Spike, Volume 2: Stranger Things

Spike Comics (Buffy Vampire Slayer)

by Brian Lynch

The last IDW Spike stories come to a shattering conclusion as Spike faces a crazed killer, the full power of Wolfram & Hart, and the consequences of having a soul and a demonic ex. But it's the appearance of Willow that really shakes things up, not to mention a spaceship and some unexpected old "friends."

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Fantasy, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Horror, Vampires, Fiction

104 pages, Hardcover

First published August 6, 2008

About the author

Brian Michael Lynch is an American film and comic book writer.

Reviews

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The art on a lot of the pages was Not Great especially on the faces. The ending seemed to come out of nowhere? Well at least now I can move on to Buffy season 8 which is really what I came here for. Sorry I love Spike as a character but this was pretty rough.

[kory. · Rating 4 out of 5]

spike: shadow puppets ★★★☆☆
spike: old times ★★★☆☆
spike: asylum ★★★☆☆
spike: alone together now, vol. 1 ★★★☆☆
spike, volume 2: stranger things ★★★☆☆
spike: after the fall ★★★☆☆
spike: into the light ★★★☆☆
spike: a dark place ★★★☆☆

willow and spike friendship!!! and the bugs!!!

[Stephanie Krause · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than the first half of this mini-series. Willow's cameo was perfectly written. This also explained Spike's random "bug-king-on-a-spaceship" arrival on the scene in the last arc of Buffy Season 8... Thank goodness.

Still remain glad to have all of the Buffy-verse firmly back in Dark Horse territory, but this one was fun, and even had me giggling out loud a few times.

[Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read things out of order, so I knew what happened to Spike later, and I wondered where the hell had gone so wonky. Now I know. This comic also has Soul. Literally. It's a little like playing catch. Fun times with Willow and Dru and the bugs.

The art was much better, too, and who doesn't like seeing Vegas burn?

[Jenny Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty entertaining all in all. there were some confusing moments and bits where the artwork/dialogue didn't flow super well, making me have to go back a page or two to make sure I'd caught everything, but all in all there were some good moments. I especially like that now I know where Spike came by the bug ship and Willow's bit in the story was pretty cool as well.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bringing Willow into this volume was such a great idea. I could hear the warmth of her personality, and it really brought out how changed Spike is compared to when he interacted with the Scoobies on the show. He really has become more human. There's also a spaceship involved, but it's not as ridiculous as I expected.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

The conclusion to the end of Spike's adventures fighting Wolfram & Hart in Las Vegas. In this installment, Spike is assisted not only by Willow, but an inter dimensional ship of giant intelligent battle bugs. Very enjoyable and highly recommended.

[Grace Kimmerling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally understand where the bugs came from!

[taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

okay this is my favourite collection of spike comics that i’ve read

[Fernanda Martins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Spike's comics after Angel: After the Fall. I was loving it but the end is awful.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gives me an idea of the motley crew that Spike has gathered around him. The revealed senior partner is intriguing.

[Daniel Ballard · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 Liked this one. I enjoy Spike taking charge and being a bad ass. Interested to see how exactly he comes back into play down the road.

[Amara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Some good moments in this volume

[bex o.donoghue · Rating 5 out of 5]

very enjoyable 5/5 stars 🌟

[Dana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little series really picked up, found its voice, and re-found the Buffy-spirit with the addition of Willow. Spike seemed to become more Spike, Dru was more Dru, and Willow was--as ever--spot on Willow. So hurrah for re-discovering the voice of the 'verse! (I always said that Angel: the Series lost that special quality after season 2, and only regained it with Spike's return, so I'm glad to see that characters other than Spike can help a story find that characteristic Buffyverse feel.) There was just something about the dialog in the first four issues that didn't manage to pull off the characters, and since the comics are basically storyboards and should be making me play movies in my head, if the dialog isn't spot-on Spike then I can't even get the movie started. Willow fixed that problem.

