Mad Jack is a local legend in the Sunnydale area, much like the Jersey Devil or Bigfoot are in other locales. But when Mad Jack comes to life, Buffy does her usual slayer bit and, well, slays him.

Oops. It turns out Mad Jack was a demon with a purpose, and without his watchful eye, a much worse demon -- Ky-Laag -- will rise from his prison/tomb at the bottom of a local water-filled quarry. The Blood of Carthage, a demon cartel led by Vraka, wants to stop Ky-Laag's rise -- it turns out Ky-Laag is worse than they are, and he has a reason to hold a grudge against the cartel -- but they also want to kill Buffy because, well, she's Buffy.

Unlike many of the stories told in Buffy's original comic-book/graphic novel series, this tale by Christopher Golden is epic. While the Mad Jack and Vraka storylines would have been OK fodder for a regular episode of the Buffy TV series, the scenes of Godzilla-sized Ky-Laag tearing through the streets of Sunnydale are the stuff of season finales. And, while art by comic-book regular Cliff Richards is good, the book has a nice, layered effect because of flashbacks into Xander and Willow's childhood (penciled by Chynna Clugston-Major) and Spike, Vraka and Ky-Laag's past (by Paul Lee and Brian Horton).

There are a lot of good stories in the Buffy collection, but if you're only planning to collect a few of the best, this is one for the list.