Script: Victor Gischler
Pencils: Paul Lee

“Having fought to regain his soul after falling in love with the Slayer Buffy, the once-terrifying vampire villain Spike has been a bit less fearsome (to humans, at least). On his own adventure, Spike is forced to examine the man he once was, the man he is now, and the man he still hopes to become.

As master of a steampunk ship filled with loyal, oversized alien cockroaches, Spike embarks on a journey to the dark side of the moon, setting into motion an adventure filled with demons, witches, and others who brew new evil in the world without magic!  Spike visits the dark side!”


In his most recent appearance in Season Nine of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” comic series, Spike came to the realization that he couldn’t be with Buffy anymore.  He had come to the point where chasing after the illusion of a relationship just wasn’t going to be enough.  Buffy only came to him when she felt like she had no other viable options, but it was less about being with him and more about escaping her life.

Accompanied by his alien bug companions, Spike sets off into space.  It gives Spike the excuse to slip into some bad habits, not the least of which is treating his allies like dirt.  It’s fairly clear that Spike is acting out, but it doesn’t exactly make him very sympathetic.  And that is odd, because as much as Buffy has the right to decide who she wants to be with, and whether or not that person is Spike, he also has the right to be upset about it.

It comes down to how he chooses to deal with his emotions over the whole mess.  Basically, he sulks like a petulant baby, until his buggy friends finally decide to take matters into their own hands.  It’s great to see a concept like the necrochromatic glass used in a logical context, but by the time Spike rejects the ability to bask in the light of the sun because, to him, it’s just another embrace of the illusory, I was waiting for someone to come along and smack him about the head.

As it turns out, hanging out on the dark side of the moon has certain dangers, such as aliens that have apparently been trapped there for a while.  Or so one is left to assume; very little is revealed about the aliens, other than the fact that they want to leave the moon and they intend to use Spike’s ship to do it.  Oh, and they don’t have much use for Spike, so they prepare to toss him out the airlock.

The Buffy: Season Nine franchise has been odd thus far.  While the two main titles have been grounded in character exploration, “Angel and Faith” has been the more action-oriented, while “Buffy” has been almost overly devoted to Buffy’s psychological meanderings.  This first issue feels like a somewhat uneasy balance of the two, and while it’s a nice enough start, I’m worried about where this might be going.  If it doesn’t advance Spike’s character in some way, beyond his perpetual self-pity cycle, it’s going to feel like a completely unnecessary story.

Acquisition Method: This review is based on the Dark Horse Digital version (~$2.99 US, retail).