Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11: Giles - Girl Blue

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Giles #1-4

by Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon's Watcher, Rupert Giles, goes on a solo investigation--back to high school--to uncover a vampire- and demon-filled mystery that is threatening the minds of the student body.

From Joss Whedon and Erika Alexander comes a series that returns Buffy's Rupert Giles to high school! But this time--as a grown man living in a teenage body--Giles will be a student instead of a teacher. At an inner-city LA-area school, when a mystical influence is detected and teachers start to go missing, Giles enrolls to investigate. With the help of a new friend from class, Roux, Giles finds something more than vampires and demons . . . Something unusual and frightening is happening here. If Giles can get through a few days as a student, he'll have a chance to find out who, what, and where--but high school is still hell, y'all.

Giles is dropped off to a high school adventure by writers Joss Whedon (Avengers, Serenity) and Erika Alexander (Concrete Park), and artist Jon Lam (Gotham Academy, Batgirl).

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

104 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 18, 2018

About the author

Joss Whedon (born Joseph Hill Whedon) is an American screenwriter, executive producer, film and television director, comic book writer, occasional composer, and actor, and the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures.

He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)', 'Angel (1999–2004)', 'Firefly (2002)' and its film follow-up 'Serenity (2005)', and 'Dollhouse (2009–2010)', as well as the web-series' 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)'. Whedon co-wrote and produced the horror film 'The Cabin in the Woods (2012)', and wrote and directed the film adaptation of Marvel's 'The Avengers (2012)', the third highest-grossing film of all time.

Many of Whedon's projects have cult status and his work is notable for portraying strong female characters and a belief in equality.

credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon

Reviews

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume focuses on Giles going to High school and of course something fishy is going on there that he has to fight. He meets a girl. What I don’t understand is that he’s a 50 year old man in a teenagers body. He has all this experience and life skill that should make him confident and able to deal with girls. I don’t buy the shy guy not knowing what to do. He knows what a relationship is. Anyway

A school is being brain drained from some unknown force and people are way more disinterested than normal in school. This is a demon on the grounds responsible. There is also a love interest for Giles. It is some form of vampire, but she seems different.

I thought this was just ok, and not as good as the other stuff that has been happening in season 11. It’s a decent enough read and I felt it was a little rushed. The story didn’t have time to breath.

[Chad · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was excited when I heard Kid Giles got his own series, but this was horrid. The dialogue was so unnatural and forced that I had to force myself to even finish this. Stodgy Giles going back to high school should have played to the strengths of the Buffyverse. But after the first issue, the writer seems to have forgotten they are even going to high school.

Giles falls in love with a vampire at first sight which would never happen. He's a friggin' Watcher. So many continuity errors. This is also supposed to take place during Buffy Season 11 where they establish Giles is supposed to be going to 8th grade but his smarts got him placed in 9th. Yet here, he says he's 16. I haven't met many sixteen-year old 8th graders. This book was complete rubbish. I wish I could give it negative stars.

[Micko · Rating 1 out of 5]

Avoid this if you don't like forced romances, long speeches filled with exposition, characters used as plot devices, bad dialogue and continuity errors

Read as individual issues as they were released.

I have huge issues with this story:

1) The dialogue. The story is supposedly co-written my Joss Whedon, but his trademark witty dialogue is missing throughout the entire story and it is replaced by a completely off-sounding and somewhat pretentious dialogue that would never pass human (or vampire) lips. Nobody talks like that.

2) The setting/premise. Giles back in high school. As a student. It sounds fun to me and should play well into the strengths of the Buffyverse, but it isn't used for anything unique. The story is ridden with teenage angst and repeated use of the tropes from high school stories; bullies, lockers, teachers, classes, the principal's office, but the story is poor when it comes to everything else. The strengths of the earlier Buffy seasons are exactly nowhere to be seen.

3) The love story. The attraction between Giles and Roux is forced and unnatural. They are fully, completely in love with each other from beginning to the end. I laughed out loud at the mandatory "I love you"-part.

4) The characters.

Giles has lost his personality somewhere between Buffy Season 10 and this story.

Blue does not count as a real character, her personality doesn't show, she has almost no lines, and she does not seem to matter to Giles.

Seed is a very forgettable villain who can be defeated by use of peaches and needs to deliver long speeches filled with exposition in order to make the story and his forced connection to Giles' past make sense. And speaking of forced connections, Giles also have a past connection with one of the teachers. Such random coincidences.

