It is always nice for me when another Buffy Season 8 trade comes out.They come out fairly frequently too (compared to when I was waiting on Astonishing X-Men trades) so that makes me happy.By now after all these years my relationship with Buffy has cooled down a bit,the fact I wait for the trades probably says a little about how we get along.Don’t get me wrong,spending time in the Buffy-verse is still nice.Now though it is more like putting on a pair of warm slippers rather than the excitement of days gone by.

In terms of the series I enjoyed this fourth trade a fair bit,more than the third and second.I think Joss Whedon being on writing duties for the large chunk of this one explains why.Maybe I just start “listening” too closely when other people try to mimic his style of dialogue but for me most other writers don’t quite hit the spot.Jeph Loeb writes the last issue collected here and to me the speech never quite feels right but again,it could be me going over it with a fine-tooth comb when I know it isn’t Whedon.

So I enjoyed the dialogue.The story, not so much.Having not read Fray I was a little lost at first as to some characters and their roles.Possibly this was intentional, as there were a few twists here and there involving subterfuge,situations where having the average reader not be sure of the status quo could help.I worked it all out by the end though so I’d say the fault is probably mine for being unfamiliar with Frays story rather than bad writing.

What continues to puzzle me though is the slow pace at which the Twilight story line is unfolding.It has moved forward in trickles.In all fairness the television show was often the same, the “big bad” storylines gained momentum towards the end of a season.Still,it does nothing to shake the fuzzy slippers feeling of the comics when we seem to just be treading water rather than seeing things move forward in an important way.

The art is good,a little loose for my tastes but well done.The characters look like they do in the television series and I probably couldn’t ask for much more than that.I’ll no doubt continue to keep reading Buffy until the end of Season 8s projected 40 issues (and possibly beyond) but I can’t help feel a little like it is an old friend I keep catching up with because we share history.