Warning: SPOILERS for The Vampire Slayer #11The version of Rupert Giles shown in BOOM! Studios' Buffy the Vampire Slayer ongoing comic series must be the worst to ever appear in the franchise. Not only this Giles decided to cast a dangerous spell to "help" Buffy that misfired disastrously, but he also failed to own up to his mistakes and kept the truth hidden from his Slayer, utterly failing in his duties as a Watcher.
The Vampire Slayer begins with a very unusual situation for the Buffy franchise, as the titular character is no longer the Slayer. Seeing how much Buffy was suffering under the strain of her mission, Giles and Willow decided to cast a spell to take away her pain. This did not go as planned, and the spell took away all of Buffy's Slayer powers and memories, transferring them to Willow, who became the new Slayer. Without the training and attitude to endure a Slayer's duty, however, Willow cracked and let her own magic be corrupted, turning into an evil and powerful witch.
The Vampire Slayer's Giles Put His Slayer In Danger, And Then Lied About It
The worst aspect of this situation, however, is that Buffy was kept in the dark, while her "friends" tried to put things back to normal. In The Vampire Slayer #11, by Sarah Gailey, Hannah Templer, and Valentina Pinto, Buffy finally finds out the truth when Faith, worried about Willow's transformation into a fully-fledged villain, goes to ask for her help. Buffy is understandably angry and confronts her friends, but the one she blames the most is Giles, and understandably so.
Giles is a Watcher, and it's his duty to guide and protect the Slayer. In the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer show, Giles was even more than that: he became a mentor and, more importantly, a father figure for Buffy. Giles even renounced his Watcher oath for her, and always acted in her best interest. Sometimes, Giles even got back to his dangerous "Ripper" persona to protect Buffy. In The Vampire Slayer comics, however, Giles is borderline inept. He casts a dangerous spell on Buffy without warning her, and after this backfires he never admits his mistake. Even seeing Buffy lost and without a purpose (because the spell took it away), and aware that her friends were pushing her away, Giles kept her in the dark and became even more distant, completely failing as a Watcher, a mentor, and a friend.
BOOM! Studios' The Vampire Slayer is an interesting new take on the Buffy story, but its depiction of Giles has been downright awful. It's very far from the Rupert Giles that fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer have grown to love, who became a father figure to Buffy and always protected her. Of all the versions of Giles that exist in the Slayerverse, the one who appears in The Vampire Slayer must be the absolute worst.
The Vampire Slayer #11 is available now from BOOM! Studios.