Buffy : Season 8

The Twilight of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Brad Meltzer discusses his work on the penultimate arc of Buffy Season 8.

US, December 22, 2009 - Comics have often tied into popular videogames, movies, and TV shows, but rarely on the level of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8. This ongoing series picked up where the long-running TV series left off and follows the continued adventures of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and a cast of entirely new Slayers.

The series will be reaching its conclusion with issue #40. But before Joss Whedon returns to cap off Season 8, Brad Meltzer (Identity Crisis) will step in to helm the next story arc. With vampires in public favor, the Slayers now rendered powerless, and Buffy showing a few strange tendencies, Meltzer certainly has plenty of material to deal with in his issues. We chatted with the writer about working with Whedon and handling one of the most important chapters in Buffy’s career.

IGN Comics: So far, most of the writers on Season 8 were also writers on the show in some capacity. How would you say you were brought into the fold?

Brad Meltzer: The simplest way of all, and that is that Joss asked me. Obviously he waned people from the show, but he also wanted people familiar with comics. And when Joss calls, that’s a pretty easy decision.

IGN Comics: Would you say it was that he felt your writing voice fit in with the other writers’, or more that he wanted something different than had come before?

Meltzer: You know, I have no idea why he picked me. I’m just thankful that he did. It’s been a good experience – and most importantly, a good learning experience for me in terms of trying to improve what I do. At the end of the day, the goal is to tell a great story and, of course, to try to get better – to try to improve what you’re doing and learn from what you’re doing. The idea that I can do this and it was someone that I admire and the writing involved, it was the perfect way to take on any project.

IGN Comics: How much of this arc was planned out ahead of time, and how much would you say was based on the ideas you brought to the table?

Meltzer: When I started with this, Joss was actually incredibly generous. He’s kind enough to say with every writer, "Tell me what you enjoy doing, because I don’t want to jam stuff down your throat". And I admire him for that. He doesn’t have to do that. Everyone would be just as happy to let him steer the boat. But he also said, "I want to make sure you love what you’re doing individually". So I think different people said different things - "I want to do a big story" or "I want to do a one-shot story" or whatever it was they wanted to do.

I actually, just because I have from the novel world a very plot-driven brain, wrote an incredibly long piece of fan-fiction that laid out my own theories on certain things. It was one of those terrifying moments where he was either going to say "This is great" or "This is crap". There were certainly things that we didn’t use, but also some things where he said "Okay, I think we can use a bit of this". It’s really been a terrific collaboration of trying to keep all the piecemeal things and all the things we threw aside together.

Remember the first job you ever had, and it was terrifying because you’ve never done it before and you don’t know if you’re going to succeed in it? But it’s the most thrilling experience you’ve ever had because you’ve never done it before? That, to me, is the best moment. I love that moment. I love that moment where you’re just not sure if you can pull it off, but dammit, you’re going to try. For me, that’s what this process is. It’s why I’ve always liked going and not just writing novels and writing prose for the rest of my life. I like trying comics and trying television. It’s that moment again where you just want to leap off the trapeze without the net and see if you survive. And that’s when you know you’re alive.

IGN Comics: How would you say you went about trying to capture the voices of the characters? Was it just a matter of going back to the show and studying the mannerisms and behaviors of the actors?

Meltzer: I definitely did go back and watch. I watched far more than I can ever reveal. And I think it is that. As I learned very quickly when I first started writing for DC, you don’t want to put a Southern accent in Superman’s mouth and make him sound like Gambit. Everyone will notice pretty quickly. You have to let the characters be the characters, not be what you want.

IGN Comics: So in turn, was it any harder or any easier for you to work with the characters that never appeared in the show and only debuted in the comic?

Meltzer: There were some characters that were harder than others. I don’t want to say which because obviously I don’t want to ruin anything. But there were some that came to me naturally. I actually think, quite honestly, that Buffy is a harder character in terms of voice. Everyone around her has a much more distinctive, true voice than the main character has. But as a true testament to what Joss has done, Buffy is the most captivating character in the series, and I find that really fascinating. Everyone knows when you get a Xander line whether it’s right or wrong. You know what Xander sounds like. When you get a Willow line you know what it sounds like. It’s much harder with Buffy, and especially when you get that Buffy line right it’s that much more rewarding. And she has a complexity that I don’t want to say the other characters don’t have, but is why she’s lasted as long as she has as a character.

IGN Comics: So far I think the various writers have achieved a pretty consistent voice between story arcs, but the one difference I tend to notice right away between the writers is whether they rely on first-person narration or not. You’re pretty well-known for your use of multi-viewpoint narration in your comics. Are you going to be using that technique again?

Meltzer: You’re actually very smart. I do go to some first-person narration. It’s definitely a crutch I like to lean on because it can do things that regular dialogue, as much as I love writing dialogue, just can’t do. But for the most part, it’s the least narration I’ve ever done in a comic book. Again, it’s not what everyone has been doing. And I know Joss has created this beautiful quilt by bringing in all these unique voices and letting them do their thing. Going from Brian K. Vaughan to having Jeph Loeb recreate what he did with the TV show, it’s a great, beautiful, complex patchwork. But I also think you don’t want to come in and do 50 different voices just because it worked in Identity Crisis. I actually, for the most part, really tried to tone that back and make the dialogue more representative of what was happening.

IGN Comics: And I imagine on some level, with this being a continuation of a TV series, writers want to ditch the narration because it takes away from the cinematic tone of the book. Was that part of your motivation?

