The second issue of Boom! Studios’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot continues to prove that this isn’t your father’s Sunnydale. Functioning more like a remix than anything else, the series continues to take familiar elements of the beloved franchise and approach them from a different angle.

In this issue, Buffy and Giles continue to investigate the artifact that surfaced last month that is making vampires unkillable, while the nascent Scooby gang continue to navigate the life-and-death dramas of high school. While the first issue primarily limited itself to introducing the main foursome of Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles, this issue expands the cast to include several favorites, including Robin Wood, Spike, and the nicest girl in school--Cordelia Chase.

Writer Jordie Bellaire juggles this rapidly expanding roster of characters expertly, introducing each of them economically and giving the reader just the right amount of information to make these characters matter. The story moves briskly enough, and the cliffhanger ending is earned.

Artist Dan Mora continues to walk just the right line of recreating the original actors’ likenesses without turning to photorealism. Mora’s work in the opening nightmare sequence is appropriately horrific, reminiscent almost of Junji Ito in its exaggerated features and stretched proportions. Raúl Angulo’s colors help evoke mood, from the foreboding nightmare to the musty library to the California sunshine. The lettering by Ed Dukeshire is similarly effective, differentiating the human characters from the vampire ones.

This installment of the new Buffy saga is a solid second issue. It continues the fresh tone of the first and expands the world appropriately. There are no fireworks just yet, but the issue lays the groundwork for some down the line.

Grade: A-