Buffy : Season 9

In a Very Special Issue of Dark Horse‘s Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic, the titular ass-kicker makes a very serious decision about her future: she considers having an abortion. Is this proving to be an easy decision for her? Of course it isn’t. And this plotline is a good look at everything Twilight got wrong in Breaking Dawn, when Bella refused to end a pregnancy that was literally killing her, but then it all turned out okay in the end, because of vampire magic. Yeah. Buffy knows that’s not real, and that there are actual consequences to consider when this happens. SPOILERS after the jump.

Something that always seems to be missing from the abortion debate is a rather key element: the woman who is pregnant. People who oppose abortion believe that the health of the unborn child comes first, and many think that women think nothing of the fetus growing inside of them and come to the decision to end their pregnancies as easily as they’d get rid of a pair of shoes.

We all know this is very, very far from the truth. And that’s something that Buffy ponders in Season 9, issue #6 in the comic continuation of the series. For one thing, she is uncertain of the father, but is leaning towards Spike. But as she says in the panel below, if she can’t even pull herself together enough to figure that out, then that’s just one reason she shouldn’t become a mother right now.

However, this was not the whole story in issue #6. She also speaks to Robin, whose mother Nikki was another Slayer. And when Nikki found herself pregnant, she made the decision to raise her baby. And, as Robin points out in the panel up top, he wouldn’t be here today, sitting in front of Buffy as a friend, if not for that decision.

This is such an important part of this story. Many of the people who subscribe to the “baby-killer” myth of abortion do not consider that women weigh their options repeatedly, and it is gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and not at all easy. Imagine the added emotional layers of a woman impregnated after being raped. But many don’t seem to think the woman’s feelings are a factor in this.

And that’s what is wrong with Bella’s pregnancy in Twilight: Breaking Dawn. Sure, she chooses to continue her pregnancy. This was her decision, as she told Edward when he asked her to get an abortion, and she was sticking with it. But was she considering her own health? Clearly not. Was she considering the fact that this demon baby inside of her was actually, physically killing her? No — what Stephanie Meyer did was tear Bella apart from the inside, repair her with vampire magic when she was near death after the gruesome birth, and then it was all okay in the end. In other words: “See? It all turned out okay! We fixed you! And now you have a baby and you’ll be with Edward forever!”

tl;dr — What Buffy goes through, despite the supernatural aspect of her life, is what most women go through when they consider abortion. What Bella goes through is what it seems anti-choice people think might happen. In their dreams.

From Comicsalliance.com :

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6, on stands today, there are huge developments and huge decisions in store for the Buffy Summers, the heroine of the cult-favorite television show that has continued as a Dark Horse Comic book since its small screen finale. Consequently, huge spoilers follow.

Buffy Summers is pregnant. In the early pages of the issue, the Slayer confides the news to her younger sister, Dawn, who asks the obvious follow-up question: Who’s the father? "I don’t know," replies Buffy. She suspects that conception took place at her recent housewarming party, where she blacked out while drinking, and has no way of knowing who might be responsible.

The next question isn’t posed directly by any of the characters, but it hangs over nearly every page in the comic: What will Buffy decide to do about the pregnancy? She is not only a single woman facing the prospect of having a child without the support of a partner, but also a Slayer who faces tremendous danger on a daily basis, and having a baby would not be a simple decision or a safe one. Buffy spends much of the issue working through the issue in conversations with her friends, and in the final pages of the comic, she reveals her decision: She is going to have an abortion.

It’s a plot point that nonetheless seems tailor-made for controversy, and somewhat intentionally so. As Buffy series creator Joss Whedon told USA Today, he hopes the issue promote will honest discussion about a topic that is sometimes seen as too hot to touch. "It’s not something we would ever take lightly, because you can’t. You don’t. It’s not an easy thing for anyone," said Whedon. "...It offends me that people who purport to be discussing a decision that is as crucial and painful as any a young woman has to make won’t even say something that they think is going to make some people angry."

While abortion is one of the most politicized issues in our culture, and one of the most divisive, on a human level it is also one of the most personal. Buffy’s situation is one that millions of women across the country face every year; while the rate of teenage pregnancy is now at its lowest level since 1972, a recent study indicated that nearly half of the 6.7 million U.S. pregnancies in 2006 were unplanned, and of those, more than four in ten ended in abortion.

Although Buffy has her own unique set of circumstances — she slays vampires! — many of the concerns that inform her decision are precisely the factors that so many women face: financial difficulties, the absence of a supportive partner, lack of stability and uncertainty about the future.

"Given the specifics of Buffy’s life at this point in the season --- facing a new kind of vampire threat, barely able to keep a job — it seemed like it would be dishonest for Buffy to not at least entertain the question of whether she should keep or end the pregnancy," added series writer Andrew Chambliss.

Both the pregnancy and the decision to end it are huge developments for the character, but ones that seem natural in the context of the larger series. The core metaphor of Buffy, at least initially, was that high school is hell, and that surviving it is a battle. The personal struggles of the characters were always at the heart of the action, and the literal demons that Buffy were never as important as the metaphorical ones.

That was always part of the appeal of Buffy; we got to see this incredible girl — and later woman — punch vampires through walls with super-strength, but we also got see her burst into tears when a boy she liked blew her off the morning after they slept together. She was always allowed to be both strong and vulnerable, to make mistakes or struggle, and to still be a hero. In short, she was far more human than she was superhuman, and that’s what made the character and the series resonate with so many people.

Over the years we’ve watched her lose her virginity under tragic circumstances, get her heart broken, find her mother’s body after her death from a brain aneursym, take legal guardianship of her younger sister, start a dark, quasi-abusive sexual relationship with someone she hates, and drop out of school in dire financial circumstances to work soul-crushing night shifts at a fast food restaurant.

