, because it would have taken just a few minor tweaks. It also would have been nice to have a cameo by Ford, who was the only character from Buffy's previous life in LA who shows up in the show, even if he wasn't to be made a major character.

These are mostly nitpicking, but the plot does feel rushed and confusing at times... I looked up the original script to clarify things at points. It does give a general idea of what the movie would have been like as a true prologue to the show, but it doesn't quite go the full distance.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

So, all the hardcore Buffy fans have probably watched the original movie from 1992 and will thereby be familiar with the basic plot of this comic depicting the time where Buffy was called as the Slayer and met her first watcher Merrick. Thing is, the movie wasn't very good (in my opinion), but the comic is, because the comic is based on Joss Whedon's original script for the movie (which was changed during production) and thereby tells the story the way it was supposed to be.

For those of you who haven't watched the movie, I'll just quickly sum up what this story is about: Buffy Summers is a popular LA high school girl whose biggest concerns are clothes and guys - and, especially, that big prom coming up. When a weird guy turns up one day and tells her she's the Slayer and is destined to fight vampires, etc. she really doesn't want to believe him at first. However, when convinced, she takes the responsibility upon herself and grows with the job.

You should read this. It's got vampires, Slayer action, and it's got Pike, and Pike is cool.

[Joseph Gagnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looks like we're not in for much different from the movie. Of course there is a bit of a different look and feel over all. The moment where Buffy first meets Merrick is more like the revised version of that scene in the Buffy TV show. I thought Donald Southerland did a great job in the role in the movie, but I understand why they went with the series imagery on this one.

This would be a great comic to read for any serious Buffy fan. Anyone who has seen the movie and isn't uber obsessed could probably skip this and be no less happy. If you had a choice between the movie and the comic, I'd recommend the comic. It's the little things that really make this story great. Whedon is great at the little things. Lothos looks more badass in this. I wonder if we'll find out any more about him in this.

I've seen some whispers online that Pike makes it into comic stories outside of this origin book. How exciting is that? For sure! Alright, next issue.

Read more commentary and add your own here: http://www.rjspindle.com/content/buff...

[sj · Rating 4 out of 5]

That asshole that watches a movie, then re-reads the source material and tells you what was wrong? That's usually me. But...I have a soft spot for this movie, so I can't bring myself to talk about how Merrick was way cooler in the comic (he killed himself to keep from being turned by Lothos!), or how Luke Perry was a horrible choice for Pike (THAT HAIR!), or any of a number of other things that would usually bug the shit out of me...because I still totally love it - the movie, I mean.

So, yeah. The comic is good, but won't make me hate the movie. Sorry, Joss. :/

[Mary Harker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta historia ya se había contado anteriormente en la serie, pero nunca de forma tan detallada y emotiva.
Adoro la evolución de Buffy, quien tiene que dejar atrás su vida de adolescente superficial para aceptar el duro destino de ser la Cazadora. Es una de mis características favoritas del personaje (tanto en la serie como en los cómics); su evolución, la madurez que alcanza tras superar situaciones traumáticas. La hace especialmente verosímil y le da a la saga una coherencia interna muy efectiva.
Es un cómic perfecto para fans.

[BellaGBear · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the Buffy tv-series so it is no suprise I liked this one as well. It is amazingly fun, so if you enjoy not too serious vampire stories or Buffy this book is certainly for you.

[JJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Origin adapts the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie in a way that's supposed to make sense within the same universe as the TV show (while the movie itself does not). In a way, it feels very necessary -- it is the origin of Buffy, after all, where she learns she's a slayer for the first time. But it also feels very rushed, and the three issues here don't tell a compelling story whatsoever.

The biggest flaw of The Origin is that it feels like a series of comic book panels placed next to each other on the page but that don't flow from one to the other. It frequently feels like transitions are skipped, conversations are cut away from before they end or joined in progress, character placements within scenes aren't consistent (in one scene, for example, Buffy is in a conversation, storms out the door, and in the next panel her conversation partner is standing right next to her again). The art itself isn't bad, and melds together a cartoony style that captures the light-hearted nature of many Buffy episodes with some distinctive character likenesses -- including that of Buffy herself -- that ring true for a live-action show. But the flow from one panel to the next really drags things down.

On the story side of things, The Origin hits all the expected beats (with the disclaimer that I never saw the movie, so I don't know how it compares there). Vampires show up, Buffy learns she's the slayer, she trains how to kill vampires, she kills vampires, after her school is attacked she moves to Sunnydale (where the show takes place). But the nuances of that plot aren't engaging in the slightest. The other students at her school are paper-thin caricatures and everything is moving so fast that there's no chance to get emotionally invested in any of their relationships or anything else. The dialogue also seems like it's trying to mimic the classic Whedon style, but it's either poorly written or just doesn't translate well to the written word.

Overall, The Origin is a good one-time read for Buffy fans who want to learn about how Buffy first became a slayer. But its only value is for the lore -- as a comic miniseries, it falls flat.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Based on Joss Whedon's original screenplay, this is an adaptation of the original version of Buffy's introduction to the world of Slaying, before it was changed to become the Kristy Swanson-starring Buffy movie, bringing her origin story back in line with how the TV show developed.
Vacuous young cheerleader Buffy Summers begins to have dreams of young women throughout history fighting vampires and, after encountering the mysterious Merrick, learns that they are the past lives of the Slayer, a role which has now been thrust upon her.

Despite absolutely being it's target audience when it came out (nerdy teen with gothic interests), I never actually really liked Buffy (despite a big crush on Alyson Hannigan). However, after acquiring a bunch of Buffy graphic novels, I have decided to give the franchise another try... and, honestly, I enjoyed this book far more than I was expecting to.

