Buffy: The High School Years: Parental Parasite by Kel McDonald, art by Yishan Li

Dark Horse Comics, 2017

ISBN: 9781506703046

Available: print, Kindle, and comiXology ebook

Into every generation, a slayer is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one.

So begins the story of Buffy, Angel, Giles, Willow, and Xander chasing down a demon who possesses adults, driving them to only take care of it. The demon takes the form of an adorable young child, but it as we all know with demons in the Buffy-verse, it is anything but. At the same time, Buffy and her mother are struggling with their own mother-daughter relationship. Joyce wants to spend more time with Buffy, but the Slayer heeds the never-ending call to protect Sunnydale. However, when Joyce becomes hypnotized by the child demon, Buffy faces a new kind of battle—one to save her mother from the clutches of evil. Can Buffy and Scoobies defeat the demon before it kills Joyce?

This book is set during season 1 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and is the third installment of the Buffy the High School Years series. The artwork is great and very manga-ish. This is definitely a good supplemental YA title if you’re introducing your kids to the Buffy-verse. The relationship between Buffy and Joyce is depicted as strained, but they clearly love each other. Buffy’s devotion to her Slayer responsibilities is obsessive, which I seem to remember her desire to protect overrode her need for education or familial duties to her mother in the television series. Frankly, it made me want to revisit the series. Admittedly it has been quite some time since I’ve seen it. Pick this one up if you want to explore content set in the early years of the Slayer! You won’t be disappointed. Highly recommended for die-hard Buffy fans and newbies alike.

Reviewed by Lizzy Walker