That’s right, Joss Whedon’s futuristic slayer will be making an appearance in Buffy Season 8! Joss Whedon will be writing issues 16-19 which will see Buffy traveling into the future and making contact with Melaka. Below is the cover from Issue/”Episode” 16.
Darkhorse.com has released a preview of Issue #5:
Buffy’s new position as leader and figurehead of the world’s five hundred most powerful women has made her a bigger target than ever before. “The Chain” tells the story of one of the decoy “Buffy” Slayers, a tale personally important to series creator Joss Whedon. Guest artist Paul Lee (Conan, Tales of the Vampires) pencils the first standalone issue of Season Eight.
Buffy creator Joss Whedon brings Buffy back to Dark Horse in this direct follow-up to season seven of the smash-hit TV series.
From myspace.com/darkhorsecomics
Hey everybody, it’s late Wednesday night here at the offices, and we’re listening to Tom Waits and toasting Joss Whedon, Georges Jeanty, Jo Chen, and the whole Buffy crew. 100,000 copies of Buffy #1 blew out of the warehouses today, more than 25% above what we had for orders. Excalibur in Portland, Oregon sold out today, and Comix Experience in San Francisco ordered real strong, and they should be sold out by the weekend, according to the guy we talked to there-sorry, buddy, can’t remember your name, but I blame the toasting. Or it may just be the Waits. Bridge City Comics in Portland is selling briskly, but after ordering higher on Buffy than they normally do Astonishing X-Men, they might have copies through the weekend.
So we’re already going back to print, and will have more copies to stores within a few weeks. We’re real interested in hearing from other retailers across the country-all our friends-about how the book’s doing, and if you’re getting new customers from it. When we were checking out the new books at Excalibur tonight, they got a couple calls from people looking for copies of the book, and it sounded like they were not regular customers. Fan mail is pouring in, and it sounds like people approve of our writer’s handling of the characters …
We’re very happy about Buffy, and grateful to everyone involved, especially Joss, for creating this unique chance to continue such a cool piece of pop culture right here in this fantastic medium. Here’s to Joss, to Buffy, and to comics-
And while we’re at it, a tip of the glass to Frank Miller, Lynn Varley, Zack Snyder, Gerard Butler, and co. for the fantastic debut of 300. You can’t get away from the reviews, so there’s nothing for us to add, except that you should run out and see it. And, of course, read the award-winning book, if you haven’t (shame!) already.
Finally, if you’re anywhere near East Lansing, MI, this Saturday, go say hi to Guy Davis from 12-2 p.m. at 21st Century Comics. He’s doing a signing to celebrate the release of B.P.R.D.: The Garden of Souls, which also debuted today, launching a solid year, no breaks, in the B.P.R.D. schedule, made possible by Guy’s Herculean-or at least Kirbyesque-powers.
Check out Darkhorse.com for a full report on new releases, and check back here for the latest boasts and toasts and up-to-the-minute info on the latest TV shows-turned-comics, comics-turned-film, and just plain great graphic novels.
From Newsarama.com
Press Release
Following the book’s release yesterday, Dark Horse will be going back to print on the much anticipated first issue of Buffy: Season 8. Since the book was announced last summer, Dark Horse has garnered a great deal of attention both in and outside of the comic market. With high profile press coverage, buzz among fans, and excitement from direct market retailers, orders exceeded the initial printing of over 100,000 copies!
“Admittedly, our expectations were already gigantic, but this has surpassed even those” says Dirk Wood, Director of Marketing. “We couldn’t be happier about how this has launched, and have high hopes for upcoming issues.”
“We’ve done something unique here. We’ve taken something really popular from the most mainstream of media, television, and we’ve transplanted it with total authority into comics” says Managing Editor, Scott Allie. “This is Buffy, by Joss, as much as the show ever was. And the sales seem to suggest that people are getting the message.”
The upcoming second printing will feature a full bleed version of the breathtaking Jo Chen cover, with some of the design elements removed for a cleaner, and more stripped down look. This new version will be arriving in stores with an on sale date of March 28, just a week before the release of issue #2. Dark Horse encourages retailers to backorder Buffy The Vampire Slayer #1 with confidence, as orders will be filled in full with the new printing.
Find the article in its entirity over here.
Exclusive Interview: BUFFY - SEASON 8 EDITOR SCOTT ALLIE REVEALS THE SECRETS OF THE SLAYER
We’ve got the answers about what to expect from our favorite Scooby Gang membersBy ANTHONY C. FERRANTE , Editor in Chief
Published 3/12/2007It’s been a long wait – nearly four years in the making – but Season 8 of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER is finally here this week, albeit in comic book form.