Roux has a personality and is developed throughout the story - especially the third part, which is a glimpse into her past. But her "specialness" is never explained, and that just is not good enough, when she differs so much from every other vampire in Buffy lore. Does she have a soul? That would explain some of the differences. But it would not explain her magic blue hair, her need to breathe or any of the other ways she is different. And needing to breathe seems to be a very big continuity error.

5) The use of Willow and Dawn. They are nothing but plot devices, and I don't understand why Giles could not just have evaded capture and followed Seed/Roux. Dawn's portal opening is too much use of Dawn's powers at a level, which we haven't seen before, in a story she isn't even part of.

I'm very disappointed with Dark Horse and Joss Whedon.

[TJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another disappointing miss from Buffy Season 11, joining Angel Season 11 as easily the worst comics to come out of Dark Horse’s canon Buffyverse. I read the four issues as they came out monthly, and I tried to love it and give the benefit of the doubt. But this series just made no sense! It was sloppily written and honestly hard to follow. Giles also didn’t sound like Giles, and you can tell the writer (not Joss, because you can also tell he didn’t write a damn word of this) was only interested in Roux. This series should have explored Giles’ character and how he felt about his current teen state, but instead it’s just a pile of garbage about a character we don’t care about. I’d say this Giles miniseries, along with Angel Season 11, can be skipped over altogether. It’s pointless and painful to read. Don’t let these stinkers stop you from reading the Buffy title or The Reckoning though! 2/5 Stars.

[Rosemary Standeven · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so looking forward to this comic – I pre-ordered it, at full price, without first reading any reviews (which I hardly ever do). I loved the Buffy and Angel series on TV – watched the episodes over and over. Likewise, loved Firefly and Serenity – and thought that Joss Whedon could do no wrong. It turns out, he can. This comic is proof that Whedon is only human, and capable of producing duds like everyone else.
I have no problems with Giles being reincarnated as a teenager in body, but with his middle-aged mind still intact. But I did have a problem with the person he has become – love-sick, no confidence in his actions, and quite frankly sleazy. I don’t like Giles lusting after a teenage girl, Roux, even if she does turn out to be older than she looks. This is GILES, father-figure to Buffy. Just because he has a new body, does not mean he also needs a personality rewrite. In between his love-sick musings, he has a demon calling him Mother to be vanquished and a school full of students turning dumber by the hour. It could have all been so much better.

[Scratch · Rating 1 out of 5]

I just assumed that this would be pretty good. But I was so, so wrong.

The biggest problem was the dialogue. The writing. The fact no one talked like a normal person. The cadence, word choice, and references were so odd and unnatural, I felt like I was trying to read with a migraine. Like I was holding my tongue between my teeth the whole time.

But there were so many other issues. The fact Giles was interested in a vampire girl before he had any indication that she might have a soul? The fact he suggested she had a soul even though there was no actual *reason* for her to have one? This weird vampire girl's weird tattoos and color-changing hair that were never really explained? The bizarre fixation with her friend "Blue," that I still don't entirely understand who she was or why vamp girl was stalking her?

This was just one of the worst comics I have ever read. And I say that both as someone who has been reading comics since age 6, and as someone who knows everything there is to know about Buffy and Angel.

[Jocelyn Beane · Rating 2 out of 5]

The dialogue is painfully overwrought. Oozing with the author's misplaced conviction in the coolness of her writing. It's just too artificial, like a hyper-reality out of the 80s or early 90s. Wildly inconsistent with the other books it is in continuity with, which is probably the biggest problem. Her writing probably works better elsewhere....

[Sam (she_who_reads_) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m sad I didn’t love this one. Giles is one of my fav characters, and I’ve actually really enjoyed his arc in the comics so I was excited for this! Unfortunately, I found this one to be a bit disjointed, and lacking a lot of the warmth and humour of previous volumes. I’ll be interested to see if Giles gets more of his own stories though because the potential is there!

[Fran · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is an actual turd that I’m pretending doesn’t exist.
I'd been looking forward to this but this is a weird, disjointed mess. 😕

[Lara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uhhhhh, everyone seems to completely hate this one so far. Should I even start it???

Yeahhh, I shouldn't have. This was not good. I mean...I guess the art was fine? The writing was terrible, and several times it was like the writer and artist didn't even communicate at all what was going on in a scene, so it's choppy and confusing and there are weird continuity issues. And then the insta-love! This is Giles we're talking about here! It didn't make any sense. And we never did get any sort of explanation whatsoever about Blue and what the heck made her so special.

Basically the whole thing is a mess that I'm going to pretend never happened. Giles deserves better!

