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Last Gleaming, Part Four is the thirty-ninth issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic book series. It was written by Joss Whedon and Scott Allie, and illustrated by Georges Jeanty. Joss Whedon is the executive producer.

Synopsis[]

It's war, and there will be casualties not soon forgotten as Buffy faces her most fearsome enemy.[1]

Summary[]

The battle rages on in the remains of Sunnydale; Faith fights on, but it is clear there are a few unnamed casualties. Willow remains with the Master who seems to be being repelled backwards for unknown reasons. His hands are still bound with red chains, the room is completely engulfed by glowing red light, and Willow is still chanting. Meanwhile, Buffy acknowledges that Angel is different than when he first revealed himself as Twilight. One being they can now physically hurt each other during their fight. In attempt to protect Buffy, Spike runs forward to hit Angel, shouting that Angel's finally picked a side - evil. An evil he is clearly ready to defend against. However, he is quickly overpowered as Angel flies him into the setting sun, preparing to let him burn up. As Spike begins to smoke, Angel mocks him and tells him his story ends there. Flying between them, Buffy flings them both in either direction, saying how she liked it better when they were kissing (as she had previously dreamed about.)

Still on fire, Spike falls backwards into his ship and out of the sunlight, while Buffy declares Angel’s behavior as different than before - a cosmic vengeance that she had coming. While she ponders this, Angel grabs at a passing army aircraft and throws it at Buffy. She quickly dodges it, sending it the ground, exploding among friend and foe alike. Back in Spike's ship, Spike is being tended to by his bug minions who instruct him to lie still. Visibly upset, he sadly declares, "It’s finally happened, Angel gets the girl."

While the fight continues with Buffy and Angel above, Xander, who is still with Dawn at the medical station, realizes that they are not going win. In a flashback, Giles compares working with the Master to their recent unlikely alliances, like Dracula. Giles' flashback speech to Buffy continues, "A demon already attached to this world doesn't want this apocalypse any more than you or I." As this is being said, Giles — seated on the back of a demon, a sword high in his hand — leads an army of earth demons forwards instructing them to leave no prisoners. They must kill all the new-universe demons.

Back in the game, Buffy flies upwards and strikes at Angel. Giles calls out desperately to the slayers, telling them to duck and only just gets Leah out of the way in time before a demon descends and burns a portion of the fighting slayers alive. In the Seed of Wonder room, Willow mocks the Master, telling him he's nothing; he's ordinary, less than ordinary. The Seed is life and soul, it's amazing and tied to everything. And so is Willow. She then vanishes into thin air, leaving the Master chained, mystified and questioning while she has left him in chains.

On the ground, a massive root flies upwards, impaling the demon circling overhead and narrowly missing Giles and Leah. Also out of the earth rises Willow, firing magic, burning demons and taking back control. She tells the demons that they have not only attacked Earth’s inhabitants, they have “attacked Mother!"

Angel and Buffy are still viciously fighting. Angel says Willow is missing the point, does she think she can win this? Kicking Buffy away, he flies to the ground at top speed and Buffy follows. Leading the slayers, Giles runs to Faith and asks her for the scythe to give to Buffy. Without waiting for a reply he leaves Faith and runs down underground with the Mʔ in hand. A demon then proceeds to attack Faith, making the slayers behind her melt, Faith only escaping by hitting the demon and breaking the spell. Unfortunately, the other slayers are not so lucky.

In Venice, Amy and Warren are dining in a cafe, as Amy asks whether they should have stayed. Warren doesn't like this idea, saying that Buffy and Willow are the enemy. Amy says it might have been better to have more wiccans sustaining Warren's skin. But Warren argues that since it was Willow who tore it off, how long would he last in her hands? Willow is easily killing demons in an aerial battle while Kennedy and Andrew are below. Kennedy is watching Willow fight, calling her a “Goddess.” But Andrew says regardless of Willow’s strength, the demons are still winning. Before he can finish, a demon strikes him brutally across the face.

In the church with the Seed, Xander has arrived and is waiting. As he hides in an archway, Angel and Buffy come crashing through the ceiling. As they brutally fight, Angel tells her she can’t just leave a world she helped create. Kicking Buffy aside, Angel approaches the Seed, saying, "You were chosen, Buffy." The Master comes out of hiding and attempts to attack Angel, joking that Buffy being called the chosen one is truly original. Annoyed at the interruption, Angel thrusts his fist through the Master's head, killing him instantly. Buffy praises Angel for this before she comes to her senses and kicks him in the head.

Giles arrives, meeting Xander at his hiding spot and asks why he is hiding there. Before he can properly answer, Giles tells him there is nothing he can do. He tells him their power — Buffy and Angel’s — fades in proximity to the Seed. But the Seed fuels the Mʔ. Xander tells Giles to just throw it to Buffy, but Giles says that Buffy won't want to kill Angel - at the very least she'll hesitate. She only wants to stop him, not kill him. Xander tells him there is no way Giles can go in there because it’s too dangerous to get in the middle of the two. In response, Giles tells Xander that’s exactly where Buffy needs him. Giles then sprints into the room, while Angel quickly gets behind him yelling, "Buffy... you abandoned me... for this?!” Without pause or mercy, he then breaks Giles' neck. Glancing down at his dead body, Angel tells Buffy, "When they're all gone, you'll understand."

