Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 9 #20 Review

With Dawn lying helpless is there anyone that has the power to help her??? Find out in this next issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Official Description from Dark Horse comics:

The loss of the world’s magic has finally hit Buffy. Hard. As friends and family continue to fall, Buffy is helpless. . . and Xander is beyond fed up with helplessness—and Buffy! He is so finally ready to do something about it! * Xander’s secret revealed!

CAUTION: There are spoilers in this review. Why?  Because Willow is back! We’ll get to that in a second. This issue is the calm before the storm. Although there hardly any action, it’s obvious that everyone is gearing up for something huge. On one hand we have The Siphon and Doffler offering Xander an interesting proposition. A proposal that could change everything, but of course it comes with a cost. Meanwhile Willow has returned and so has her magic, sort of.  Buffy wants Willow to use her powers on Dawn, but Willow isn’t sure that she’s strong enough yet.

Writer Andrew Chambliss gives a nice set up for the following issue. As I stated before, there is not a lot of action, and Andrew didn’t rush and attempt to throw in gratuitous scenes as filler.  Issues like this are needed as they assist the flow of the series. Even so, I was intrigued by Doffler and Severin needing Xander’s assistance.

The cover by Phil Noto captures Dawn as being on Xander’s mind beautifully. Karl Moline, Andy Owens, and Michelle Madsen’s art was perfect for the opening sequence. They show the darkness growing in Xander and the hatred that fuels him to attack. They’re an awesome team, tackling everything in this issue from romantic flashbacks to the lovely Willow in all her glory.

All in all, this was a good read. There are definitely a couple of cliffhangers here that will keep me on the lookout for the next issue. Recommended.

3/5