With creator and executive producer Joss Whedon back in the fold and Dark Horse Comics lavishly promoting the new endeavor, Whedon promises a 22-episode season stretched over potentially 30 issues in a two year period featuring some of BUFFY’s long-time scribes penning issues as well.What that means, where it all goes and how it all pans out is left to Whedon while Scott Allie, Editor of BUFFY-SEASON EIGHT, sorts it all out from there.
A writer and editor for Dark Horse and Glimmer Train Press, Allie has been with the BUFFY comics since 1998, which made him a natural fit for this new spin-off.
“I was the editor on BUFFY since 1998 or so, and I worked with Joss on other stuff, so I guess I was the editor on BUFFY before there was a Season Eight … so here I am,” says Allie who also wrote the horror comic THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINTS, contributions to the STAR WARS series, a tribute to H.P. Lovecraft and a self-published horror comic SICK SMILES.While it might be expected that there were some hurdles in jump-starting the BUFFY franchise in comic book form, Allie says everyone was eager to jump back into it, including Fox who owns the BUFFY rights.
“Fox was eager to do whatever Joss wanted,” says Allie. “There are contractual obstacles, in that every artist we use needs to audition—including artists who are far too talented to ever have to audition for any job. So we beg them, and ultimately they agree to do it because it’s Joss.”
In an exclusive interview, Allie spoke with iF MAGAZINE about this ambitious project, where it’s going and what to expect as Season Eight makes its debut in comic book stores this week.
iF: Are there any characters you’re not allowed to feature from the BUFFY TV series?
ALLIE: Nope.
iF: Can you include characters from ANGEL even though a different comic book company has the license on that show?
ALLIE: Yup. [Through] Joss.
iF: How do you work with Joss on this? Is he pretty much given autonomy to do what he needs to do?
ALLIE: Of course. We want him to do whatever he wants. Creatively, of course, he has total freedom. No one at Dark Horse or Fox will say no to him. And as far as business or planning or marketing, we want to do whatever he wants, within our means. And it’s my intention to stretch the limits of our means for Joss. The things that he leaves to me, I run past him, and sometimes it’s as simple as him writing back to say, “Okay,” and sometimes we go back and forth and back and forth.
iF: I’ve heard there are going to be roughly 30 issues for Season Eight. Is this accurate?
ALLIE: That’s an estimate on my part right now. Has Joss used that number? The number grows and grows. Originally Joss pitched me on 22, or roughly 22, to mirror a TV season. But that’s an erroneous comparison—an average issue of a comic is not quite as in depth as an hour of TV. And 22 comics are already almost two years; as opposed to the nine months it would take on TV. With every season of the show, there is an overarching theme for Season Eight, but in this case, it’ll just end whenever the hell Joss gets through it. I’m thinking it’ll be more than 30 issues.
iF: In terms of trying to capture the feeling of the TV show, the book does that magnificently. However, waiting every five weeks for a new issue is going to drive fans batty. Any chance the publishing schedule could be even more frequent?
ALLIE: Nope! Sorry.
iF: How many issues will Joss be writing initially and is it a full arc, or just part of a larger arc?
ALLIE: He’s writing a four-issue arc, then a single issue story. He’ll be supervising the writers on each arc he does not write, and he’ll come back periodically to write other arcs. In that way, it’s like the TV show, but with each arc comparing to an episode, rather than each issue. Someone different would write each episode of the show, but the writers would work together, under Joss’s supervision, to make sure it fit the direction of the season. So Joss is doing that, and he’s giving writers notes on their scripts, to make sure it really works as a Buffy script, to make sure the characters are right.
iF: What other writers from the BUFFY-verse will be brought into the mix?
ALLIE: Drew Goddard and Drew Greenberg are both lined up. Jane Espenson is definitely doing something, but I’m not sure how much. I think we’re getting Doug Petrie, but I haven’t talked to him, and I’m not sure. I loved working with Jane and Doug, they were the show writers I worked with the most, back in the old days of the book, and they were great comics writers. And Stephen DeKnight is also going to do a bit for us, I believe, though I haven’t had any contact with him either.
iF: How far ahead are you in terms of seeing finished books? Can you give us a tease of what to expect?
ALLIE: We’ve got six scripts in the can, four issues of pencils, nearly three of inks. Today we got a two-page spread featuring a pretty stunning magical battle. Something they never quite could have done on TV. Expect that. A fair amount of stuff that would have stretched the FX budget on the show. And Faith. Expect Faith, with some of the snappiest, smoothest dialogue to ever roll off her tongue.
iF: Whedon loves to tease about who the Big Bad is going to be. There was one panel of someone hovering above the castle that we didn’t quite see. Will that be the true “Big Bad” for Season Eight?”
ALLIE: You ask very insightful questions.
iF: Since the comic book world is different then TV in some ways, will there be mini-arcs throughout or will it be like the TV series – some mythology issues, some stand alones?