Xander is horrified at Giles’ death. Buffy is devastated but doesn't stop - she continues to whack Angel out of the way. Tears, blood and dirt are covering every inch of Buffy, her jacket torn off completely. She picks up the scythe and brings it back to strike. However, she isn't aiming at Angel and her true target is hit dead on. The Mʔ breaks through the Seed, releasing energy everywhere, hitting Buffy and Angel and causing their superpowers to be taken away. Twilight seems to suddenly relinquish its hold on Angel and Willow falls from the sky seemingly reeling from the loss of her magic.

In Venice, Amy and Warren collapse, both due to the loss of magic. Warren, without Amy's power as his skin, dies in a pool of bones, blood and guts. Willow has hit the ground injured and bloody, calling out desperately. In the sky, demons are being sucked forcibly from the dimension. In New York, Vi's Wicca squad says they lost connections with Sunnydale, but that’s not all...

While Willow calls out to Aluwyn, Kennedy runs up to comfort her, but all Willow does is scream, "Where did you go?" At the same time, the lion walks away in it’s Twilight dimension.

In Sunnydale on Spike's ship, Bug one announces that the demons are being sucked back to hell. Spike yells to reverse thrusters, if the demons are going to hell, he’ll be damned if they go with them. Though burnt and injured, he happily says that Buffy has done it, she has won the war. He then instructs bug one that the slayers are gonna need to time to heal, but he wants to stop the massive monster with tentacles that has remained behind and is now fleeing across the sky. He then pursues the monster with his ship. On the ground, Willow tells Kennedy that “they lost.”

Down in the the church with the Seed. Buffy's vision has come to pass. There she lies broken and bleeding on the ground, the destroyed Seed in the background. Xander approaches her cautiously. As Giles’ body is shown, Angel tries to speak to Xander, obviously upset over his actions. But Xander shrugs him off in either fear or disgust. He kneels over Buffy, calling to her softly as Giles lays dead behind them. Angel is near tears in the background and the blade of the Mʔ sticks out of the ground broken in half.

Continuity[]

  • Buffy tells Angel and Spike she preferred when they were kissing, in reference to her dream in Always Darkest. Spike answers he's "fairly certain [he] never mentioned...", as he once told Illyria: "Angel and me have never been intimate. Except that one time..." ("Power Play").
  • Buffy mentions seeing Angel as Angelus ("Innocence" to "Becoming, Part Two") and as the masked Twilight (A Beautiful Sunset to Twilight, Part Two).
  • The issue includes a flashback of Giles' talking to Buffy in Last Gleaming, Part Three.
  • Giles allies himself with the same demon species which Buffy fought against in The Long Way Home, Part One.
  • Warren disagrees with the prospect of the Scoobies accepting Amy and him and help maintaining his skin of magic, recalling that Willow who tore it off in the first place ("Villains").
  • Xander apparently considers destroying the Seed, as the General attempted to convince him to do so in Last Gleaming, Part Three.
  • Angel, possessed by Twilight, kills Giles in a similar way he did with his girlfriend Jennifer Calendar while soulless ("Passion"). Angel will spend the following year attempting to resurrect him, finally doing so in What You Want, Not What You Need, Part Two.
  • With the end of magic, Warren finally dies; Amy will meet Angel after the return of magic to resurrect her boyfriend, his remains secured in a jar (Lost and Found, Part One).
  • While he recovers in the ship, Spike and his crew go after the placenturian, returning to earth 62 days later (Magical Mystery Tour, Featuring the Beetles).
  • Buffy crying on the floor of the church after being betrayed by someone close to her was foreseen by her in Anywhere but Here.
  • Xander's reaction to Angel killing Giles while at the church is revealed in a flashback in The Watcher.

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

Organizations and titles[]

Species[]

Events[]

Locations[]

Weapons and objects[]

Rituals and spells[]

Death count[]

  • Unknown number of placenturians, killed by the Slayer Organization, the military, and Earth demons.
  • Unknown number of Slayers, killed by demons and Angel (possessed by Twilight).
  • Unknown number of military members, killed by demons and Angel (possessed by Twilight).
  • The Master, punched through his head by Angel (possessed by Twilight).
  • Rupert Giles, neck snapped by Angel (possessed by Twilight).
  • Warren Mears, killed by the end of magic.

Behind the scenes[]

Production[]

Distribution[]

  • Last Gleaming, Part Four was the 32nd best selling comic issue in its publishing month, with 40,010 sales in December 2010 at comic specialty stores.[2]

Pop culture references[]

Collections[]

Gallery[]

Cover artwork[]

Preview[]

Quotes[]

Spike: "Finally chosen a side, have you, scared-hair? Thank bloody Christ!"
Angel: "When they’re all gone, you’ll understand."
Willow: Kennedy— We lost. This is the end!

References[]

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