Willow #5

Willow: Wonderlad #5 (Cover art by David Mack).

Writing in the world of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer must be an arduous endeavor. There is a unique rhythm to Buffyverse dialogue and it’s not easy to replicate. Part of that is because the actors who played the characters invested so much of themselves into their parts. You can’t help but read the comics and hear James Marsters, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and company in your mind. There has been one difficult character to replicate: Willow Rosenberg. Alyson Hannigan put so much of herself into Willow, from the cadence of her speech to facial expressions, and these things can’t be recreated on the page. And no matter how many times you’ve watched Buffy, it’s difficult for even imagination to match Hannigan’s delivery. And it’s this reason that Willow’s solo comic adventures have been the least interesting since Buffy season eight launched.

The final issue of Willow: Wonderland opens with a battle between Willow and Rack, the magic dealer from Buffy season six, who has spent most of the mini-series disguised as Labyrinth’s Ludo. During the magical battle, Rack opens a new realm which may be the key to returning magic to Earth.

The big questions Wonderland leaves is how Willow will reintegrate herself with the Scoobies and just what good her journey did to begin with. Willow’s status quo is altered to some extent. She learned a lesson. But the status of magic in the world is still an issue.

Art was also a big issue for this book. So far, all the Buffy books have done a nice job capturing character likenesses. Brian Ching’s version of the character bears little resemblance to Willow with exception of red hair. This isn’t saying Ching is a bad artist. But it doesn’t help a book when both the writers and artist are failing to capture the essence of the character.

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Willow: Wonderland #5 by Jeff Parker & Christos Gage, with art by Brian Ching.

The series did pick up some around issue three, and the return of Rack was at first an exciting surprise, but upon further thought seemed an unnecessary ret-con. If Wonderland had one thing working for it it’s the beautiful David Mack covers—and any sort of David Mack art makes something worth the price of purchase. Overall, the magic Willow sought was also missing from this mini-series. Let’s hope there’s something there for her when she returns to the pages of Buffy.

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