After a giant robot Dawn, Dawn turning into a giant and then a centaur, Buffy turning gay and then not gay, going to the future, killing an evil future version of Willow, and all the other jump the shark moments of Season 8, an issue where Buffy has a dream in which she’s in the animated series that never really aired, almost makes sense by comparison. Jeph Loeb scripts this one, and there’s not much that can be said about it. I never saw the appeal of an animated series, particularly with Dawn in it, and Buffy Season 8 Issue 20 After These Messages We’ll Be Right Back does little to change that.

The idea of Buffy flashing back mentally in time to high school when things were supposedly easier sounds like a good idea, and it might have been, but the animated version isn’t just a cartoon, it’s cartoonish and silly, and just grates on you for page after page, with ugly art and cartoonish versions of the characters without any of the complexity. The idea of it does remind you of how far Buffy has gone from the premise, but that was a problem for years even when the show was still running. It’s an even bigger problem now when Season 8 has gone all out and jumped the shark so many times the shark has a pounding headache.

For anyone who really needed a tribute to a show which never aired, an exclusive club that is probably limited to Joss Whedon, Jane Espenson, and that creepy guy who has a restraining order out against him, After These Messages We’ll Be Right Back is it. But the best thing about it is the cover, and it never gets any better than that. Season 8 has regularly run these stand alone stories to interrupt the general arc, and it’s a nice idea, and Joss Whedon has done them pretty well. The Chain for example took a risk but worked. After These Messages We’ll Be Right Back though is all but pointless.