Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Joss Whedon sinks his teeth back into the Vampire Slayer, and you won’t believe who he has on tap to help him write it!

Sharpen your wooden stakes and practice your demon face-punching, because Joss Whedon’s packing all-new Buffy tales.

The “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator slays his way back into the monster mythos that made him a household name this March, when Dark Horse releases an all-new Buffy limited series. Set after Season Seven of the popular TV show, the new comic details where the monster-fighting characters have been since the show ended in 2003, and where they’re headed.

“I want people to understand that it is going to be canon in the Buffy-verse,” promises Whedon, “not little ancillary tales that aren’t allowed to add up to much.”

Whedon says he’ll write several of the book’s arcs, including the first, “The Long Way Home” with art by Georges Jeanty. For the rest, Whedon has assembled a veritable who’s who of comic book writing talent that includes Brian K. Vaughan (Ex Machina), Brad Meltzer (Justice League of America) and Jeph Loeb (Onslaught Reborn), along with former “Buffy” TV writers Jane Espenson, Drew Goddard, Drew Greenberg and Steven DeKnight.

“I have some extremely powerhouse comic book people who surprisingly threw their hats in, and then some of my best show writers,” says Whedon. “I approached the guys I did because I knew they could bring something-not just get it done, but really bring something to the party.”

The party, according to Whedon, revolves around what’s been going on with the core cast after the destruction of their hometown of Sunnydale. While the events of the comic don’t take place immediately after the end credits of the final episode, the writer says things do pick up with relative ease.

“One of my mandates is always that the characters should be, on some level, going through exactly what the audience is going through,” reveals Whedon. “You don’t want to just say it’s the next day, because it’s not for so many of us. But you do want a little bit of catch-up.”

Similar to the TV show, the new comic series features an overarching story involving the entire cast with smaller, more focused episodic arcs within. The first focuses on Buffy Summers and her role in the world after dozens of slayers were “activated” in the seventh season. Also on tap are ensemble tales involving Buffy’s brigade of helpers, aka the Scoobies, including favorites Willow and Xander and Buffy’s sister, Dawn.

Although vampiric Buffy love interests Spike and Angel are currently featured in comics at publisher IDW, Whedon let slip that they could still make their way into a Season Eight comic.

“IDW got the Angel franchise license, and they’ve been working really hard on it and doing some good stuff with it, so it is not my intention to completely bone them,” he jokes. “But Spike and Angel are also people who should be used kind of sparingly, because they’re the big guns. ...The opportunity is there, and if the story dictates it, well, the story is king.”

And if you’ve never seen an episode of the TV series, no need to stake yourself in the heart-Whedon’s got you covered.

“Obviously I’m going to have callbacks and characters from the show,” he says. “But at the same time, it’s always the mandate that somebody jumping in can go, ‘Okay, slayers are strong, vampires and demons are not so good and Willow’s hot.”