Buffy : Tales of the Vampires

Just got Entertainment Weekly’s preview of the fall season, with its distinct lack of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sure there’s Angel, and Eliza has a new show, but where’s the blond? (I mean Buffy, not Spike!) Anyway—next month some of you will be getting your Diamond Previews for books shipping in December, also featuring a hole in the Dark Horse section where Buffy ought to be. Every month of my life since sometime in 1998, I’ve put together a comic with the Buffy title on it. While December does bring you Tales of the Vampires, with stories written exclusively by Joss and writers from his shows, there’ll no Buffy to be found on the comics racks. So the question (asked by dozens of fans after cover artist Brian Horton spilled the beans online, ahead of schedule, thank you very much) is: What next for Dark Horse?

The Buffy monthly goes on hiatus (that’s how Marketing told me to classify it) after #63 in November. That month also sees the release of Joss’s Fray collection (as well as the Devil’s Footprints collection by Brian and Paul Lee and I). Beginning the next month, Tales goes five issues, and for those five months, there will be no regular Buffy comics. We’re gonna take that time to work out a whole new approach to the comics. I’ve asked Joss for his input, and he says he wants to figure it out with me once the new Angel show is on track. I’m obviously hoping to get him to do some more writing for us, although once again his ideas may stray from Buffy herself.

So there’s two paragraphs basically saying No News. We don’t know what’s next for Dark Horse and Buffy yet. We’re ambitious in our ideas, but what’s most important is what Joss wants to see us do. This is an exciting time, because after chasing the tail of the show for the last six years, we have a new and open playing field.

For now we’re just waiting for Coach to tell us what game to play. Keep your eyes on this spot for more news, once we know what’s coming next. Thanks for caring enough to harangue me about it—especially Allen Klingelhoets, Allan Lindsley, Casandra, Vicki Mieth, William Koszela, Daniel Smith-Weiss, Dave and Deanna, The Buffanatic, RetHikik, and the others who’ve written in at Brian’s suggestion—and don’t stop.

I don’t want to.

From Thisispop.50megs.com

TALES OF THE VAMPIRES #1 By Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard, Cameron Stewart and others, cover by John Totleben.

Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, regroups with the writers from the hit TV show to examine the monsters who’ve challenged the Slayers through the ages. Kicking off the new series, Whedon teams with one of comics’ hottest new stars, Catwoman artist Cameron Stewart, for a look at what happens when disaffected youth turns to vampirism. Also Drew Goddard brings us the story of how Drucilla (of the infamous Spike and Dru) went crazy during their time in Prague before reigning their terror on Sunnydale.

32 pages, $2.99, in stores on Dec. 10.