Meltzer: It was part of my motivation in the sense that on the artistic side, Georges knows what he’s doing. You don’t have to say everything. One of the hardest things about writing for comics is learning when to shut up and let the artist do their job. The very first issue I wrote had all the descriptions and all the panel breakdowns and here’s where the black cat should be in the back of the panel and this is the direction the cat should be facing and all this other craziness I tend to write in. And then the first pages came in and I decided, "Okay, I trust him. We got it. We understand each other." Again,you have to let the characters speak for themselves.

The beauty for me of doing novels versus doing comics is that comics have a wonderful sense of silence to them. You can do silence in comics. You can’t do silence in novels. I guess you can, but if you are doing silence you still have to be writing something else. I love the silent moments in comics. One of my favorite moments in recent comics memory is in Astonishing X-men when Wolverine comes in during the post-sex scene with Kitty and Peter. Joss just let it sit and let readers get everything from the pictures. I really want to stay true to that and what the silence can do for the story.

IGN Comics: I want to dive a little deeper into the specifics of your arc if that’s possible. Without spoiling Joss’ next issue, how would you describe the status quo as you come in? How soon after the big battle do you pick up?

Meltzer: Again,not to spoil anything, but it’s one right into the other. Moment to moment. There’s no "months pass" or whatever. We’re right there.

IGN Comics: Yours is the last arc before Joss starts his big finale for Season 8. Would you describe this as being the calm before the storm, or has the storm already started?

Meltzer: If I say the easy answer, which is that this is going to be lightning and thunderbolts, all I’m going to do is over-hype it. But I will say that our goal is certainly for it not to be calm. There’s still the reveal of Twilight, right?

IGN Comics: Probably the biggest development in this arc is that Buffy and the Slayers have lost their powers. Are you going to be exploring the long-term ramifications of that in your arc?

Meltzer: Yep.

IGN Comics: And just looking at the end of issue #30 and what’s coming up, it appears Buffy has a new set of powers. Will you be diving into that as well?

Meltzer: Yep.

IGN Comics: As has been pointed out before in the series, Buffy is a strong leader. Do you think the situation is affecting her as strongly as it might be some of the other Slayers?

Meltzer: Can I get a hat trick? Yep. But you’ll see.

IGN Comics: A while back Twilight mentioned how his real goal in all of this is to turn Slayer against Slayer and cause Buffy to doubt herself. Do you think he’s doing a good job of that so far?

Meltzer: You’ll see. Sorry, I’m just under strict orders not to spoil anything. I know it makes it harder to talk about lot. There are just a lot of reveals here. This is what it all comes down to.

IGN Comics: Oh, I understand. It can be hard to talk about these things ahead of time, especially so far into the series.

Meltzer: Yeah, when it’s the first issue and nobody knows anything it’s great.

IGN Comics: Looking at the current romantic tension in the series, we’ve got Xander’s relationship with Dawn and everything spiraling out of that. Will you be focusing on on that end of the story much?

Meltzer: I think Buffy has always done really well as a series in dealing with what each character wants. I think sometimes it’s a person and sometimes it’s a place and sometimes it’s a thing and sometimes it’s power, and I’ll leave it at that.

IGN Comics: Is it spoiling too much to reveal which characters are the primary focus of your arc?

Meltzer: It’s Buffy and Twilight. It really is. We deal with everybody – there’s nobody we’re not dealing with in terms of all the main characters we’ve sen in the monthly comic. But this is really putting the fine point on the pencil for Buffy and Twilight.

IGN Comics: It’s been interesting to follow the comic, because back in the show you’d almost never have an episode without Buffy, Willow, and Xander in major roles. But in the comic we sometimes go several issues without seeing them. In your opinion, has their been a shift in focus towards the supporting cast with the comic?

Meltzer: You know, that’s interesting. I think they’ve done a good job of giving everyone their own space and time. Now you’re making me go back in my own head from issue to issue. I think you get to see a little of everybody, and that’s really the goal. As a reader I certainly want to.

IGN Comics: I’ve been following the letter column in each issue, and it seems like fans are still talking a great deal about Buffy’s sexuality and her fling with Satsu, even though it happened well over a year ago. What’s your opinion on the matter? Do you think it merits the amount of attention it’s been getting?

Meltzer: I just think it makes for good letter columns. If you were printing out a letter column, that’s what you would gravitate towards. Some of those letters are just some of the most well-thought out and well-argued. I love the letter column. I don’t really want to turn this into a letter column debate. Buffy’s a great character, and I think they got a great storyline out of it. At the end of the day, I have one rule - "Trust Joss".

IGN Comics: [laughs] Not a bad rule. Before we wrap up, I wanted to ask if you have any new novels in the pipeline or anything else you’re working on that you wanted to talk about.

Meltzer: Well, you’re a sweetheart for asking. I’d love to plug away. The new book – my first non-fiction book – comes out in May. It’s called Heroes for My Son, and it’s basically a book I’ve been writing since the day my son was born. It collects heroes from throughout history like Jim Henson, Mr. Rogers, and Rosa Parks and tells their stories one by one. And then the new thriller comes out in January of 2011. And that’s mostly what I’ve been working on right now.

IGN Comics: Sounds like a busy year ahead of you.

Meltzer: Yeah, right? And if people want to learn more they can follow @bradmeltzer on Twitter. I’m on there and Facebook a lot with updates.