Now that Angel: After the Fall is finally upping its game substantially, the Buffyverse is finally firing on all cylinders again. The BtVS comic is currently paying an extended visit to the timeline of Fray, the future slayer Whedon cooked up some years back with guesting artist Karl Moline, and working to explain just how Fray’s single-slayer, magic-less timeline can be threaded to the present we’re experiencing in Buffy: Season 8. It’s the franchise’s first real foray into Time Travel, and as such, provides a wealth of new angles for Whedon to approach the story.

One interesting moment highlights, if ever there were any doubts, how Buffy has changed since Season 7 as a result of her role - not only is she out robbing to pay for the Slayer gear, she’s also content to let innocents die in pursuit of the larger evil. This is the kind of theme that was dealt with pointedly in Season 5 of Angel, but it’s worth bringing up again in the context of Buffy’s new Slayer Army. It’s this kind of ambiguous morality that leads Fray to get influenced by the apparently villainous Willow. Willow’s actions, so far, don’t actually appear to be evil despite her having the “Dark Willow” make-up on. I’d call it a safe bet that her actions in this arc are designed to prevent Fray’s timeline from ocurring, though with only one chapter to go, we’ll soon see.

While the issue features a lot of action, almost all of it is tempered by running conversations which point the way to Whedon’s next move. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see, at the moment, exactly where things are headed, but you can see the signposts all over this issue in particular, as characters figure out their situation. Only Xander and Dawn, now separated from the Slayer Army, feel like they’re treading water, through the introduction of the forest creatures makes for an amusing scene. Whedon’s trademark dialogue is on top form all issue, and that laone makes the comic worth buying.

While it’s a constant joy to keep reading the adventures of Buffy and co month after month, if there’s any bad thing you can say about the series, it’s that it’s not very friendly to anyone dipping into it. A lot of the series mythology is referenced at times, to the point where a new reader would be utterly lost. Even so, this is one of the few times a writer can get away with that - after all, Whedon is playing to his hardcore audience with this series, and bringing in new readers for the comic was never the plan. Perhaps, if this wasn’t Joss Whedon, I’d feel a bit less charitable but, y’know, we’re all a little biased somewhere.

Whedon’s second full arc continues with a look into what Fray was doing before Buffy arrived. I’m usually irritated when TV/Comics rewind time and lead up to the same cliffhanger (Lost, for instance, did this all the time through the maddening Season 3) so I’m glad to see that Whedon keeps the retreads to a bare minimum, continuing the story some degree beyond what we saw last issue. Xander and Dawn’s plot threads in the past get a minimal look in, though the one scene we do see is easily the funniest of the issue.

The continual teases of who the female antagonist in Fray’s future is seemed quite poorly lead - apparently the readers were supposed to think it was Drusilla, having survived long into the future, but I never suspected anyone other than Willow given the way the series has been header. It’ll be interesting to see how they explain her presence, given that Fray’s world was supposed to be utterly free of magic, though it might also tie in with Fray’s initial awakening as a slayer. There’s a lot of story worth telling about that and how it ties in to the past/present, so hopefully that’s what we’ll be seeing some of as the arc continues.

For this issue, presumably to help echo Buffy’s sense of disorientation, Whedon has ramped up the future-speak tenfold. It’s a little jarring at first if you’re familiar with the character being more readable, but the staccato and contracted dialogue is, on close inspection, still entirely incomprehensible, and that’s is always a plus for a comic. Seeing how Fray actually operates in the future is the most interesting element of the future timeline since the original series never really got past the origin story.

Moline’s artwork remains a nice change from Jeanty - for obvious reasons he’s got the look of Fray’s future nailed down tight, and this issue is all the better for taking place more substantially in the world he helped realise. Whedon seems to have tightened up his arc-writing after a fairly lacklustre opener and things feel a lot more structurally sound than his first multi-parter. Season 8 continues its remarkably high standard, setting a prime example to all licensed comics.

