Remember how I was highly meh on the second Buffy Omnibus of old comics? Unexpectedly, I did in fact find volume 3 used somewhere. So, hey, why not? Answer: because it’s kind of the opposite of what is good. They apparently were struggling to keep up with present day in the series despite not having nearly enough information about the direction of things. The comic is set in season 3, with which it was published concurrently. So they were (self-reportedly) struggling to figure out what was going on with Angel and Faith, as well as the show in general. It’s not that I mind the comic going episodic, despite the arcish nature of the show being one of its strengths; what I mind is how easily they could have agreed to stay a season behind and get things right instead.

I understand that this was right at the beginning of the comic’s creation, and I trust that things will improve: after all, I’ve seen a little bit of those improvements in the first couple of volumes. But for the most part, I regret the hour or two of time I lost, even after getting it in excellent condition at half price. The art and the storylines throughout most of the book are, well, amateurish. The characters frequently don’t ring quite true. The worst part, though, is that the improvements were starting to hit right at the end of the book, as though maybe the fourth one could be better from page one.