I am what you would call a Buffy the Vampire Slayer addict.  I lived and breathed it for its entire 7 year run.  Buffy, and Joss Whedon, are what made me decide to go to college for screenwriting.  I could wax poetic for hours about it.  I can name every episode and the season that it was aired in, I have seen them all countless times (except for Season 4 - Season 4 sucked and you know it), I can spout off quotes at the drop of a hat ("I mock you with my monkey pants!").  Everything I know about love, I learned from Buffy and Angel (clearly that does not bode well for my love life).  I know all good things come to an end but I was sad to see it go.  Buffy was my role model, she was my hero, she was who I wanted to be when I grew up (except the whole dying and having to crawl your way out of your own coffin thing).  I missed her when she went away.

And then suddenly she was back, in comic book form!  Buffy was my first venture into comics, I must admit.  Years ago I tried to read Fray (Joss Whedon's future story of the first Slayer called in over 200 years) but I found the comic book form distracting and the whole medium just not for me.  But hearing that Joss was bringing Buffy back for "Season 8," even if it was with all those annoying Potential Slayers from Season 7, was enough for me.  My girl was back, and I was going to be along for the ride no matter what.  (And then there was a panel of Buffy's dream featuring Angel and Spike very much not clothed, and Buffy wearing a nurse uniform locked in a heated embrace with her two naked vampires - come on, that's awesome.)

I have to admit, I have been enjoying the book.  It's great to see some of the show writers come back for arcs, Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard, Doug Petrie,  Drew Greenberg and Steven S. DeKnight, people who brought my favorite characters to life on screen lending a hand to the page.  The gang, what's left of it anyway, is back, Xander with his one eye and penchant for falling for beautiful strong women, Willow and her fierce loyalty to Buffy, Andrew's pratfalls and Dawn's teenage angst, with Giles off to the side stepping in to help along the way but also knowing when to back off and let the children he once knew be the adults they have become.  Heck, even Faith is back, tortured and strung out as ever.  We get to see Amy, who is no longer a rat, the delightfully evil Ethan Rayne, the dead and skinless Warren, even Dracula!  Oh, Dracula.

There are some things I don't like (Buffy robbing a Swiss bank?), some things I just plain don't buy (sorry, if Buffy was ever going to hook up with a girl, it was so totally going to be Faith), and some things I just didn't care about (the evil debutante that wants Buffy dead was lame), but as always with Buffy, the good outweighs the bad. 

#5, The Chain, written by Joss Whedon himself, is a brilliant story of a girl who goes from high school student to Slayer to Buffy decoy, and gives her life for the cause.  This is a great stand alone piece told entirely from the unnamed girl's perspective, a girl who takes her new destiny in stride and does what she has to, gives her life to keep others safe and dies knowing who she is, even if no one else does.  This is the Buffy comic, and the show, at its finest: ordinary people stepping up and doing what has to be done when no one else will.  Sure, Buffy does her job and does it well, but the real heroes are people like Xander and Giles, people who have no superpowers but fight the good fight anyway. They can be the comic relief, but they are also the heart of the group.

I look forward to seeing where else my beloved characters go, what new demons await them, what new sacrifices they have to make.  I have warmed up to the comic book, and even though it can never give me another musical episode, I like that it can go places the show was never able to go.  The written word really is magical because you can literally go wherever you want without worrying about sets or budgets or how the heck you're going to get a crew of 50 into the future.  My girl Buffy will continue to fight the good fight because that's what she does, and I will continue to root for her, because I adore her so.

Just like Xander, where the Chosen One goes, I will gladly follow.