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Review: ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike—Into The Light’ HC

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James Marsters has forged an impressively diverse career, ambitiously roving between stage, television, film, and music, and now he returns to Dark Horse Comics with another fantastic piece of fiction to add to the Buffyverse. Pick up “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike—Into The Light” today at your local comic book shop, and hit the jump to read our review.

masters-spike-into-the-light-tpb-cover

 

WRITTEN BY: James Marsters
ART BY: Derlis Santacruz
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $14.99
RELEASE: July 16, 2014

Reviewed By: ShadowJayd

James Marsters’ “Spike—Into The Light” is set in Greenville, California, near the beginning of season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It’s structured as an intimate exploration of Spike’s journey as a newly-souled vampire, learning to survive in a world where his inclination to sin has all but been overthrown by his arduous–though firm—effort to be good. Marsters takes the narrative in a direction that feels more personal and familiar, as he easily slips back into the iconic role he helped to define, and the results are admirable. His tangibly strong connection to the character allows him to provide deeper characterization and a distinctive level of poignancy and dark humour that significantly adds to the effectiveness of Spike’s tale of redemption and strife; ultimately leading the character out of the darkness and into the light.

The typical formula for a Buffyverse arc commonly consists of a prominently featured “Monster of the Week Moment” subplot. And while there is the expected demonic obstacle in Spike’s way, including many action-packed panels of engaging violence, Marsters creatively opts for the Big Bad storyline to take a backseat to souled-Spike’s narrative of self-discovery and post-acquired soul survival. Along for the ride is romantic love interest, Dylan, whom Marsters has said is modeled after his gorgeous wife, actress/singer-songwriter, Jasmine Marsters.

The artistic team behind this issue work in beautiful tandem to successfully convey Marsters’ story and vision, with an impressive grasp of tone, form, and technique. With tons of great detail, Derlis Santacruz allows the scope of the writer’s narrative to be told with his pencils, and demonstrates his ability to effectively illustrate character likeness to a degree on par with Whedonverse comics gem, Rebekah Isaacs. His artwork is lifted to extraordinary levels by colorist Dan Jackson’s large palette of gritty dark hues, which emphasizes the chaotic and somber-mood of Marsters’ one-shot perfectly. Jackson’s solid rendering work is terrifically complimented by Andy Owens’ bold inks.

Goodies: Following the end of Marsters’ “Spike—Into The Light” is a four-page art spread—presented by Dark Horse Comics editor-in-chief, Scott Allie—which features an exclusive look at cover artist, Steve Morris, and penciller Dan Jackson’s rough sketches and tryout pages for the Whedonverse.

James Marsters’ “Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike—Into The Light” is a fan-must-have for your Buffy comics collection.

 

 

ShadowJayd, known everywhere else as Farah Jayden Hakkak, has been a staff writer for Bloody-Disgusting since July 2012. You can find her on Twitter, or passed out by the dirt road behind Wendy’s.

 

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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