The core story of a young person who has a powerful and terrifying destiny thrust upon them is a trope as old as the hills, but there's a reason why it endures and here it's done pretty well. I particularly liked that, even when she was an airhead cheerleader, there is still an irreverence to Buffy that makes her engaging.

There are, unfortunately, all too many examples of painfully forced teen-speak throughout the book, written in a way that only a fully-adult man could conceive of and, due to being directly adapted from his screenplay, there is also too much of Whedon's signature quipping throughout.

But, ultimately, despite the fact that sometimes the vampires are inexplicably bright green, this is a pretty enjoyable story of the Buffyverse before it was drowning in its own lore.

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So I just finished reading the Buffy origin graphic novel. I haven't seen the movie in a good while, but it's fairly close. All in all I thought it was okayish. Having seen the movie, I didn't really need to read the comic.

My least favorite bit about the comic is that it lost my favorite line from the movie: Pike's response when his vamped friend asks to be invited in. "Invite you in? Man, you're floating!" Not only is it hilarious but it's a fun reference to Salem's Lot. I was sad to see it wasn't included in the comic.

My favorite scene from the comic is when Buffy tries to pray after her Watcher killed himself to prevent Lothos from Turning him. She starts out with "Our Father who art in Heaven" but doesn't know the prayer and starts talking, as her prayer, to her Watcher. Blew me away when she ended her talk to her Watcher with "Amen."

I think Lothos should have looked like a young, hot Rutger Hauer but that could be just me.

At the end of the comic, we suddenly learn that Buffy is telling her story to Xander and Willow. Eh, I'd have been okay with that if Sunnydale scenes had bookmarked the story, been shown at both the start and the end rather than just being a surprise at the end. I also wasn't thrilled with "What happened to PIke is another story."

All in all, not worth the read, especially if you're familiar with the movie.

[Malcolm Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having never seen the film I was interested to see the events the led Buffy and her mum to move to Summerville. It turns out she burned down the school gym.
Seriously though, this was a pretty straightforward origin story, with the watcher (who looks nothing like Donald Sutherland) being quite at home hanging around the girls' changing rooms...
The vampires looked a bit weird and certainly more batlike (and green) than the ones from the show, but the story was okay, if a little jumpy.
I liked how at the end it turns out this is a retelling by Buffy to the Scooby Gang which goes to explaining how she looked more Sarah Michelle Geller than Kirsty Swanson (any other differences could be dismissed as Buffy misremembering or deliberately changing details).

[Becky A · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Origin" received TWO AND A HALF stars.

If I hadn’t seen the movie I would’ve been lost. Kind of a disappointment.

The novel gained *stars* for these items:

* gained for: "The book caught my interest in the first five pages."

1/2 * gained for: "I thought about the book when I was forced to set it down and re-enter society."

1/2 * gained for: "There were no info dumps, poor writing, or copy edit mistakes that jerked me out of the story."

1/2 * gained for: "I was sad when the book ended. I wanted more!"

The novel failed to gain stars for this item:

NO STAR gained for: "That's it. I'm hooked on this author. I will automatically try anything she/he/they writes."

[Jack]

This is the canonical version of the film. It's not a great comic, but it gives Buffy's backstory before the series starts. I'd recommend reading it after watching at least the first episode of the TV show.

"The origin comic, though I have issues with it, CAN pretty much be accepted as canonical. They did a cool job of combining the movie script (the SCRIPT) with the series, that was nice, and using the series Merrick." - Joss Whedon

[Franchescanado · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The movie isn't canonical, but we did make a comic that keeps in all my amazing and original ideas and not the horrible terrible changes they did in the movie, that basically is canon." -Joseph Whedon

Actually Joseph, the quality of the movie isn't affected by the filmmaker's changes, it's your weird sense of humor, ironic pop-culture speech, and your inserting weird sexism into every male character's mouth.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am starting a rewatch of this wonderful series and reading the comics that go along with those stories there. As such, I watched the movie again the other day. It got me to want to read this book again.

There are a lot of similarities between the movie and this graphic novel. But there were a lot of stark differences. I wish this version of the story had been presented. But I'm glad we got it here.

A good read with some great art that makes Buffy look less like Kristy Swanson and more like Sarah Michelle Gellar.

I do wonder . . . Whatever happened with Buffy and Pike?

[Paul Dinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are wonderful gems among the good stuff which is the Buffy the Vampire slayer comics. This is the original script that Joss Whedon turned in, and it is great, putting that awful movie to shame. I loved every moment of it, and highly recommend it for all Buffy fans. The Dark Horse Buffy books, along with the many spin offs and seasons are a real embarrassment of riches. Great comics!

[Mae · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yea it’s ok for what it is, felt a little rush but I think at the time it was just meant to be a replacement for how trash the film was. Quick read, I like how similar the tv show did for Angel’s backstory. Same balding dude in brown, Buffy with a lollipop. I really like the attention to detail the show did when representing this comic in it.

[Tehanu · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess it's a solid comic... for a TV show...
I didn't learn anything new, but I wasn't expecting it.
I don't think a Buffy fan really needs this in their life. And a not fan should watch the show instead.

[Dominic Griffiths · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the sake of completeness, it's worth reading this, so you can experience the Joss Whedon version of the story behind the Buffy movie. But it's awfully rushed. If filmed, it would barely be a 45 minute TV episode. Where's the rest of the story?

[chisholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

comics and buffy whats not to like