The Zone's Eye View:

By Scott Maravilla

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tempted Champions, by Yvonne Navarro (Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster)

As an insatiable fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it was inevitable that I would eventually turn to the novels based upon the popular characters created by Joss Whedon. However, I approached Tempted Champions with a bit of trepidation. One of the difficulties in picking up any movie or television tie-in novel is that the authors so rarely capture the richness and depth of the source material. This is a natural occurrence because, for the most part, the people writing the books are not the same as those writing the show. Often the writers of the novels find themselves producing noteworthy adventures of the show's characters, but fail to expound upon the mythos in any meaningful way. Exemplary exceptions include Terrence Dicks who produced the BBC iconic Doctor Who in the 1960s and went on to write many memorable novel and adaptations of the show, and Alan Dean Foster who fleshed out the Star Wars universe further with Splinter of the Mind's Eye and The Approaching Storm. 

In Tempted Champions, Yvonne Navarro has successfully accomplished this rare feat, and written a novel so original that we, the readers, are left wondering why Joss Whedon didn't think of this story arc. Tempted Champions, set during Buffy's weak fifth season, concerns a vampire named Celina, once a Slayer herself, whose enemies are both the vampires and the Slayer arriving in Sunnydale to settle a score with the Slayer. Not only must Buffy confront a "Vampire-Slayer" with eternity to hone her skills, she must also discover what made Celina turn in the first place in order to discover a way to defeat her. She's aided by the brooding Angel and the affable Spike who have both previously encountered Celina in their own vampiric hey days. On top of all this, Anya is presented with a choice by her former boss D'Hoffryn, reinstatement or continued life as a mortal. Buffy is too tempted by the thought of eternal life with Angel when she discovers the secrets behind Celina's turn to the night.

The strength of this novel is that the Buffyverse is expanded by what if a Slayer became a vampire plotline. In a way this is a natural expansion of Faith's story taken one step further. It begs the question why a Slayer would not succumb to the forces she fights against in an attempt to combine her strengths with theirs, and answers it so eloquently with a deeper look at the Buffy-Angel relationship. The character of Celina is just darn scary as a creature that is feared by the vampires that vampires fear, Angel and Spike. 

Yvonne Navarro brings a lot of experience in the horror genre to the table in crafting Tempted Champions. She is the author of the futuristic zombie novel After Age, for which she is penning a sequel. Her understanding of the nuanced horror novel has this book avoiding a story arc mirroring a Buffy episode and following a more traditional approach to presenting the story in novel form. She never tries to out Buffy the writers of the series, but rather sets her own original story within the Buffy universe using the same characters. 

The book's only weakness is its constant reference to events that happened during the television show that it often feels a bit like filler material. It also serves up some very huge spoilers for those readers who may not have yet made it through the entire seven year run. 

Overall, this remains a must read for Buffy fans and a good introduction into the written side of the adventures of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character and the Scoobies. I highly recommend it and look forward to seeing more of Miss Navarro's work.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris (Ace Mass Market Original)

Having grown up in Dallas, I was unsure whether the title referred to vampires or what it feels like to actually live in Texas suburbia. Living Dead in Dallas is indeed about the former, not the latter, and is a worthwhile contribution to the genre. The sequel to Dead Until Dark, finds telepathic Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse working the late shift and trying to make her relationship with a vampire work. Obviously she has not learned the hard lessons of Buffy Summers that a vampire paramour brings forth all sorts of difficulties especially about how to raise the kids. 

One of Sookie's co-workers turns up dead in the parking lot, and all signs point to vampires. Until Sookie herself is attacked by the not readily identifiable beast, and is beaten and poisoned by its bite. Her boyfriend Bill and his vampire colleagues suck out the poison to save her life. But vampires don't do charitable work. In return, Sookie must travel to Dallas and put her telepathic skills to full use in search of a missing vampire. She makes the vampires promise to behave themselves, and not feed on any people. Like that is really going to happen. But when a mysterious woman shows up and Sookie makes a minor error of sorts, things go horribly wrong. 

The Southern vampire series is mystery writer Charlaine Harris's first foray into the horror-fantasy genre and a welcome one it is. It is the mystery and suspense aspects of this novel which make it such a good read. From Sookie's first encounter with a mysterious woman accompanied by a razorback who nearly kills her by spitting Komodo dragon-type venom at her face, the reader is left guessing at every turn who or what is behind the missing vampire. It kept me at the edge of my chair until the final page.

