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For some reason, I was unaware of the fact that there were so many Buffy comic books before the new Season 8 run. This is the first book in an omnibus series that collects them all in chronological order. This one starts with "All's Fair", a story about Dru and Spike on a rampage at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, which I didn't particularly enjoy, but then it gets more Buffy-centric. "The Origin" is a comic-book adaptation of Joss Whedon's original screenplay for the Buffy movie; the stories after that cover the time between the movie and the TV series, while Buffy was on her own without a Watcher. She and Pike take a trip to Las Vegas to hunt down vampires in "Viva Las Buffy!". In "Dawn & Hoopy the Bear" we get a story of Dawn's experience while Buffy has run off and their parents are on their way to divorce; a teddy bear ensorceled with a djinn meant for the slayer is mistakenly delivered to Dawn, but her distracted mother just thinks Dawn has a wild imagination when she takes about the bear coming alive. Then, in "Slayer, Interrrupted" we get the story of Buffy's stay in the mental hospital, which is referred to in the TV series. Interspersed with these, we also get some interesting parts of Giles' path to becoming Buffy's Watcher.

I had a little bit of trouble getting into this book because I didn't enjoy the first story; I know some people really love Spike and Dru, but a whole story with them killing and destroying just isn't my thing. In this story and in some of the others, I felt like there might be references to characters or events in the TV series, but I'm not familiar enough with them to catch it-- and not sure I care enough to go to the trouble of looking it up. Angel shows up in the Las Vegas story, and I wondered about the time lines of that, but again, I guess I'm not familiar enough with all the details of his back story to know how this fits in.

As Scott Allie points out in his brief introduction, these stories include Dawn-- which is an interesting choice. Like him, I'm glad that we got the story of "Dawn and Hoopy the Bear"; but other things make me wonder a bit about how things would have worked without Dawn being there. For instance, Dawn is the one who reads Buffy's diary (because she misses her), and that is how Buffy ends up getting sent to a mental institute.

Artwork for comic books based on TV shows and movies can be a little strained sometimes-- either they are too creepily like the actors or they aren't quite recognizable. In this case, I found the artwork to be quite good, and it certainly never distracted me from the story being told.

I enjoyed this enough that I'd be interested to read the other Buffy Omnibus collections, although I'm a bit intimidated by the fact that there are 7 volumes.

Title:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus, Volume 1
Author:
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Young Adult, Graphic Novel, Horror
Series:	Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Number of pages:	296

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I re-read this book over a weekend when I wasn't feeling well, and it was perfect timing to forget how miserable I was and lose myself for a while in Sunshine's fascinating world of vampires and magic and baked goods. I guess that means that it must be "escapist" literature, although I don't really think of it that way. There is so much worth thinking about here, and parts of this book stay with me. Sunshine discovered more of herself and who she is-- and she struggles with it, because she thinks it means that she is some kind of monster. She has this dark "affinity" for vampires, even helped save one, which she's sure no one around her could understand (although it is her very generosity towards the unthinkably Dark Other that saves her). She thinks this makes her a dark creature herself, but those around her have to help her see that it is because of her brightness, because of who she is and the source of her power, that she can face such darkness.

The fascinating character of Con, Sunshine's unlikely vampire ally, gives McKinley the chance to dig into the workings of vampires in this world she's created. Vampires are completely other and scary to humans on an instinctive level, as hunter to prey. The normal path for a vampire who survives to any kind of age is to become a wealthy master vampire with teams of younger vampires working for him-- in part, because the old vampire can't go out in any kind of light, even moonlight. We see this with Con's enemy Bo-- he has become so corrupt and evil through satisfying every dark appetite he could imagine for many centuries that he is no longer even fully corporeal.

A great book that I could (will) re-read again. I see that McKinley has published a few other books lately, which is exciting, but I hope that sometime she gets inspired to give us another glimpse of Sunshine and her world.

Title:	Sunshine
Author:	Robin McKinley
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Horror / Fantasy
Number of pages:	405
Notes:	repeat reading

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This is a graphic novel adaptation of Richard Matheson's famous 1954 novel (which I haven't yet read but now want to). Robert Neville is the only uninfected, normal human left in a post-apocalyptic world (there are hints of bombs and dust-clouds in his flashbacks) where all other humans have been infected by a disease that basically turns them into vampires. The black and white artwork conveys beautifully the darkness and the utter loneliness of the world that Neville lives in. When the book opens, Neville has an established routine of the errands and tasks he does during the daylight (including repairing any holes in his boarded up windows, growing garlic in his hot-house, and stringing garlic around the doors and windows), but is always inside and locked up by dusk, usually playing classical music in attempt to drown out the noise of the monsters that congregate outside his house to try to lure him out. Eventually, Neville starts to move beyond this routine-- he starts researching the infected blood and reasons through how much of the vampirism is biological and what might be psychological (like fear of the cross and mirrors), and he starts hunting and killing as many vampires as he can during the day, while they are in their coma-like sleep.

