BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER: CRASH TEST DEMONS

By Jason Henderson     September 27, 2000

In Buffy, the Vampire Slayer: Crash Test Demons, Dark Horse Comics' running series of adaptations finally aces the most challenging test of any media adaptation: that of reproducing the look and feel of the show it's based on. It's a thankless challenge, of course, and one that creators can fail while still creating comics worth reading. The idea in adaptation is to meet the ravenous demands of fans who want more stories about their favorite heroes. There are usually no extra points given for coming up with an utterly different conception of the show in question, because the fans have come for a reason. If the show is Buffy, they come for that show's nuanced use of metaphor, humor and horror in an instantly recognizable mix. Comics based on popular media are just asking for trouble because the creators can feel boxed in by that demand.

I have no idea if Andi Watson, writer of the Buffy issues collected here, feels boxed in or not. I've only read Buffy comics very late in the publishing process, whenever they're collected into trade paperbacks, so I can't even say how well the trend has continued. But in Crash Test Demons, her stories and voice are vintage Buffy, worthy of the show in plot and presentation, and even coming up with a few riffs I wish the show had thought of.

And the art matches the writing. I've complained before that at times the characters in the comic Buffy look to me like close approximations of the characters, borne of licensing deals that don't allow the artists to reproduce the actors' faces. The result at times was like the recasting of a whole show, as if you turned on Bewitched and found a new Darrin and a new Samantha, Tabitha and Esmerelda. Now, with Dark Horse's addition of Cliff Richards, an artist who magically creates 2-D versions of the Buffy cast that look just right without managing to be caricatures, we finally have an adaptation that sings.

In stories that fall in the High School years of Buffy, the villain of Crash Test Demons is Selke, a comic-series creation who strikes just the right note. She's the archrival TV Buffy never got, a vain and hot-tempered teen model vampire whose face has withered horribly. Now, with the help of a nebbishy alchemist-plastic surgeon, Selke undergoes daily treatments to restore her stunning beauty. Along the way, she's uncovered a special blood source that makes vampires stronger than ever, and soon the beautiful psychopath is leading a cadre of super-vamps who threaten the Slayer and shake the foundations of the vampire community. Watson creates turmoil by having Angel and Buffy realize that vampire war has broken out, as un-amped vampires go to war with the super-vampires for the spiked blood.

That's the A story, and it's a neat idea, the kind of idea that comes when suddenly your creative mind is so aware of the world that you can start extrapolating, finding the real plots. Watson and Richards handle these with aplomb, and I love the use of the familiar team in less familiar ways, such as when Giles and Angel go on patrol together. Anthony Stewart Head's delivery of Giles' lines has a certain cadence that Watson has learned to write to perfectly.

But the B stories, the character arcs, are where this Dark Horse collection finally comes into its own, understanding that since this is an adaptation, 'its own' means 'perfect companion to the video version.' In the first story, Watson has Willow (who, God bless Cliff Richards, looks like Willow), leading the Sunnydale team in a Challenge Bowl event on PBS. In dialogue that one can hear coming from the mouths of the TV cast, princess Cordelia both mocks the idea and yearns to regain the spotlight, while Xander (at this time Cordelia's astounded boyfriend) tries to keep the peace.

Enter the plot point: Giles announces awkwardly that he sure wishes he could help nervous Willow with a magical amulet that helps you absorb and remember what you read, but gee, that would be wrong. I don't think I'm giving anything away to say Cordelia borrows the amulet, pouring herself into studying to get herself on the team. I expected that by the end Giles would reveal, a la Professor Bullfinch of Danny Dunn, that the amulet in fact had no powers whatsoever. Instead, the outcome Watson devises is hilarious, while actually providing a theory as to why Cordelia's brain seems to have improved through the seasons.

In a more layered plot, Watson and Richards give us Todd, a boy Buffy saves from Selke's vampires. Todd becomes fascinated with Buffy, buying her expensive gifts and stalking her in a good-natured way that would sit less well with us if Buffy weren't a superhero. He even bakes brownies, as Buffy tries to cool him off. At the same time she encourages the doe-eyed boy, enjoying the attention. The conclusion to the story reminded me of an Eisner-award-winning Blackhawk story, years ago, profoundly underlining the choices Buffy will have to learn to make.

The most interesting development is one that even the TV show never dared do. Buffy, a young, inexperienced driver, secretly borrows her mom's car in order to meet her friends at a concert. Any number of things could have happened. Watson could have given us a Ferris Bueller riff, with Buffy getting into wild adventures and then trying to safely return the car at the end. But Watson keeps her story tight and punches us with a completely shocking narrative hook: Buffy gets a few hundred yards and promptly hits a pedestrian. I was amazed. What a daring, and certainly realistic, thing to have an inexperienced driver do.

The rest of the plot is pure Buffy, as the pedestrian turns out to be a vampire. But all along I'm thinking, Watson's figured it out. She's written a Buffy story that echoes the concept that makes the show excellent: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as hero of her own universe, has drawn a lucky card that allows her to stumble through metaphors for all the tragedies that can befall a normal human. As the chosen one, she can escape the consequences of those actions. But the rest of us can watch, and remember that when we walk the night, we may get shot. And when we look away and hit someone crossing the street, we'll wish they could get up and try to bite us.

Trade Paperback from Dark Horse Comics. Written by Andi Watson. Pencils by Cliff Richards. Inks by Joe Pimentel.