The Buffy Comic Project: "Lost Highway"

Buffy the Vampire Slayer # 15

Dark Horse (Volume 1, 1998-2003)

Creators: Andi Watson (writer), Cliff Richards (penciller), Joe Pimentel (inker)

Setting: Season Three

T.V. Character Appearances: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, Angel, Giles, Joyce (voice only),

Major Original Characters: Dr. Flitter (Selke's aide), Selke (vampire), Vero (vampire), Buffy Doppelganger

Summary: The Scoobies have big plans to see a new band in town, but Buffy's Mom has to work late and Buffy doesn't have a ride to the concert. One of the well-established facts about Buffy is that she is a terrible driver, so when she decides to "borrow" her Mom's SUV you know disaster is about to strike: in this case, Buffy accidentally runs over a pedestrian. Good news is, said pedestrian happens to be a vampire (not that Buffy had any clue . . .). Said pedestrian-vampire (whose name is Vero, not that it matters) gets together a posse to take Buffy down, but our blonde hero stakes them easily. Meanwhile, across town, Dr. Flitter continues his attempts to create an evil doppelganger of Buffy. His first attempt (last issue) resulted in a puddle of slime. His second attempt creates a monstrous freak that gets dumped in the sewer. The third try is the (evil voodoo) charm, however. Next issue could see Real Buffy vs. Doppelganger Buffy in a fight to the finish! Or not. This is a long, oddly paced subplot.

Review: The stuff with Buffy and the SUV was quality, slap-sticky fun. We've seen her stake vampires a million times before, so hopefully the comic will get a little more creative in that department. And it seems like the Selke subplot is finally starting to heat up. Although set in Season Three when there was plenty of angst going around, the comic remains committed to an early Season One vibe.

Notes

* The letters pages announce that February 8, 2000, will be "Seth Green Day." Fans are to celebrate "by wearing something green and watching something he's in". Reserve your copies of Without a Paddle in case it comes around again!

* Giles & Angel team-up for some vampire slaying in this ish--Giles gets all bad-ass and punches a vamp in the throat!

* Much like Buffy, when I was a teenager I once took my parents' car without permission to go meet some friends. Except I drove three hours in a blizzard and did not run over a pedestrian, vampiric or otherwise.

* A guy named Greg writes in to plug his Buffy fansite (www.angelfire.com/az2/btvs/index.html) but it's not there anymore; get it together Greg!

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