Buffy the Vampire Slayer/The Long Way Home (1)

The Long Way Home
Season 8, Issue 1
Published	March 14, 2007
Available	Comic Shops
Writer(s)	Joss Whedon
Artist(s)	George Jeanty (pencils) Andy Owens (inking) Dave Stewart (colors) Richard Starkings (lettering)
Page Count	32
Issue 1 The Long Way Home (1)	Issue 2 The Long Way Home (2)
Buffy the Vampire Slayer — Season Eight

The Long Way Home (1) is the first issue of the "eighth season" and the first arc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A routine demon purging from a cemetery takes a strange turn when they find that the victims all have the same unusual mark burned into them. Meanwhile, the United States military is looking at the slayers as a potential threat to America.

Cast: Buffy Summers, Xander Harris, Dawn Summers, Amy Madison, General Voll

Plot Overview

In Scotland, Buffy has set up headquarters and is systematically ridding the countryside of demons and various other creatures which have cropped up over time. In this case, she and a team of slayers (Leah, Rowena and Satsu are named) have discovered a church with a force field around it. They break through the field and into the building where they fight off three monsters. After the battle, they discover several victims with an odd symbol carved into their chests.

Xander, Buffy's watcher for the time being, attempts to decipher the symbol, but only comes up with a "guy with a monocle frowning." Instead of examining the symbol more, Xander pushes Buffy into talking with her sister, who has grown into gigantic proportions on the count of sleeping with a thricewise. Dawn won't admit this to Buffy, so the two wind up hurling childish insults at each other instead.

Meanwhile, at the former site of Sunnydale, the military is investigating the collapse of the Hellmouth, now fully aware of the danger Buffy's slayers poses to American interests around the world. General Voll leads an expedition into the pit, where one of the scientists is attacked by a woman 60 feet below ground. The woman is captured and taken to a facility where she's offered, along with her unseen boyfriend, to help kill Buffy. This woman is revealed to be a highly deranged Amy Madison.

Arc Advancement

Happenings

• Big Bad: The first glimpse of what could be the big bad is shown in this issue. After Buffy discovered the symbol carved into the chest of one of the victims, a flying man is shown watching them. However, only his feet are shown.

Characters

• Dawn: During the several months after the destruction of the Hellmouth, Dawn got into a relationship with Kenny, a thricewise. Because she refused to believe warnings from Buffy or Giles, she slept with him and consequently turned into a giant.

Referbacks

• Angel - 5x20 - The Girl in Question: In her internal monologue, Buffy mentions that it was Andrew's idea to set up a duplicate Buffy in Italy, where she would be very public about dating a man known as "The Immortal." In Angel, Spike and Angel caught wind of her relationship and chased her down because the Immortal is one of their oldest enemies, although he was actually only dangerous to their egos.

Trivia

Allusions and References

• Nick Fury: While in Slayer headquarters directing Buffy and her team, Xander asks that one of the slayers to call him "Sergeant Fury," as a reference to Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., on the count of the eye patch. Xander then goes on to explain that he liked the "Howling Commandos," which was Fury's unit during World War II.

Xander: Renee, I told you, it's "Xander." Or "Sergeant Fury."

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