Despite the novelty value of seeing Brian K. Vaughan or Drew Goddard’s take on Buffy: Season 8, there’s nothing quite the same as seeing Joss Whedon in full command of his creations. This latest arc actually brings in an extra creation too - the future slayer, Fray, once seen in her own mini-series, and the first time Buffy comics went “canon.”

It wouldn’t be unfair to expect a throwaway, fanboy-pleasing crossover, but then Joss Whedon knows far better than that. While it’s not stated in the issue, Fray’s awakening as the Slayer followed a period where all magic and magical beings had been exiled from the planet - a goal Buffy’s current nemesis, Twilight, appears to be pursuing. The likelihood of Fray’s past and Buffy’s future tying themselves together definitively is not inconsiderable.

While most of the issue is given over the character interplay, it’s never anything less than entertaining. Whedon’s dialogue has always been strong, and watching his characters bounce off one another would be worth reading even if nothing actually happened to them. Luckily, things do happen though - the Scoobies travel to New York looking for some answers, Dawn’s size problems finally get dealt with (…sort of) and meanwhile, the villains of the series make a fairly definitive win against the Slayers. The one down side is that despite the events of the previous arc, Xander’s reactions are somewhat glossed over - admittedly, it’s hard to everything into an issue, but personally, I hoped for more.

Karl Moline returns on art to draw Fray, the character he co-created. His pencils offer a slightly more exaggerated and dynamic version of the main cast than Jeanty’s rather tight approach while largely retaining the visual style of the series. There’s no massive shift in tone, and Moline’s action scenes work particularly well, even if his looser approach means that certain expressions look a little too twisted.

The issue is a good opener, leaving a lot of questions to be answered by the next few issues, and catering well to those that aren’t already familiar with Fray’s world. Those of us who are will just find that much more to enjoy.

The final part of Wolves at the Gate cements it as perhaps the weakest story since the first arc, but even so, that’s only because the standard of the series is ridiculously high. Goddard wrote some great episodes of the TV series, and his enthusiasm for the characters has carried over into his comics story, which - for a change - features actual vampires as the villains.

More than the previous writers, Goddard’s arc feels a lot like a standard Buffy episode, even if it is set in Tokyo. The mystical threat is well-defined and the character subplots weave nicely throughout. If there’s anything wrong with the “episode” feels like it lacks any central theme or metaphor. This was often a problem with the later Buffy episodes where it occasionally strayed too far into soap-opera territory. The characters, plot and script are in order, but it doesn’t go that one level deeper that the best Buffyverse stuff does.

The plot comes to a satisfying end with victory (if a somewhat pyrrhic one) for the slayer crew and a belated attempt to justify Dracula’s presence with an enchanted sword showing up just at the right moment. The inclusion of a robo-Dawn was perhaps a little too much even if it leads to Andrew’s best moment this series, though I can’t help mentioning Cloverfield, in the context of the film’s scriptwriter now doing a Godzilla homage in the Buffy comic. It’s certainly not hard to see where his references are coming from.

Dracula, for all his hilarity and viciousness, has undergone a complete personality transplant since his original Buffyverse appearance in Season 5. It’s a little jarring, but completely forgiveable because it results in such a brilliant character. His friendship with Xander is harder to deal with, having been established in the now definitely-canon “Tales of the Vampires” graphic novel (in a short written by Drew Goddard, no less.)

The death of Renee and the exit of Satsu does, once again, leave Xander and Buffy the potential to get together, which is what everyone was expecting/hoping would happen at the start of the series. It does also give those people who are looking for extra support for their “Xander is Twilight” theories some credible material - after all, Xander has lost a LOT to magic in his life, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that he’d want to end it all. For the first time, there’s no between-issue break before the next arc, so if Twilight doesn’t feature, we might be waiting some time to see where it’s all going…

As we all know, being happy and in love in a Joss Whedon universe is about as healthy for you as eating deadly nightshade stuffed with razorblades. The more the audience finds themself liking a character, the greater chance there is that they’re about to be neatly shuffled off the mortal coil in the most senseless and random manner possible. I know this, because I’ve seen it happen in Whedon’s work again and again, and again.