[Elizabeth (Miss Eliza) · Rating 2 out of 5]

A rather sloppy start to this new arc featuring Giles in High School while the rest of the gang was in the camps. My biggest issue is that they aged Giles up 3 years out of nowhere, and seriously, don't try to sell me that 3 years have passed since he's been brought back, they made a big deal that he was going to high school early because of his smarts. I think there should have been more commentary on how school has changed since he was a teacher, instead of him pulling a Buffy and falling for a vampire, who is WAY skinnier on the cover, which is just not cool.

[Madi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Don't know if it's because I haven't read any Buffy graphic novels before or if this one just has a really disjointed storyline but I could not follow along whatsoever. Loved the art but holy hell insta love and no clear idea of what the heck was happening.

[Crystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

I finished this graphic novel late last night and was left with a feeling of "what the crap?"

There have been a wide range of emotions I've had in regards to the Buffyverse graphic novels. The first season Buffy was ridiculous but Faith and Angel was pretty cool. And then that completely switched during the most recent seasons. And I did like the touch of young Giles during the earlier parts of the series but this...this was just wrong. The plot made no sense and went no where and even worse, Giles was not Giles in any way, shape, or form. Very disappointing.

[Simon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really struggled to get through this, and didn't follow what was going on. My least favourite of all the Buffy comics.

[Christina Helen Birch · Rating 1 out of 5]

To be honest, I couldn't make myself finish this. Awful dialogue, confusing storytelling. And I didn't catch even a whiff of the Giles I know and love in the main character.

[Samantha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not care for this. I liked the title, that was promising. but the style was so off. the writing was just off to me. there is also a running mixtape thing at the bottoms of the pages where you're supposed to play a certain song - which...what a pain. the music is all over the place, barbara streisand to whatever indie bands I'm not cool enough to have heard of. so you play something, ok, then what if you get to the next cue before the song ends? I'm sure most people blow that part off, so why even have it in there? it's not completely novel, I've seen authors do that sort of thing before.

but ok, that's minor. the whole thing was meh to me. giles in his 13 year old body as this sort of out of control bundle of hormones is a little ridiculous to me. I guess they are taking a stand on the body/mind debate. I don't think I even understood the whole thing. there's some monster that giles fought before that we never knew about who touched giles before giles supposedly killed him, so they are linked together - I don't even really get how that's relevant to the plot.

and then there's a vampire who's a watcher. I guess of a slayer. that's never super clear.

one of the main themes is who are the real monsters, humans or monsters? which I don't feel is a very fresh theme in buffy, but ok. the vampire was a slave who got attached to a sort of dexter-like vampire who killed slave overseers, etc. she seems to have spent a lot of time basically hibernating but she's worn out by dealing with racism. I kind of feel like the whole ethical question of who the monsters are gets lost in giles' whole, oh, I think she's bad but I have the hots for her attitude.

mostly the writing style is just very different from the usual comics in a way that annoyed me and made it harder to follow. it was trying too hard to be cool and down, imo. they also asked, oh, does this vampire have a soul. well, in canon, two vampires have souls, out of all the vampires we know of, including not really all that incredibly evil vampires like harmony. having a soul in buffy is not an ethical position. it's a physical state. they seem to have sort of reversed course on that here. I mean they don't say, here's the third vampire with a soul! but her soullessness is seriously called into question (this ends with giles' lustiness).

[David Cowpar · Rating 1 out of 5]

There’s always that one odd bad episode of Buffy, in the comics this is that bad episode.

First Giles aged a lot in the drawing style for a series supposed set after Buffy 11 issue one and before Buffy 11 issue 12.

Second the story is just boring.

Third the link with the demon to Giles is cliche and boring.

Fourth Giles falls for a vampire and they constantly discuss killing one another.

But I liked the suggested mix tape listening to go with the story.

[Michelle Morrell · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hate that I hated this :( The magically resurrected Giles has made it to high school age, and is enrolled in a school even more messed up than Sunnydale High. Shenanigans ensue.

I didn't believe the motivations for an instant, the story was "whatever," the other major character was superficial at best, the art was confusing and most of the time between the dialogue and the action I had no idea what was happening. Boo.

[W · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was terrible...so disappointing.

[nidah05 (SleepDreamWrite) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting. Also cool that Erika Alexander from Living Single does comics, graphic novels. Honestly was surprised when I saw her name on here. Good volume though.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought this would be an entertaining look at Giles going back to school. But it was just disjointed and weird and I had no idea what the hell was going on.

[Kay ☾ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like teenage Giles, the last time I read the Buffy comics, Giles was a 10 year old kid. This didn't blow me away though, I don't know what I was expecting but I wanted more than what I got. I did like it because it adds to the Buffyverse.

