With Jane Espenson’s ‘Retreat’ coming to a close, Season Eight finds itself as that rarest of animals: a comic that reads better in trade form for plot rather than scheduling issues. It’s hard to think of any other story which has flipped on its head with such regularly, as each instalment quickly demolishes the themes of the episode which preceded it.

As the issue opens, the Slayers have the advantage in the long delayed clash with the Twilight forces from the book’s first arc. This triumph doesn’t last long, however, as it soon emerges that the forces they’ve unleashed acknowledge no distinctions between the creatures that they encounter. This event makes clear the feminist metaphor which has obviously lain at the heart of the arc- whereas it unexpectedly appeared that the slayers would find salvation through suppressing their identities, Espenson now shows such a situation as benefiting neither party, with the resulting rage working to the detriment of society as a whole. In abstract, it sounds like an overtly moralistic message, but the writer skilfully distracts the reader with an impressive number of character threads, as the supporting figures begin to fall before Twilight’s army. The decimation of the book’s cast is one of those rare plot developments which makes perfect sense in hindsight, with the main character having had far to little face time in recent months- the “next time” teaser makes clear that she’s now ready to reclaim the centre stage.

Odd as it sounds, it’s impossible to talk about the issue without at least a mention of the couple of pages of text tucked away after the story’s conclusion. I’m aware that I’ve had a go at the book’s extensive letters page on this site before, as the twelve issue gap between the professional content and the fan reaction affective drained the exercise of any purpose. Here, however, the write-in feature justifies its entire decision with a genuine intelligent debate between reader Ryan Sattler and the books editor about the approach taken to plotting Season 8, with the point made receiving a rather cheeky nod during the actual dialogue of the book. It’s a fascinating little exchange, which unfortunately leaves a clearer impression in the reader’s mind than some of the action which preceded it.

Although the slayer’s adventures currently lack quite the high profile of this week’s ‘event’ book, there are distinct parallels between Buffy’s eighth season and the ongoing Death of Captain America epic. Both see a focused lead writer with a strong cast of characters experimenting with a much more long-form mode of storytelling than is usually found in mainstream comics. While there’s no shortage of quality is either case, both seem to be in danger of being undone by their most novel aspect, with the structuring of the epic letting the side down somewhat.

Joss Whedon’s instalments of this series tend to favour slightly opaque titles, but the first part of Jane Espenson’s ‘Retreat’ does exactly what it says on the tin. The splintered white hat survivors of previous story arcs pool their resources, only for Buffy and co to be confronted by yet another massed body of Twilight’s demonic forces. Another rearguard action is called for, but the slayers are rapidly running out of places to turn…

Espenson proves that the superb work she did in ‘Harmony Bites’ was no fluke, managing to strike a good balance between characterisation and plot. Given the number of favourite figures at work here, the latter is sensible kept to the bare minimum, with moments such as Buffy filling in Giles on the ongoing backstory and Warren leading the offensive on the Italian squad placed centre stage. Regular artist Georges Jeanty has never really lived up to the “horror” billing that Dark Horse give the book at event opportunity, but this issue plays to his strength, with plenty of massed crowd scenes and the opportunity to draw most of the regular cast.

The difficulty is that this issue has already had its bolt shot by a previous arc, with the offensive on Buffy’s new HQ a near re-run of the attack which forced the slayers out of their Scottish castle. This duplication was probably intended to underline the depletion of the heroines’ resources, but the events are a little too close together to avoid the feeling that the reader is being asked to pay for the same tale twice. It’s hard to begrudge the book’s willingness to vary its approach, but the set of five stand-alone tales that preceded ‘Retreat’ is starting to look like something of a cop-out, progressing elements which should have been included in the more normal stories. The book is still a compelling read, but is starting to look like a prototype for Season Nine…

And so Paul Dini’s long-serving and generally rather good Detective Comics run is the next brought into line with “Batman Reborn”. Only… wait, no it isn’t. Because despite carrying over various aspects of that run – Dustin Nguyen as an artist, the presence of characters such as Thomas Elliott and Harley Quinn – this isn’t Detective Comics. This is Batman: Streets of Gotham. By my count now the fourth ongoing Batman book (if you still count Detective itself as a Batman book, which I bloody do in much the same way as Action Comics is a Superman book) out there – and we’re not just talking the “extended Bat-family” that could take in Robin, Red Robin, Nightwing, Birds of Prey, Batgirl, Gotham Central and anything else at various times – there are now three books starring the Dark Knight, along with Detective rolling along without him. This is early ’90s territory, people.

