Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Today more than ever we need Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Not due to her slaying skills, but because with the passing of Buffy the Vampire Slayer we moved a little bit closer to there being nothing worth watching on television. Fans of the Buffyverse are nearly as rabid as Star Trek fans and possibly even more rabid than American Idol fans. When last we saw Buffy and the Scooby gang they were headed away from the big hole in the ground that their hellmouth hometown had become after they saved the universe for the twentieth or so time.

For a while Buffy creator Joss Whedon held out hope that perhaps Buffy might be revived in a big screen movie, but that apparently won’t happen until Sarah Michelle Gellar’s career leaves her with the choice of playing Buffy again or appearing on Dancing with the Stars. So, instead, Whedon decided to move the adventures of Buffy the Vampire Slayer into a new medium.

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book picks up where the series ended and includes all the major characters still alive at the end. The comic book is being put out by Dark Horse comics and has the look of an artistic graphic novel. But if you are hoping to make an investment by getting yourself a copy of the first edition of Buffy #1 you may face some serious problems. Dark Horse Comics has announced that issue one has already sold out. In other words, Comic Book Guy hasn’t got any more for you so you’d better start hitting eBay if you absolutely must get a copy.

Dark Horse Comics says that they are already hard at work printing up additional copies of the first edition of Buffy, but that they will have an alternative cover to easily differentiate the second printing from the original. The new copies of the comic book should be hitting stores around the end of March. The success of issue number one of the Buffy comic book should certainly be enough to ensure that it will continue. Whedon actually views the comic book as the equivalent of an eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and many reviews conclude that his affection for these characters has not waned since the series went off the air. Translating a movie or TV show into the medium of comic books is always a risky affair, but when you’ve got a show that fans so closely identify with the risk increases. For instance, Star Trek never really took off in any other media, even the movies.

The signs all point to success for Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book, however.