ALLIE: Mini-arcs, yes indeed. Issue five, written by Joss, only features one of what you’d call the primary characters of the show, and the focus is on someone you’ve never seen before. Very much a sidetrack, although, like many of the standalones, it reinforces the main mythology.
iF: What other characters will we see throughout the year? Is Willow back by Issue #2? Giles?
ALLIE: You’ll see both of them pretty early on. Sounds like you’ve read the first issue, so you know they’re not in that one, but they show up pretty soon. By the end of the third issue, you’ll have seen most of the faces you counted on seeing, and a handful that probably no one expected.
iF: Has Dark Horse thought of other possible ways of making BUFFY: SEASON EIGHT more than just a comic book event? Any other possible multi-media tricks up your sleeve – cast members reading the issues via podcasts, etc. etc.?
ALLIE: Nope. The whole point of this is to make it a comic event, make the comic be an entity unto itself, dependent only on Joss and what he brings to it.
iF: What was the biggest surprise you discovered working on the book?
ALLIE: Buffy has surprised me a lot over the years. I’ve learned a lot about writing from Buffy and from Joss—the degree to which Joss’s work has influenced me is the biggest surprise. When Joss’s first script showed up in my in box, completely unexpected, that was a big surprise. When I read issue one, there was a certain amount of surprise to realize that after all the comics where I’d had Buffy narrating, finally this one was really her. To have Joss writing her narration—something he’d never really done on the show, or at least not very extensively at all, at all—this is really what her voice sounds like in her own head. To me, that’s a big deal. Finally, that thing with Dawn, that was a surprise.
iF: In the TV world, you have to cut back some huge special effects or you’ll go over-budget. In the comic book world, what’s the equivalent of that – the creator wanting to do more pages for a given issue?
ALLIE: Yeah, that. Dark Horse books are 22 pages per issue, but we’ve gone over that with Joss on his first two, I think. But the closer equivalent is artist budgets. Some people are much, much more expensive than others. So we’re gonna push against that wall as we go forward.
iF: Is there any other things that you think BUFFY fans might be interested in?
ALLIE: The main thing is that this is the continuation of the story that some people spent seven years following avidly. You’re not gonna see an eighth season on TV; you’re probably never gonna see films. So if you would have tuned in for new episodes of Buffy in fall of 2003, sorry for the wait, but here it is.
iF: Could Dark Horse conceivably do comic book seasons of other cancelled shows in the near future? Have there been discussions?
ALLIE: Yes, and I guarantee there have been discussions at other publishers too. But calling it Season Eight isn’t what makes this special. It’s that it is the continuation of the show by the guy who created it, the guy who deserves the credit for the success of the show, who’s as involved in this “season” as he was in the best seasons of the TV series. Without that, all you have is an ambitious marketing campaign. And I expect to see certain publishers doing exactly that—the latter, that is.
iF: Have you talked to Joss about a Season 9 if this goes well?
ALLIE: We have, but only vaguely. If Season Eight were limited in the way a TV season is, to a set number of episodes, then I’m sure we’d be talking concretely about Season Nine already. But as it is, Season Eight could go on for five years, so until we at least have some sense of the end of Eight, talk about Nine doesn’t mean much. But we’ve both acknowledged that it’s a very nice option.
Written by Joss Whedon, penciled by Georges Jeanty, inked by Andy Owens, colored by Dave Stewart, cover by Jo Chen.
Buffy’s back in action, thanks to a kiss of true love, but Willow’s another story entirely — their capture of Amy the witch opened up a magical trap door, and now the Wiccan is in the belly of the beast. To make matters worse, she’s at the mercy of someone truly bent on revenge, and he’s been waiting for this for a long time. The conclusion to Season Eight’s first arc.
32 pages, $2.99, in stores on June 6.
Today marks the ten year anniversary of the premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Tv.com has dedicated their front page to the series anniversary with tons of pictures, articles and clips to watch
Wikipedia is also marking the ccassion by making today’s featured article.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that aired from March 10, 1997 until May 20, 2003. It was created by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy. The series narrative follows Buffy Anne Summers (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar), the latest in a line of young women chosen by fate to battle against vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness. Like previous slayers, Buffy is aided by a Watcher, who guides and trains her. Unlike her predecessors, Buffy surrounds herself with a circle of loyal friends who become known as the “Scooby Gang“.
The series usually reached between four and six million viewers on original airings. Although such ratings are lower than successful shows on the “big four” networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox), they were a success for the relatively new and smaller Warner Brothers Network. Reviews for the show were overwhelmingly positive, and it was ranked #41 on the list of TV Guide’s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time. The WB network ceased operation on September 17, 2006 after airing an “homage” to their “most memorable series”, including the pilot episodes of Buffy and its spin-off, Angel.
