Spike Summary and Reviews

Spike
by Peter David, Scott Tipton, Fernando Goni

Spike
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Book Summary Information

Author: Fernando Goni, Peter David, Scott Tipton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-09
ISBN: 1600100309
Number of pages: 152
Publisher: IDW Publishing

Book Reviews of Spike

Book Review: Good stories, but disappointing art
Summary: 3 Stars

As the title of my review shows, I have mixed feelings about this Spike comic book. In a nutshell, I liked the stories but not the art (at least not half as much as I had hoped I would).

After having seen some Spike comic books where the "hero" (well, protagonist) hardly bore any physical resemblance to Spike as we know him from the Buffy TV series, I was really looking forward to the "photo-realistic" art of this one. The cover really looked promising in this respect. However, when I read it I was disappointed. Not because the art is not photo-realistic or because Spike doesn't look like James Marsters - it is and he does, on 95% of the panels at least - but because it is a bit TOO "realistic". It is clear to see that the procedure followed by the artist was simply to paint over Buffy / Angel vidcaps that showed Spike in some position appropriate for the story. Many of the shots that were used are very easy to recognize, for example in the story "Lost & Found" that has Angel visiting Spike in his apartment while he is playing a video game. The entire scene is based on vidcaps from the Angel episode "You're welcome", when Lindsey visits Spike. The images have been copied in every detail, except that Lindsey has been replaced with Angel in some of the panels. I don't like this; it just feels like a cheap trick. I would much prefer to see original art. Also, the limitations of the procedure are clear. In cases where the artist had no full example to copy, the art clearly deteriorates. For example, in the post-WW2 flashback scenes in "Old Wounds", Spike's face and body look like they don't belong together at all (which is of course due to the fact that no vidcaps of Spike in a contemporary suit were available, so his face had to be "glued on").

On the positive side, I did like the stories, in particular the first and the last one. "Old Times" gave a satisfying closure to Spike's history with Cecily/Halfrek; I particularly liked the twist at the end. The only thing I didn't find very believable about this story is that Spike would leave Sunnydale and travel to LA in the middle of his relationship with Buffy in Season 6, but that's a very minor detail. "Lost & Found" I liked, among other things, because of the interaction between Spike and Harmony (the "e-Pay" thing was just hilarious) and because of the end, which showed that Spike really had come a long way since "In the Dark", the Angel episode referenced in this story.

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