The one weakness I did find with Living Dead in Dallas was that for a series of novels premised on the Southern back drop there was little discussion about the actual city of Dallas itself. I expected the story to be nuanced with goth hangouts like Deep Ellum or vivid descriptions of the various locales much like Peter Gent did so brilliantly in his debut novel North Dallas Forty. I never felt like I was really in Dallas, the setting could have been anywhere. This was not enough to wholly blunt my enjoyment of the story, but it is a consideration for those expecting a detailed account of the South (Texas is indigenously considered the Southwest).

Overall this is a strong effort by Charlaine Harris and I recommend it to fans of the genre.

MARVEL MASTERWORKS: THE INCREDIBLE HULK NO'S. 1-6 BY STAN LEE AND JACK KIRBY

With the release of Ang Lee's much anticipated film adaptation of the Marvel Comic's legend, it is worthwhile for fans to pick up the first volume in the Marvel Masterworks line of softbound collected editions of The Incredible Hulk. These are the first issues that started it all including the original gray skinned Hulk before Stan Lee decided that green looked better on the printed page.

The Cold War backdrop is made obvious as a Russian spy allows the testing of the gamma bomb to continue as Dr. Bruce Banner, its inventor, rushes into the field to rescue a high school student who's driven onto the testing grounds on a dare. Exposed to high levels of gamma radiation, Bruce Banner transforms into the Hulk at night. The nocturnal trigger for the transformation is another of the interesting oddities of the premiere issues before Stan Lee settled on anger as the mechanism for Banner morphing into his green alter ego. 

I first read the first two issues of The Hulk in Stan Lee's book Origins of Marvel Comics, and it is a pleasure to be able to enjoy them once again in reprinted form along with the four issues that followed. Even after all of the years of other writers building upon the mythos, especially Peter David's highly touted 12-year run, it is still a delight to see the actual origins of the incredible Hulk. I recommend picking this up and reading it in the movie theater when you get there early to secure a good seat. It will put you in the mood.



THE HULK BY PETER DAVID (DEL REY, 2003)

There is an endless debate within ourselves as to whether or not to spoil our must see blockbuster movie ahead of time by reading the novel and comic book adaptations, or maintain what little self discipline we may have in order to see it unblemished on the silver screen. I myself have been divided on this issue my whole life. In 1983, I relished reading James Kahn's adaptation of Return of the Jedi, and then spilling major spoilers on the playground to impress the other kids with my foresight. Impatiently, I read Batman and Robin on a plane journey, and actually found it was much better without the "kill dee hee rows" dialogue mixed in with Clooney's inability or unwillingness to give Batman a different voice than Bruce Wayne. Later, I began to go in the opposite direction. I bought my copy (only one mind you, I don't go in for the four different covers of the same book must be purchased mindset) of The Phantom Menace and resisted will all of my inner strength from reading it before the movie premiered.

Now I come to the dilemma of The Hulk. I actually went ahead and spoiled this one for myself, mainly because I was unaware of exactly when I'd be able to see the movie due to my current schedule. I was fortunate enough to see it opening weekend. Nevertheless, I found that the book held back many major plot points so as not to completely ruin the film. The special effects and action sequences also could not be translated into the written word so a lot of those sequences were like seeing them for the first time. 

I find the main reason to read The Hulk is Peter David. I find that he is one of the few writers that can effectively write intriguing stories using other people's characters, and still bring depth to them while also avoiding any outright contradictions to the source material. He also wrote The Hulk comics for ten years in the 1980s and '90s. His stories are among the most favored by a generation of fans. Here is does an impeccable job of bringing the James Schamus' and Ang Lee's story to print.

The real drawback to shelling out the money and spending your valuable time with this book is that the film is already out. David does not really add anything to the overall story to flesh it out any more than the film like the Attack of the Clones novel. Nor does he site many deleted scenes like the Alan Dean Foster adaptation of Aliens. In fact, there is more information in the actual film to explain the characters, events and the science behind Banner's transformation into the Hulk (a.k.a. Angry Man). I would say save your money, unless you would like a copy for your collection, and see the actual film.