Review: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 4 - Time of Your Life

When Buffy and Willow head to New York City to learn more about the Scythe, Buffy is unwittingly sucked into a portal and is taken to the far future. There she meets Melaka Fray, the only slayer left on Earth. Buffy learns that a mysterious madwoman is responsible for bringing her into the future and that Melaka’s vampiric brother is plotting their demise.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight Volume 4: Time of Your Life collects Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #16-20, written by Joss Whedon and Jeph Loeb with art by Karl Moline, Georges Jeanty and Eric Wright.

Despite being penned by Joss Whedon, Time of Your Life is the weakest of the story arcs from season eight thus far. It’s a four-part narrative that contributes very little to the overall direction of the season. Buffy gets plucked out of the present and spends some time in the far future with Whedon’s lead heroine from his comic book series Fray. It’s a diversion from the machinations of Twilight, but isn’t quite as fun or inventive as it should be. It’s fascinating to see Buffy in the role of a fish out of water by having her interact in an environment so different from what she’s used to. However, Whedon’s dialogue seems uncharacteristically immature at times. Buffy’s dialogue and overall behaviour throughout seems childish and vapid. At this point, she’s a woman well into her twenties who is the leader of hundreds of slayers. Whedon instead writes her as if she’s still in high school. She practically wets herself in excitement over being in New York City and then reacts like the dullest tool in the shed whenever she interacts with another person. Whedon seems far more capable of writing Willow and Kennedy as fully-formed characters here, as they are given more of an opportunity to be both humorous and serious (and act their age). In fact, I quite like Kennedy here and her dynamic with Buffy proves to be quite amusing following Buffy’s tryst with Satsu.

This collection concludes with a singular issue written by Jeph Loeb set in the style of the halted Buffy animated series. As a concept, it’s fascinating and the designs (drawn here by Eric Wright) provide really neat visual representations of the season one cast. Where Whedon explored the future with his four-part arc, Loeb examines the past. He gives both Buffy and the readers fuzzy nostalgic feelings by setting the issue during a simpler time in the titular slayer’s life. It’s filler, but it’s done in a way that’s far more creative than usual. It also works to show just how cool an animated series would have been for Buffy, though I’m sure we can all agree that it’d be better without Dawn lurking about.

Time of Your Life is the first real stumble the eighth season has had. Its inconsistent characterization and lack of progression is disappointing. By its final page, we’re no closer towards reaching the resolution of the Twilight storyline or knowing more about the Scythe. I wasn’t terribly impressed by Whedon’s dialogue for Buffy and his artist Karl Moline struggled to differentiate characters from one another (Buffy and Melaka’s sister Erin look like the same person). Loeb’s one-off issue was entertaining and held potential, making it the most enjoyable part of this trade.

RATING: C+