The great thing about the last half of this series is how it suddenly seems to become "film noir with a punk rocker in the lead and Quentin Tarantino fight scenes." The Spike-narration bubbles are so incontrovertibly Spike-ish, and the narration-style seems to smack of faux-Noir. Also, every time someone says "but it's not Angel, it's just Spike!" And then Spike kicks their ass--that makes me very happy, particularly given how much Angel has pissed me off in the past few seasons/books.

The 8th issue of the series saw the appearance of the very strange, absurdist bug-army-in-a-dimension-jumping-spaceship that Spike shows up with in Season 8. Funny how I read this whole thing just to see how the hell he got that ship. At any rate, I adore how utterly foul-mouthed and badass the bugs are. The spaceship bit only came into play just at the very end, and seriously felt almost like an "oh, yeah, I'm supposed to have those bugs in here somewhere." For all that, it was done well enough (and an army of bugs calling Spike "sire" is priceless, anyway).

Also note, I didn't actually read the omnibus edition since the omnibus doesn't currently exist, but I read all the issues intended for this omnibus and this is pretty much the only way to say I read comics on GoodReads.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yet another missied opportunity here. Brian Lynch is a brilliant, imaginative comic book author who really both nailed the Buffyverse and managed to bring his own unique voice to it. Yet the Spike miniseries is probably the worst thing he produced during the IDW Angel run and that's not because of poor writing quality - the wit, the humour and the general all-round weirdness is all present, as is the added depth of character that the Angel comics from this period were sorely lacking. The problem is that this feels very much like an ongoing series that was cancelled - which it was - and not the mini-series that tied into the events leading to the emergence of the "bug spaceship" that it became. (The entire final issue devoted to the bugs was so poor I nearly knocked this down to 3 stars. As such, this short series had some really strong ideas at its core and maybe one of the best storylines involving Drusilla that the Buffyverse has seen and it's great to see a comic that grapples with some of the ideas that Whedon introduced and attempts to further them, rather than tread water. Here Spike has to contend with a changed Drusilla who he still has feelings for and the fact that he may have, in his own way, destroyed her soul.

Alas, there's still too much surrounding Wolfram and Hart nonsense to make it all seem a little irrelevant and nothing ultimately ties together too well. Furthermore, Beck's character unfortunately feels entirely redundant and WIllow's appearance feels like that of a guest star rather than someone who needed to be there for little more than a plot mechanic. Finally, the aforementioned bug spaceship comes along in a tacked on manner for no good reason at all. Lynch and Urru are a creative force to be reckoned with, but in this case it's clear that their plans for this comic had to be shoehorned into a publishing schedule that didn't fit and it's a real shame because this one could have been spectacular.

[Fran · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really, I only liked the last issue. Yes, it felt like it should go in to a longer, independent story line about Spike hunting down Senior Partners, but it does also serve it's purpose as a lead in to the end of Season 8 when Spike shows up.

The writing wasn't great, it felt overly re-cappy at times. Which was, in a way, a good thing at times because the art was so bad that you often didn't know what was going on. Franco Urru's art was the only good art in the book; was so relieved when the last issue was by him again. Was a shame he couldn't do the whole run.

It's somewhat odd, however, that the Senior Partners were shown in this run when they've never been seen before. But I haven't been following the IDW Angel series since the end of After the Fall (I tried the Kelley Armstrong issues but quickly gave up as they were really terrible (art and writing both) and I didn't bother with the run that continued on from that either). While it was fun, it did kind of removed from their mystique in a way

So, in summary, the series was rather a flop for me but is worth reading for the last issue alone. Especially if you've read Buffy Season 8.

[Macha · Rating 4 out of 5]

ooh, Spike doing the world saveage. with Willow. and Discussing The Girl. plus Drusilla Takes a Whole New Path, such a fine thing. and Lilah Morgan in charge of Wolf, Ram and Hart, oh yeah. plus alien bugs in a spaceship. it's just... neat. and all so strangely familiar. but also, sadly, now it's over. no more IDW Angelverse. Spike's off to, looks like, Season Nine, in a nice black tshirt, and he's just never coming back. awww.

[Elia · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's still my #1 favorite Vampire of all time.

[Lynda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best so far.