Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Fans of Buffy The Vampire Slayer will get to see the eighth season of their favorite television show about Valley Girls versus vampires. They just won’t see it on TV.

Last week the first issue of Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season Eight debuted on the shelves of comic shops everywhere, and it got better reception than the Fox TV show ever did.

The fact that it was written by series creator Joss Whedon had a lot to do with that.

The comic flew off the shelves in minutes, causing the biggest outcry for a sold out comic since...well since a few weeks ago when Captain America #25 disappeared before the UPS guy got back in his truck.

The success of the first issue of the Buffy comic even came as a welcome surprise to series editor Scott Allie and friends at Dark Horse.

“We expected it to sell well, so we overprinted by about 25 percent just to cover ourselves,” he said. “But even with the overprinting, the comics sold out everywhere. We’re talking about 100,000 comics, which is lot these days.”

That’s for sure, it is probably the biggest selling single issue in Dark Horse history. Folks are all smiles at the comic company these days. Unlucky Buffy fans don’t despair, a second printing (with a new cover) is on the way. Allie believes there may even be a third printing to satisfy the demand.

Not bad for a cancelled comic book based on a slightly silly movie mainly meant as a parody.

The new series is set some time after the end of the series. The Slayers have become more organized and their foes are no longer just vampires, but other kinds of monsters that plague mankind.

The art is by Georges Jeanty, whose work on DC’s American Way impressed Whedon. Pat Lee will handle issue five and many of the covers will be rendered by Jo Chen.

The creators look forward to the freedom that comics allow special effects that the television series could never afford.

The show ended in 2003 and the Dark Horse original series ended as well. By that time, between the monthly series, the specials and the graphic novels, there were about 100 Buffy books out there.

“By issue #63 I felt the direction was scattered,” Allie said. “Joss agreed that we should pick out a real destiny for the comic that was different from the television show.”

So the door closed on Buffy with a pretty solid slam, but Whedon was not concerned. He knew that somehow, someday, the story would go on. “Joss was so busy when the television series ended with Serenity and his other comic and non-comic projects, that I just figured we’d let the dust settle and wait until he was ready to do something with Buffy,” said Allie.

Allie dared not hope that busy Whedon would have time to actually write the series himself. He was hoping that one of the show’s writers, like Jane Espenson, would be interested in writing the comic.

“But Jane was writing Gilmore Girls Joss was very busy trying to finish and Serenity, so we would let Buffy lay for a while, waiting for just the right day to bring it back.”

That day came a lot sooner than expected.

“One day last year I got an email from him with an attachment,” Allie said. “I thought it was his treatment of his new Serenity comic. I opened it and was shocked to see a complete script for Buffy #1.”

Whedon had become a much sought after comic book writer after leaving the Buffy television series and taking over the venerable X-Men franchise among other projects. He was also supposed to write and direct the 2009 Wonder Woman movie, but that did not pan out.

“I was walking around the office telling everyone we had Joss Whedon writing Buffy again,” Allie said. “It was a great day.”

They got together to discuss the book and decided to make 22 comics in the series, just like a television show.

“But that number keeps growing as Joss keeps coming up with new stories to tell,” Allie said. “We’re up to about 50, could go a little higher. It’s a very deep story that will go places. People are going to love it.”

Allie said the comic series will initially be called “Season Eight” but there is a subtitle that will be added after issue #6.

“We can’t reveal the subtitle now, it will give too much away,” he said.

Allie said he hopes that Joss will write about half of the Buffy series, with other writers like Brian K. Vaughan filling in arcs.

Joss has written the first five issues of the series and will write issue #10, then issues #16 to #20. Issues #6 through #9 will be written by Vaughan. Drew Goddard, a writer for the show, will write issues #11 through #14. Issue #15 will be a stand-alone story written by an author to be announced.

Allie said even if Whedon does not write the entire series, his influence will be there.

“He writes these manifestos every three months, telling everyone what’s going on, where the series is heading,” he said. “It keeps the writers on track.”

Allie explained the process.

“The writers have a certain amount of freedom,” he said. “The writers pitch stories back to Joss, he makes suggestions and they go back and forth with revisions until the story is written.”

Allie said they still must get script and art approval from Fox before a comic is produced, but usually Joss’ approval assures smooth sailing.

“There’s room in the series for change, the whole 50 issues are not mapped out,” Allie said. “Joss will write something in one panel that will suggest a new direction and we‘re able to go with it. That will keep the story fresh.

“He has a planned ending, and certain beats he needs to hit along the series, but it will be flexible,” he continued. “The series has lots of wiggle room. Still, there is a threat that will build throughout the series that will come to a climax at the end.”

Allie said readers will encounter some stories that seem to have nothing to do with the overall storyline, but he said to be patient.

“They all enforce the storyline, even though it won’t always be apparent,” he said.

So with all the renewed interest, what about the 100 issues or so of published Buffy comics?

“We’re reprinting everything, and doing it right this time,” said Allie. “I’ve taken every Buffy story we’ve ever done and looked at them. The stories were all over the place. I’ve put them all in chronological order, and we will publish a series of Buffy omnibuses in order.”

The new collections will be full color, 6 by 9 inch “blocks” that will sell for about $25 each starting in July. It should be noted that Whedon did not write the original comic series.

“We’re not cheaping it out,” he said. “Full color, nice paper, these will be nice books that will fill about seven volumes.”

Allie said Buffy is the kind of crossover comic that retailers dream about. “There are a lot of women that read Buffy and no other comic,” he said. It’s up to the shop owner to interest women in other kinds of comics once they venture in the shop to pick up Buffy.

Wonder Woman, Birds of Prey, Strangers in Paradise are obvious fits. It would be worth it to give them samples and get their attention.

Looking back, Allie said it was several years before he actually spoke to Whedon without using Fox as a filter.

“That’s the norm for a licensed comic,” he said. “You deal with the studio and the show office, usually one person in the show office. Both were great and accommodating, but they didn’t really get the show. To tell the truth, I had never seen the show when I started the book. I watched it, and hey, I like monsters and cute girls. I enjoyed it and became a huge Joss fan.”

Slowly, Allie started talking to writers on the show and eventually Whedon.

“It was around 1999 and Joss started expressing some opinions about what we were doing with the comics,” he said. “It was great to hear from him. He said he wanted to do a mini-series starring Faith, but instead did something different, ‘Fray‘, set in the future.”

Whedon started working closely with the writers of Tales of the Vampire Slayer and Tales of the Vampires mini-series.

Allie said even though they tried to have the comic keep pace with the television show, they had trouble.

“Believe it or not, it takes a lot longer to produce a comic than a television show,” he said. “It was hard to stay as close as I wanted, I just felt like I was racing the show.”

He said at one point had a great storyline pitched to him by Fabien Nicieza and Scott Lobdell which Joss flat out rejected.

“Joss said I couldn’t do that story,“ Allie said. “I was kind of confused because it was such a good pitch. It turned out that the story was almost exactly what was planned for season seven of the show.”