Anyway, since Dini has been forced into a title change, he sort of needs to come up with a slightly new hook – so we bounce around scenes with Jim Gordon, and a very Frank Miller-esque sequence featuring a pubescent prostitute and an overly violent, shadowy, trenchcoated vigilante figure, and some of it’s told from the villain’s point of view (in this case the Firefly, a character I’ve always had an amused affection for in much the same way as, say, Mysterio – but who’s perhaps treated a little seriously here) and Harley shows up for apparently no plot-related purpose (which is fine, because it’s Dini). I suppose if the intention is for the series to show the “on the street” reactions to the new Batman and Robin, then it’s not a bad idea – but this conceit is let down by featuring the pair in scenes that are firmly from their perspective, and at their usual level.

Dini’s also off to a slightly shaky start in capturing the dynamic of the, er, dynamic duo. His Grayson works quite well, over-talkative and more of a standing, observational figure; but I’m not so sure he’s got the memos on Damian. Shouting “Gotta go!” while running away from the same conversation ( in which he’d earlier not contracted the phrase “I am” shows a distinct inconsistency of voice, and referring to his new mentor by first name rather than surname seems a little too friendly for the aloof brat. That said, the first appearance of the pair, accosting a fleeing Ms Quinn, works rather better, so let’s not lose hope entirely – but the spark and dynamism of Morrison’s Batman and Robin is lacking.

This certainly isn’t bad – and it’s a more enjoyable read than Winick’s opening salvo on the main title – and Nguyen’s work is strong as ever (credit, too, for actually attempting to be consistent with the details of the Quitely costume designs where other artists might not have bothered). There’s a curious trick whereby the inking and colouring style changes in order to present a more “arty” final splash page – I don’t know how deliberate it is, and it’s slightly jarring, but it’s a lovely image even if it’s not made clear what the cliffhanger’s trying to show us. Of the non-Morrison titles, then, this just about edges its way into pole position for the “also read” slot, but it’ll have to work some if it’s going to be a must-buy.

Quick mention too of the fact that this is the second (last week’s Booster Gold and Blue Beetle the first) of DC’s books to try out this new scheme of having a short backup feature of a similarly-themed, recently-cancelled character. I still don’t care enough about Marc Andreyko’s Manhunter to click hugely with it (Kate is too similar to a bunch of superior Marvel characters – Jones, Drew, Danvers, Walters – to really stand out), but bringing her to Gotham is an interesting idea, particularly if the character connections in her out-of-costume life are maintained, so we’ll see. And I’m fully in support of the whole “Second Feature” idea, if nothing else.

After the last issue’s charming but pointless tribute to an undead cartoon series, “Season Eight” continues its preoccupation with it’s parent medium, focussing on the much-trailed “Harmony Bites” vampire reality TV show. Jane Espenson presents an unexpectedly complex single-issue story, managing to subtly re-write the franchise’s rules while keeping a light-hearted air to proceedings.

After four rigidly defined arcs, the decision to let the book’s various plotlines breath more organically is welcome. With the regular cast largely negated to cameos, the writer focuses her tale on the vampire’s conquest of MTV and the slayer who takes it upon herself to bring her down. What initially takes the reader aback is that the story isn’t an out and out satire of reality TV. There’s no particular punch lines or moments when events descend into a new level of farce. This is simply the means by which Espenson chooses to tell her story, with the only moment of socio-political commentary being subtly conveyed through the media’s willingness to cast the black girl who attacks the horrific Harmony as a villain. Rather than borrowing one of X-Men’s crusading politicians or resorting to the unconvincing military figures from Whedon’s first arc, the story uses this event to polarise public opinion against the slayer army, setting up an interesting, if less-than original, dynamic for future issues.

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Espenson occasionally betrays a lack of comics experience, with an early piece of innuendo from Harmony negated by the fact that the readers’ eyes have been immediately drawn to the next panel, which reveals the punch line. On the whole however, the writer succeeds in telling a very offbeat story, with the issue’s deficiencies coming from a creator with far more familiarity with comics. Despite having effectively had the previous five issues off, regular artist Georges Jeanty delivers some uncharacteristically weak work, with backgrounds frequently discarded and some very oddly proportioned figures. To be fair, his quirky style is better suited to close-ups than the massed crowd scenes the issue frequently calls for, with little demand for his charming trademark dot faces. However, when compared to a cover that sees Jo Chen exceeding even her high standards, its hard not to wish for a guest artist better suited to the subject matter. Despite these art issues and the slightly stereotypical doomed slayer, this story manages to entertain and confound the reader’s expectations.

The final part of Wolves at the Gate cements it as perhaps the weakest story since the first arc, but even so, that’s only because the standard of the series is ridiculously high. Goddard wrote some great episodes of the TV series, and his enthusiasm for the characters has carried over into his comics story, which – for a change – features actual vampires as the villains.

More than the previous writers, Goddard’s arc feels a lot like a standard Buffy episode, even if it is set in Tokyo. The mystical threat is well-defined and the character subplots weave nicely throughout. If there’s anything wrong with the “episode” feels like it lacks any central theme or metaphor. This was often a problem with the later Buffy episodes where it occasionally strayed too far into soap-opera territory. The characters, plot and script are in order, but it doesn’t go that one level deeper that the best Buffyverse stuff does.

The plot comes to a satisfying end with victory (if a somewhat pyrrhic one) for the slayer crew and a belated attempt to justify Dracula’s presence with an enchanted sword showing up just at the right moment. The inclusion of a robo-Dawn was perhaps a little too much even if it leads to Andrew’s best moment this series, though I can’t help mentioning Cloverfield, in the context of the film’s scriptwriter now doing a Godzilla homage in the Buffy comic. It’s certainly not hard to see where his references are coming from.

Dracula, for all his hilarity and viciousness, has undergone a complete personality transplant since his original Buffyverse appearance in Season 5. It’s a little jarring, but completely forgiveable because it results in such a brilliant character. His friendship with Xander is harder to deal with, having been established in the now definitely-canon “Tales of the Vampires” graphic novel (in a short written by Drew Goddard, no less.)

The death of Renee and the exit of Satsu does, once again, leave Xander and Buffy the potential to get together, which is what everyone was expecting/hoping would happen at the start of the series. It does also give those people who are looking for extra support for their “Xander is Twilight” theories some credible material – after all, Xander has lost a LOT to magic in his life, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that he’d want to end it all. For the first time, there’s no between-issue break before the next arc, so if Twilight doesn’t feature, we might be waiting some time to see where it’s all going…

As we all know, being happy and in love in a Joss Whedon universe is about as healthy for you as eating deadly nightshade stuffed with razorblades. The more the audience finds themself liking a character, the greater chance there is that they’re about to be neatly shuffled off the mortal coil in the most senseless and random manner possible. I know this, because I’ve seen it happen in Whedon’s work again and again, and again.

Even so, when Xander and Renee finally kissed in this issue after several issues dancing around the subject of dating, I was so completely absorbed by the character moments that I didn’t see the Whedon cogs turning slowly in the background. I won’t spoil the issue, but let’s just say things don’t look good for the future of Xander and Rene’s relationship right now.

Looking back, it feels a little like we’re the victim of a bit of misdirection. After Buffy slept with Satsu, it seemed fairly likely that the young slayer would be the victim of misfortune – indeed, Buffy and Satsu even discuss it. Satsu even disobey’s Buffy to ensure she comes to the climactic battle with the Japanese vampire gang, who are using Buffy’s axe in conjunction with their own magicks to try and de-power the slayers. This whole story has been leading up to Satsu being placed in danger. Instead, the themes bear fruit with an entirely different set of characters.

Goddard is proving himself as adept a writer of these characters as Whedon is, mixing horror, comedy and action without too jarring a tonal shift – and after all, that’s the classic Buffy formula. The use of Dracula in this arc does, however, feel a little gratuitous. It’s understandable that Goddard wanted to write the character, because he is hilarious, but so far he had failed to prove any specific worth to the story. Presumably, he’ll steal back his powers from the vampire gang in the final issue, though now that team slayer have already figured out how to kill evapourating vampires (that old fallback: kill it with fire) it seems a little unecessary for him to be around now. Perhaps more will now be made of his connection with Xander, given the events of this issue.

Once again, Buffy Season 8 doesn’t disappoint. We’re well past the initial novelty of the concept and it’s still as essential as it ever was, so whatever way you look at it, it’s a total success.