Buffy the Vampire Slayer - THE LONG WAY HOME

Dark Horse Books

Script JOSS WHEDON

Pencils GEORGES JEANTY

Copyright 1998, 2007

In The Long Way Home, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 begins in graphic novel form written by Joss Whedon and pencils by Georges Jeanty. The graphic novels of Season 8 are the official continuation of the Buffy series and has Buffy leading and training several squads of new Slayers to fight the supernatural. In The Long Way Home,  the Military consider Buffy and her army of Slayers too dangerous, since she destroyed her home town, and brings back an old enemy to take down Buffy and her Slayer force.

In a continuation from the TV series, the graphic novels of Season 8 begins with The Long Way Home. Not constrained by a television budget, a more epic and graphic scale can be depicted in the visual story telling. The Slayers are more of an army now than they were in the last season of the TV series. Dawn has turned into a giant, Willow returns, and Xander is in command of Slayer Central. The closest to a normal life Buffy has is dealing with her sister-turned-giant. The graphic novel does mention other Buffys who were created to protect the original Buffy from being a target, including the Buffy in Italy running around with The Immortal, mentioned in the last season of Angel and in the book Queen of the Slayers. The last issue in the graphic novel begins a new story, in which Giles appears, that obviously continues in the next novel.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Mission to Minerva

 

A Baen Book

Written by James P. Hogan

Copyright 2005 by James P. Hogan

The fifth novel in the "Giants" series - Mission to Minerva, written by James P. Hogan,  is about UNSA scientists, Victor Hunt and Chris Danchekker, as well as the alien giant Ganymeans conducting experiments into open communication - and travel into alternate realities. Their ultimate goal is to go 50,000 years into the past - to prevent the destruction of the planet Minerva, the giant's original home, whose debris is now the asteroid belt in our solar system.

While the scientists try to figure out how to achieve stabilization and connection between the alternate worlds, and how to travel back in time, the scientists never consider the consequences of actually changing history aside from saving Minerva. I felt that not considering the consequences of their actions to history was very irresponsible for the scientists as they try to go back in time. They forget that present day mankind originally came from the planet Minerva, so the Earth as we know it would not exist if the Minervan survivors never came to Earth. They don't even considered if they would even exist after changing the past.

It is only in the last quarter of the book that they actually all travel back in time to Minerva to search for the ancient Terrans who were responsible for the destruction of Minerva, that the adventure begins.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.