By the other reviews, the series doesn't focus on Giles, not surprised, and I won't be picking up the other issues.

[Lamadia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty middling for me. The romance aspect felt rushed and unnatural, and it could really have benefited from a longer run than four issues. It felt out of character for Giles to fall for someone so soon. The plot was okay, but kind of felt not-important.

[Printed Pages and Coffee · Rating 2 out of 5]

This.... was so, so strange? I mean, probably a random one to pick up but I figured since I'm a fan of the show and have more or less followed the happenenings, I should be able to pick this up and have no troubles.

I had troubles.

Strange. So strange.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Straight up garbage.

[Hannah Klein · Rating 2 out of 5]

dialogue was odd or stilted and the plot was stale

[Matt Hunt · Rating 1 out of 5]

Deeply deeply disappointing.
Urrrgh.

[Petra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Während der Ereignisse der elften Staffel wird Giles zu seinem Schutz in eine Privatschule geschickt, niemand soll merken, dass er über Magie verfügt. Allerdings ist er auch dort nicht wirklich sicher, er bekommt es mit einem Dämon aus seiner Vergangenheit zu tun, und er verliebt sich.

Ich hatte mich sehr gefreut auf diesen Band, ein Bonusband, der parallel zur elften Staffel spielt, denn Giles ist einer meiner Lieblinge aus Serie. Eigentlich ging ich zunächst davon aus, dass der Band erst nach der elften Staffel spielt, denn zu deren Anfang war er vielleicht 13 oder 14 Jahre alt, hier wirkt er wie 16 oder 17. Warum Giles überhaupt wieder so jung ist erfährt man übrigens in den vergangenen Bänden.

Leider hat mir der Band dann nicht so gefallen, wie erhofft. Ich hätte mir z. B. mehr Schulalltag gewünscht, das hätte sehr witzig sein können. Viel zu schnell schweift die Geschichte jedoch ins dämonische Geschehen ab. Da Giles in die Schule geschickt wurde, um seine Magie zu verbergen, passt es für mich gar nicht, dass dann hier so viel Magie gewirkt wird, auch von ihm selbst.

Wer Giles kennt, weiß, dass er nicht immer Glück in der Liebe hat. Auch hier verliebt er sich in eine jemanden, die aus verschiedenen Gründen nicht so recht passend ist. Warum er sich überhaupt in Roux verliebt, ist mir auch nicht so recht klar, Teenager-Hormone wahrscheinlich.

Für mich passt, wie bereits erwähnt, die Geschichte nicht nur nicht in die elfte Staffel, ich finde sie auch sehr verworren, und hatte leider sehr schnell keine rechte Lust mehr, sie zu lesen. Für mich ergibt sie auch relativ wenig Sinn bzw. hätte ich mir ein bisschen mehr Hintergründe gewünscht.

Dieser Band wurde, im Gegensatz zu den vorherigen Bänden, von einem anderen Texter und einem anderen Zeichner erschaffen. Gelungen finde ich die Zeichnungen, vor allem die von Giles, man kann, schon auf dem Cover, den Giles erahnen, den man aus der Fernsehserie kennt. Nicht ganz so gelungen finde ich allerdings die Vampirgesichter. Außer einer kleinen Covergalerie gibt es hier keine zusätzlichen Extras.

Leider hat mir ausgerechnet der Bonusband mit Giles deutlich weniger gefallen als der Rest der Reihe. Mal sehen, inwiefern Giles' Erlebnisse hier noch einmal im nächsten Band thematisiert werden. Viel Einfluss können sie aber nicht haben, so dass dieser Band wahrscheinlich entbehrlich ist. Schade.

[Arunima · Rating 2 out of 5]

okay so this might be more about me accidentally reading this when i wanted to read Buffy S12 but...
I wasn't interested, the art style was nice i guess. I was into a teen Giles (no surprises there). It read like some artsy YA book and like it was just such a sad sad story about a black vampire girl 200 years old: I guess this is why usually people have white male vampire stories so they don't have to talk about vampire sadness combined by human monstrosities such as slavery and patriarchy.

anyway there was also something about a demon calling giles mom: ngl i skimmed all that, all too forgettable.
skip this.

[Abbey · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to enjoy this, but it was terrible. The dialogue was unclear and story jumpy where I was often convinced I must have missed a page. It made a confusing and unsatisfying read. The artwork was the only good thing about this, although after reading alongside season 11 it felt out of sorts with the wider story - Giles’ personality and age seem to have been transformed to fit with the story wanted for this book which is wrong. I wish I hadn’t read this and would advise people to skip it, I don’t think it impacts on the reading of series 11 to do so.