There are great details here that make the whole world Neville inhabits much more convincing. For instance, on cloudy days he can't go far from home because he doesn't know how soon it will be dark enough for the vampires to come out. Or how a little thing like a watch stopping could mean death. Neville goes to abandoned stores for whatever equipment he needs and can salvage (like the microscopes he uses to study the infected blood), and he drives at high speeds, goes the wrong way on one-way streets, etc-- rules that were necessary in society become meaningless when he is the only man left.

What makes this story is compelling is the human element. Neville is tortured by the loss of his wife and child to the plague, and some of these experiences are shown through flashbacks. When Neville sees a thin, scared, stray dog in the daytime is nearly overwhelmed by the desire to have companionship. Over days and weeks he slowly, patiently gets the dog used to him, feeding him and moving closer to the food while remaining utterly still so as not to scare the dog off. Finally he manages to bring the dog into his house, and as night falls the dog is terrified because it can't get to its hiding place (and, of course, doesn't know that the house or this man is safe). Neville is finally able to touch the animal, and discovers that it is infected.

The other brilliance of this book, of course, is the twist of the title. Eventually (after three years of this existence), Neville discovers that the infected humans have figured out a way to live with their disease and are beginning to establish a new society-- and as he is dying, he recognizes that he has become to this new society what vampires are to us: the legendary, horrific monster that comes in while we are asleep and kills for no reason.

Title:	I Am Legend
Author:	Richard Matheson (adapted by Steve Niles and Elman Brown)
Date published:	1991
Genre:	Graphic Novel, Science Fiction / Horror
Number of pages:	244

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Vampires seem to be quite prominent in popular culture these days, so for a while now I've been curious to read first major literary incarnation. My mild interest in Dracula was further increased by Alan Moore's take on the character of Mina Murray (Harker) in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The book seems pretty different than what I think most modern readers would expect-- slower moving, and almost a matching of wits between some very clever antagonists. The rules about what vampires can and can't do seems a little different than any I've heard elsewhere, but it seems like every book and every movie has to change the rules or reinvent something about vampires, so I guess it's not that surprising. Thinking about vampires in this Victorian setting also made me wonder why we're so interested in them now, and what (or whether) people think about the spiritual aspects of the vampire, and the damnation of the souls who are turned. There also seems to be an interesting hierarchy of who feeds on whom, which seems like it must be based in Stoker's time-- Dracula feeds on young women, and the women prefer to feed on babies.

It was a pretty interesting book, and I was a little surprised at how engaged I was. The whole thing is narrated through the character's diary entries, letters, and newspaper clippings. Sometimes this is a lot less believable than others, as they are recounting entire conversations, and it's a little hard to imagine that in the middle of tracking down and fighting this monster they are taking time to sit and write (or, in one case, dictate to a phonograph). Mina does shorthand and is also a typist-- which turns out to be quite important, because it helps them get the details and put them in the proper order so they can figure out Dracula's plan. This also helps illustrate what an intelligent woman Mina is.

I imagine it's because I have Harry Potter on the brain, but there was an interesting parallel between Harry's connection with Voldemort and Mina's connection to Dracula. Dracula drinks some of Mina's blood and starts to turn her, but then he also forces her to drink some of his, which is meant to give him extra power over her. But this connects them, and as they chase Dracula from London back to his castle in Transylvania, each sunset and dawn Van Helsing is able to hypnotize Mina to find out where Dracula is, what he can here.

Van Helsing is an interesting character, too-- not the dashing young hero of a movie, but an older man, a scholar and a doctor. He is the first to figure out what is going on because he has a more open mind.

The edition I read includes an "Introduction," which I started out reading first-- until it started touching on more and more plot points! This frustrated me, so I skipped it at the time. I read it afterwards, and it was a fairly interesting discussion of all the many, varied interpretations of Dracula (and there are lots, more than even I would have expected). It's an interesting enough essay and overview of the craziness that is Dracula criticism, but I think it fails miserably as an introduction.

I picked this up because I wanted to have something to read while I was waiting for Harry Potter, and I figured I could finish it in a week.

Title:	Dracula
Author:	Bram Stoker
Date published:	1897 (original publication)
Genre:	Horror
Number of pages:	409

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Mmmm... beauty and the beast, where the beast is a vampire. How intriguing is that? McKinley's writing is always enjoyable, and this book is no exception. Sunshine is a baker who one day reaches the tipping point, and realizes she is fed up with her mundane life at the coffeehouse (where almost all her friends and acquaintances are from), and goes out to the lake. This choice leads to more dangerous choices. To situations most humans would not come out of alive. But Sunshine does -- and brings with her a vampire, the worst of the Others. How is that possible? Can she control her own abilities? What are the desires of her heart?

