Ok, we had good art for ONE VOLUME. Bachs is an improvement from some of the other artists that have been on this title, but his characters are unrecognizable enough that the reveals don’t hit. Faith doesn’t look a thing like Eliza Dushku, so you’re just like, “oh, that’s PROBABLY Faith??” And does that demon turn into Anya at the end? I’m genuinely unsure! (He also drives me nuts by putting the characters in these weird generic outfits they wear every single episode: Buffy in red pants and crop top, Willow in athleisure with a crop top? Does everyone need a damn crop top?? Anya in jeans?)

The Wesley one-shot is great and gets this volume an extra star. I love the idea of ghost!Ethan and artist Andrés Genolet gives us a really nice young Robin Sachs. Plus I just want to know more about what’s going on with the council. But then we end up back in Sunnydale— Willow’s back, Rose is fine, and Buffy & Robin are going strong, even though none of those things seemed to be the case when we left.

This whole series has just been a wild rollercoaster in quality.