Even so, when Xander and Renee finally kissed in this issue after several issues dancing around the subject of dating, I was so completely absorbed by the character moments that I didn’t see the Whedon cogs turning slowly in the background. I won’t spoil the issue, but let’s just say things don’t look good for the future of Xander and Rene’s relationship right now.

Looking back, it feels a little like we’re the victim of a bit of misdirection. After Buffy slept with Satsu, it seemed fairly likely that the young slayer would be the victim of misfortune - indeed, Buffy and Satsu even discuss it. Satsu even disobey’s Buffy to ensure she comes to the climactic battle with the Japanese vampire gang, who are using Buffy’s axe in conjunction with their own magicks to try and de-power the slayers. This whole story has been leading up to Satsu being placed in danger. Instead, the themes bear fruit with an entirely different set of characters.

Goddard is proving himself as adept a writer of these characters as Whedon is, mixing horror, comedy and action without too jarring a tonal shift - and after all, that’s the classic Buffy formula. The use of Dracula in this arc does, however, feel a little gratuitous. It’s understandable that Goddard wanted to write the character, because he is hilarious, but so far he had failed to prove any specific worth to the story. Presumably, he’ll steal back his powers from the vampire gang in the final issue, though now that team slayer have already figured out how to kill evapourating vampires (that old fallback: kill it with fire) it seems a little unecessary for him to be around now. Perhaps more will now be made of his connection with Xander, given the events of this issue.

Once again, Buffy Season 8 doesn’t disappoint. We’re well past the initial novelty of the concept and it’s still as essential as it ever was, so whatever way you look at it, it’s a total success.

Last night, I watched a Buffy episode where, a mere 6 years into the program, she reveals that the first time she told her parents about vampires, they freaked out and put her into a mental hospital. Then, conveniently, nobody mentioned it ever again up until the point where Buffy needed to bring it up. It’s an undeniably damaging retcon that puts otherwise good episodes where Buffy’s mother finds out about Buffy, in a new, poorer light.

As much as I love Buffy #13, I’m not exactly thrilled by a similar piece of retconning that goes on in its pages. Did you know, for instance, that during Seasons five, six and seven of Buffy, Xander and Dracula kept in touch by writing letters to one another? What the hell, Goddard?!

Now, that aside, it’s an amusing idea that Xander went to stay with Dracula for a while after Season 7, and it’s never anything but hilarious when Dracula throws around terms like “moor” and “manservant” - as ever, the dialogue in Buffy: Season 8 is as sharp as the TV series ever was, and the heavy focus on Xander in this issue makes for entertaining reading. It’s just a pity they had to retroactively invent a Xander/Dracula friendship to make these scenes work.

The plot of the issue is more straight-up fare - the Japanese vampires that stole Buffy’s scythe and Dracula’s powers have apparently come up with a way to remove slayer-powers, and they’re planning to take the slayer-army down with it. Unlike other villains in the series, this seems like genuinely credible threat to Buffy. While supporting slayers are occasionally reduced to the level of cannon-fodder, Buffy herself is largely untouchable, and even with the knowledge that she’s the star of the show, there’s still some chance that she might lose her powers - stranger things have happened in the Buffyverse, after all.

There are other subplots ging on - Dracula gets an interesting scene showing him dishevelled and dejected fifteen minutes before the climax of last issue, that could imply an interesting story there, but could likewise be left in for no extra reason than for the comedy and a little bit of character-building. It works alone to suggest why Dracula is so welcoming of Xander, or as a clue to a bigger story yet to be told.

Not Season 8’s finest hour, but it couldn’t really hope to be after the Buffy/Satsu bombshell last issue (and yes, that development is followed up.) If nothing else, it’s worth getting for those who are eager to see more of the Buffyverse Dracula.