One of the few people Sunshine knows outside the bakery is her landlady, Yolande. Who happens to be a wardskeeper (someone who is really good at making wards to keep people safe and has earned this honored title). Sunshine is keeping secrets from everyone she loves with nobody to talk to, and one day her seemingly helpless old landlady comes out for a chat. Yolande speaks Sunshine's secrets to her, in such a way that makes Sunshine feel safe and cared for. Keeping secrets from those we love is hard -- and something I'm glad I don't have to do often (although I keep reading books and watching shows about people who do ...). But to have someone who already knows your secrets -- that is truly a gift. Someone who not only knows your secrets but still trusts you and relates to you without fear or disgust. Someone who has their own secrets, but is willing to share those. Hmmm... in the middle of so many questions and fear there can be a safe relationship or two.

Title:	Sunshine
Author:	Robin McKinley
Date published:	203
Genre:	Horror
Number of pages:	405
Notes:	Repeat reading

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I don't read many comic books, but I am a big enough fan of Joss Whedon's work in other media that I thought it was worth giving Fray a try-- and it is well-worth the time. It doesn't take a long time to read, but it may take longer to process and think through the fascinating world and characters that Whedon (with the help of the visual artists, of course) have created here.

Melaka Fray is a street-savvy "grabber" who fetches (steals) things for a price. She lives in the darker part of the city, where the poor people live, and where mutated or deformed humans are common. There are vampires around ("lurks", in the street slang-- Fray doesn't even know them by the term "vampire"), but there hasn't been a Slayer for centuries-- so when the need for a new slayer arises and Fray is the chosen one, she doesn't get a lot of help. As was often the case for Buffy, there are always personal complications in the fight against vampires, and this story is no exception to that rule. I like that Fray is drawn fairly realistically (and not as some juvenile fantasy of what a woman might look like), and I also like the fact that she has a very particular and distinct style (there are some pencil sketches reproduced at the end of the book, and it is fun to see Fray next to Buffy).

One thing I wondered about is how Fray's world fits in with the end of the Buffy TV series, because at the end of the series they changed the rules about slayers-- and this seems to predate that rule-change, in a way. The story does reference a huge battle involving the last slayer, which banished all the demons (although if that is the case, why are there still vampires in the slums?). I suppose if it has been centuries since there have been any slayers, and even the watchers are a little bit crazy, there is a little bit of leeway for how the rules might apply to Fray-- after all, she doesn't seem like the type to follow them, anyway.

Title:	Fray
Author:	Joss Whedon
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Science Fiction / Horror
Series:	part of the Slayerverse
Number of pages:	216
Notes:	This is a graphic novel.

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So far as I am aware, this is the first book by Robin McKinley to be found in the Horror section of the bookstore (I know because I had to look it up in the bookstore computer when I went to buy my copy and couldn't find it). No doubt Sunshine is classified as horror because of the strong presence of vampires-- but in spite of this, there is a clear continuity with McKinley's earlier books, which include mostly fantasy and a few re-tellings of fairy tales-- and there is a definite connection with McKinley's two previous versions of the story of Beauty & the Beast.

I love this book and the characters-- even though Sunshine's world is a dark one I might not want to live in, it is a very believable world. This is partly accomplished through the minute details that flesh out Sunshine's world, in particular the slang. If there is a slang word for vampires (they call them "suckers"), then you know that they've been around for a while and people have sort of gotten used to the fact. The same goes for all the different kinds of magic and charms and the like that are a part of Sunshine's everyday world-- there is an incredible level of detail and logic to how these things work. Sunshine herself is also such a matter-of-fact narrator, with a very individual, believable, and even humorous voice.

In the past, when I've discovered a new book by Robin McKinley in my local bookstore, I've purchased it immediately without knowing anything about it (this actually happened with Spindle's End). That is how much I love McKinley's work (I own most of her books-- I think I probably have every full-length novel she's written). But when I first found out about Sunshine, I read some unflattering reviews on Amazon.com, which made me doubt this book. As a result, I didn't immediately pursue getting a copy, and forgot about it for a while. Somehow I was reminded about the book, but since I still had my doubts, I actually read a public library copy of Sunshine the first time... But I tore through the book, and I could hardly wait to get a copy of my own when the paperback edition came out.

I haven't read a lot of vampire fiction (in fact-- I'm not sure I've really read any besides Sunshine), but I'm familiar with Buffy & Angel, and I like the way McKinley spins the vampire tradition-- again, McKinley has thought things through and the details are completely fleshed out and logical. The character of Con, of course, is fascinating, and I love the idea that there are different ways of being a vampire. I think I prefer McKinley's descriptions of vampires-- It seems like vampires ought to look obviously different from humans (unless they are "passing"), although I can imagine that would be much more difficult and expensive to do on film or TV. In this world, vampires are clearly creatures of the night who are inimical to humans; their senses work differently, they travel differently, even though they are also very wealthy, powerful, and clever (they even have their own technology that hooks into this world's version of the internet).

The whole book is a treat to read, and even though it's a decent length book, it reads pretty quickly. The ending is perfectly suited to the rest of the book... but it also leaves me with some hope that perhaps McKinley will return soon to this fascinating world and the wonderful characters of Sunshine and Con.

Title:	Sunshine
Author:	Robin McKinley
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Horror
Number of pages:	405
Notes:	Third reading.

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