The Vampire Slayer, Vol. 4

The Vampire Slayer TP #4

by Sarah Gailey, Kath Lobo (Artist), Roberta Ingranata (Artist)

The final volume of The Vampire Slayer bares its fangs!
Buffy’s relationship with Giles remains strained, but they work together to repair things, as Buffy is determined to take back her identity as The Slayer! Meanwhile Xander, Faith, and Spike contend with their identities, and what roles the Scooby Gang will play in their futures. The pain of the past weights on Willow, but she’s determined to use her magic for the good of those she loves. But with Giles being occupied with Buffy, Willow will have to turn elsewhere for help. It will take someone special to cut through the fear and help the volatile witch, and Willow has no idea what power and monstrous encounters she’s in store for… Her magic is out of control, a force to be reckoned with despite Willow’s good intentions, and she will have to turn to a professional to repair her connection to her power. Sarah Gailey (Know Your Station), Kath Lobo (Magic: The Hidden Planeswalker), Valentina Pinto (Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars - Battle Tales), and Ed Dukeshire (The Jotunn War) close the coffin on Willow’s journey through the realms of vampire slaying and magic! Collects The Vampire Slayer #13-16.

Genres: Comics, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Vampires, Horror, Graphic Novels Comics, Magic

128 pages, Paperback

First published December 26, 2023

Reviews

[TJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The queerbaiting in this book is unbelievable. The Xander/Spike relationship throughout this series was fun because it felt like it was building up to a relationship that just… never manifested. In the end, it was all just baiting. There were hints of Buffy/Faith possibly coming too, especially with that cheek kiss at the end, but again, just baiting. We get Willow/Tara, but it’s so forced and underdeveloped. The fanfic-y ships in this series were the only thing going for it, as it’s not well written overall, so this volume ended up being way more disappointing than the rest along with still being very mediocre.

[Danika at The Lesbrary · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have liked this more if I had read it back to back with the first three instead of having a longer wait between. I found the faces to be so similar that it was really distracting, especially Tara and Buffy (since they're both blonde). I did, however, appreciate that basically everyone was queer, though I would have liked some actual kissing scenes or more explicit discussion of the nature of the relationships/identities. For example, I'm pretty sure it was implying that Tara was trans, but that's not actually stated. Maybe some of that was in the first three volumes and I've just forgotten it now.

[kory. · Rating 2 out of 5]

#1 the vampire slayer, vol. 1 ★★★☆☆
#2 the vampire slayer, vol. 2 ★★★☆☆
#3 the vampire slayer, vol. 3 ★★☆☆☆
#4 the vampire slayer, vol. 4 ★★☆☆☆

an underwhelming and a bit rushed conclusion. the inclusion of drusilla felt random and not organic to the story. i never liked any of the art in this series, which is a bummer. also, i wish the relationships had been done explicitly with a kiss or a verbal acknowledgement, rather than mere suggestion.

and oh my god please miss me with accusing the author of queerbaiting. even though i would’ve preferred to see more relationship stuff, i’m not going to argue that because there wasn’t any kissing and the relationships were indicated through various physical touch (an arm around the shoulder, a kiss on the cheek, leaning up against one another, etc.) and being paired off in couples on blankets looking up at the sky at the end that it doesn’t actually count as queer representation. willow, tara, and xander are blatantly queer in this series. willow and tara because they’re canonical lesbians in the original material, and xander because he literally had a boyfriend at the start of this series. buffy comments on faith’s attractiveness, faith makes comments about women being hot, i’d argue spike is the only one who didn’t make comments to indicate queerness, though his relationship with xander is indicative of it. so all the characters are queer. there is literally no queerbaiting for that fact alone. even if none of the relationships were so much as hinted, it still would not be queerbaiting. queerbaiting is not when you don’t like how queer relationships play out. i am begging people to learn the actual fucking meaning of that word.

content/trigger warnings; physical violence, blood, injury, kidnapping, captivity,

rep; willow (mc) is a lesbian. xander (mc) is queer. tara (mc) is a lesbian. spike (mc) is queer. faith (mc) is queer. buffy (mc) is queer.

[Nykyri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baby crab!!!!

[Samantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

hands down my favorite art of any buffy comic. the cover is slightly different from what is pictured here. I won't say the characters looked the most like the actors though, willow being the closest, and I definitely could have done without the skinnification of tara, I felt like that was so unnecessary.

I'm sad this series was cancelled. the group was really tight - spike, xander, giles, buffy, faith, willow, tara. all coupled up seeming except giles, but just at the beginning of their relationships. spike going over to the scooby side was portrayed well here. and the final villain was drusilla, although a therapized drusilla.

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh. This final volume of The Vampire Slayer feels like the story probably should have either ended last volume at 12, or had some more issues after these to wrap things up properly. Instead we get a kind of weak Drusilla plot just for the sake of having Drusilla show up, Tara appear out of nowhere, and the crab baby at last having a point.

Not a bad conclusion, but it definitely feels either tacked on or not explored enough, and I can't decide which.

[Jennifer Riggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this arc’s premise and always will love a potential relationship between Xander and Spike (who was drawn soooo hot!). Faith was as good as always. So was Dark Willow. And the god involved is pretty awesome. There are some potholes and characters are a bit too whiny, but I do recommend it if you were a fan of the Buffyverse. (Bonus: I was able to get it easily from the library because I don’t like giving Joss Whedon money.)

[jana · Rating 2 out of 5]

i don't think this was very in character, nor do i think drusilla as a villain made sense to be honest. It was an interesting idea, but needed much more work and edits before publishing. Also the art style changing mid-issue was very weird, as well as the pacing. could've been great, but sadly didn't live up to its potential.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

This probably should have ended at 12 issues. These last 4 feel very tacked on. It's a weak arc with Drusilla. The problem with just rehashing past characters with all of these stories is that you instantly remember how much better the series was than these comics. The art is OK. It's in a house manga style.

[Andrew Alvis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have given this 5 Stars had Kath Lobo done all the internal art but it seems someone else did a few pages in #15 & #16 and I definitely did not like what I saw. Call it a matter of taste.

Aside from that I am quite pleased how this ended. BC 🫡🥲

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

There's reviews calling this book queer baiting, a book that ends with all the characters paired off in same sex relationships, I guess because none of them kiss? I worry about people's reading comprehension. Anyway, this was alright. it was an overall fun and silly time.

[Highland G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another fun arc. Didn’t really feel like an ending though and art dipped towards the end. Overall I really enjoyed this take on buffy.

[Dony Grayman]

Tomo 4 que quedará sin leer hasta conseguir los anteriores.

[Sheyla · Rating 2 out of 5]

buffyverse where everyone is gay so i can’t complain at all although i wish it was more explicit like they made all those hints about spike and xander and then nothing happened

[Sophy Evelynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was waiting for Giles to say he was in love with a guy then that would’ve been a full house.
Loved the drawings, storyline ok but don’t understand the woke washing.

[Rhiannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The best volume in the series, even if it wasn't entirely necessary! Art was still too inconsistent and some story strands didn't really get any pay off. Loved to see my girl Drusilla

[Renee Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars