A favorite character for many of us, Spike made a triumphant return to comics in Dark Horse’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike – A Dark Place. The five-issue series has been collected into a trade paperback, much to my joy, since kissing my computer was making my screen dirty….

The art style matches the “dark” theme, with a darker variant of most colors being used. I enjoyed it, as well as the design of the space bugs. The cover by Jo Chen is just beautiful.

Speaking of the space bugs, they were the best part of the series. Unfortunately, Gischler only rarely seems to actually capture Spike’s “voice,” so much of the dialogue with non-bug characters is…well, a little boring and too introspective. The series will enlighten you as to why Spike has been acting the way he has, and provides actual growth for the character, setting him up for his next appearance in the Buffyverse, but the snippy dialogue we know and love is missing most of the time.

I still highly recommend the series, solely on the merits of the Spike/bug interactions. Priceless.

Plot

“Fresh from his latest attempt to get Buffy to act on her feelings for him, Spike has fled to the dark side of the moon. His trip leads him to a group of dangerous demons and a rude awakening from his reverie, which in turn leads him on an unexpected adventure to…Sunnydale! Collecting Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spike—A Dark Place #1–#5.”

Writer:
Victor Gischler

Penciller:
Paul Lee

Inker:
Andy Owens, Dexter Vines

Colorist:
Cris Peter

Cover Artist:
Jo Chen

Buy it here!