Buffy’s success has led to hundreds of tie-in products, including novels, comics, and video games. The series has received attention in fandom, parody, and academia, and has influenced the direction of other television series.
So this morning I awoke to an advanced copy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8 in my email in-box. Apparently, The Powers That Be have been listening. Either that or there is some very nice individual who felt my pain at having to wait another week. For which ever reason, I’d first like to say thanks. Now, allow me to get to the review portion of the review. Mind you this post will have SPOILERS, so you might want to wait until next week if you want to stay mondo surprised.
The Cover
The cover is great. With the credits pushed off to the side, there is a real focus on Jo Chen’s beautiful cover of Buffy. Though I’m not a big fan of the title on her shirt, I managed to get over it.
The Episode Summary
The first part of the episode is guided by Buffy’s voice over. She sets the stage for us, explaining how she’s still not used to being called ma’am. We also get information on how many Slayers are active (somewhere around 1800). Like any season premiere of the show, you are dropped right into the middle of the action. Buffy and a squad of Slayers are being dropped by helicopter into a ruined church. As they move inside we see Xander Harris at Command Central in Scotland watching their every move on a series of screens. Xander dishes out orders and keeps the wheels in motion. He tells Buffy, everything is in place, its time to move.
A solid kick to the church door and the Slayers are in. Three massive demons are waiting for them and through a series of tactile maneuvers the Slayers successfully dispatch them. Upon further inspection of the scene, two bodies are uncovered, one bearing a strange scar or tattoo on his chest. Buffy concludes the marks are self inflicted and that these individuals where looking for a fight. She sends the image off to Xander and we call scene.
The next page takes place on a helicopter. Two military officials, one who I would consider High Brass are discussing their displeasure with the recent creation of these female terrorist “cells”, one girl in particular “a charismatic, uncompromising and completely destructive” individual who had no problem destroying her home town. Turn the page to reveal Crater Sunnydale, one massive hole in the So Cal landscape. The military is camped out on the crater’s edge. A team has been sent down into the crater, to search for bodies and take mystical readings. Suddenly, one of the team members is attacked by….
Back at Slayer Central, Xander and Buffy share a scene. The two friends are bouncing ideas back and forth on the strange symbol Buffy found. Xander suggests that Buffy speak to her sister, which Buffy is hesitant to do. The slayer sucks it up and joins Giant Dawn in the castle courtyard. Yes, I said Giant Dawn. Dawn, who now stands at about 60 feet is obviously the victim of some type of magic or spell. Dawn has absolutely no desire to speak with her older sister and insists on confiding only in Willow. The girls begin to quarrel and Buffy storms out tossing one of the best lines in the issue at Dawn.
Alone on a castle balcony, Buffy tells us how she misses her home, her mom, the Gang, churros, and most of all sex. “Great muppety Odin, I miss that sex.” One wonders if that sex she’s referring to was with Spike. She then expresses her frustration over Dawn and her secret, knowing that Dawn’s sexual encounter with a boy at school is what resulted in the growth spurt. Most of all, she’s pissed that Dawn won’t talk to her about it.
The final act takes place at an undisclosed military location. The same Top Brass is conversing with a military scientist. We are informed that two individuals were recovered from the Sunnydale Crater (almost a year after the cataclysmic event). Subject One is a female, and Subject Two is some horribly deformed male. the scientist hypothesizes that they stayed alive by feeding on “whoever else was trapped in the crater.” The females first words upon extraction were, “I’m going to help you kill her.” She demands, in exchange for cooperation, access to all magical hardware, a weapons lab for her “boyfriend”, and lots of cheese. By this point any Buffy fan should know before they turn the page that the female, Subject One, is none other than Amy Madison.
The Review
I’m extremely impressed with every page in this comic. The art was great, the dialogue was classic Whedon as was the story. I’ll admit, first I was a little overwhelmed by the action, it was alot to take in. But the scene with Xander and Buffy researching the symbol definitely felt like old times. I could hear the actors in the dialogue I was reading. I’ve always felt that Season 7 of the show was an excellent place to end the series and the way it ended definitely left it open for a film or some form of continuation. The comic can now work on a grand scale that the show never could have afforded. I also love the theme of dealing with the effects of changing the world. All of us want to do that, but very few ever consider the repercussions of something so colossal. I’m glad to see Whedon addressing this.
Favorite Page
17. Buffy’s scene with Xander.
Favorite Line
Giant Dawn: I could squash you like a flea.
Buffy: Your butt looks big in those giant pants.
Conclusion
I couldn’t be happier with the first issue. My only complaint was that it ended and I have to wait another month to see what happens next. I’ll certainly be grabbing a copy when it is released on the 14th. I’m looking forward to seeing some other character appearances in the upcoming issues, especially Giles, and some twists and turns that only Whedon can pull off.
4.5 out of 5