It hasn’t always been easy, neat, or pretty, and Buffy’s decision to have an abortion — and to really deal with it in adult terms as a complex, difficult decision — makes the comic book feel more congruent with the original television series than it has in years, and takes an honest look at a difficult situation that has no simple answers.

From Comicbookresources.com :

Buffy makes controversial decision in latest issue

When Editor Scott Allie told Comic Book Resources that Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 would take Buffy’s story “back to human issues … some of the biggest issues anyone can face,” fans knew he was alluding to her mysterious pregnancy. But with Issue 6, in stores today, the Slayer deals with her new situation head on, answering a question readers have been debating since last issue’s big revelation.

Spoiler warning: The following addresses a major plot point from Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 #6.

Following some serious soul-searching, Buffy confides to Spike that she’s decided to have an abortion, a subject creator Joss Whedon assures will be treated with respect in the Dark Horse series.

“It’s not something we would ever take lightly, because you can’t. You don’t,” Whedon, executive producer of Season 9, tells USA Today. “It’s not an easy thing for anyone.”

Abortion is a very personal decision, continuing the shift in focus from what Allie has described as “the more cosmic craziness of Season 8” to the more human elements of Season 9. That move has been emphasized by the deliberate paring-down of Buffy’s supporting cast, leaving her with just one person to confide in: popular vampire anti-hero, sometimes-romantic partner Spike.

“Given the specifics of Buffy’s life at this point in the season — facing a new kind of vampire threat, barely able to keep a job — it seemed like it would be dishonest for Buffy to not at least entertain the question of whether she should keep or end the pregnancy,” writer Andrew Chambliss tells the newspaper.

From Pinkisthenewblog.com :

Buffy Summers Faces Her Biggest Challenge Yet In Issue 6 Of ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Season 9′

MAJOR Spoiler Alert Warning

In January of 2011, in the wake of the death of a MAJOR character in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, Joss Whedon gave an interview to Entertainment Weekly magazine where he discussed the ending of the comic book series Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 and spoke a bit about what was to come in Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9. The 9th season of BtVS is already in full swing as Issue 6 hits newsstands today … and you are NEVER going to guess the challenge that Buffy Summers faces in this new issue of the comic book series. At the time of his interview last year, Joss revealed that BtVS: Season 9 would be “more like the television show” … but the subject matter of the newest Buffy comic was NEVER featured in the Buffy TV series. The revelation below is a MAJOR SPOILER if you have not read the new comic book yet so proceed with caution. I will tell you that Buffy faces a challenge that she has never faced before … and it is a challenge that is arguably more formidable than any Big Bad villain she has ever faced. Read on to find out more.

After years of tackling vampires, demons and assorted “big bads” on TV and now in comic books, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is facing something else extremely daunting: pregnancy. In the latest issue of Dark Horse Comics’ Buffy the Vampire Slayer series, in stores today, Buffy weighs the life of being the “chosen” Slayer against the life she’s about to bring into the world. After some soul-searching with the son of another former Slayer, Buffy decides to have an abortion. There were two key aspects to discussing the hot-button issue, says the comic’s executive producer, Joss Whedon: It had to be portrayed as a difficult decision for Buffy, and it had to be treated with respect on the creative side. “It’s not something we would ever take lightly, because you can’t. You don’t. It’s not an easy thing for anyone,” he says. The Buffy TV series, which ran from 1997 to 2003 and starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, became a cult hit and fostered a ferociously loyal fan base in its seven seasons before vampires became all the pop-culture rage. In two “seasons” of Buffy comics, Whedon has continued the story lines from the television show. But the previous Season 8 issues were too “comic-booky and overblown” for his tastes, so when Whedon and series writer Andrew Chambliss began breaking down stories for the current Season 9, they decided to return to the mission statement of the original TV show, which was to follow the story of a woman at important points in her life. “Buffy was always about the arc of a life, and it wasn’t ever going to be one of those shows where they were perpetually in high school and never asked why,” Whedon says. “It was about change. So there’s never a time when Buffy’s life isn’t relevant.” Season 9 finds the character in her early 20s with no idea what she’s doing with her life and in free fall while everybody around her seems to be maturing, finding direction and setting up their adult life. Living in San Francisco with all the magic cut off from the world and zombie vampires lurking in the city, Buffy learns she is pregnant — with the unknown father possibly one of the guests at a wild party at her place — and in the new Issue 6, she confides in the anti-heroic vamp Spike of her decision to have an abortion.

Chambliss says Buffy’s choice was something that grew organically out of the story. “Given the specifics of Buffy’s life at this point in the season — facing a new kind of vampire threat, barely able to keep a job — it seemed like it would be dishonest for Buffy to not at least entertain the question of whether she should keep or end the pregnancy.” Whedon had never thought about a pregnancy story for the TV-show character. In comics, though, he has license to do more with magic and creatures, and it has given him the chance to be “a little more on the nose in the grounding of our characters.” Whedon points out that Friday Night Lights is one show that recently tackled abortion with the proper respect. And he concedes there’s a little bit of a political jab in the Buffy story line. It’s not that women should be on one side or the other, he says, but that people have to make this decision and talk about it. “It offends me that people who purport to be discussing a decision that is as crucial and painful as any a young woman has to make won’t even say something that they think is going to make some people angry” … “I don’t tend to write straight dramas where real life just impinges,” he says. “But because I don’t, when I do it is very interesting to slap people in the face with just an absolute of life.”

Wow. Well … it’s something new for Buffy the Vampire Slayer. To be honest, a storyline like this probably seems more controversial because it’s being featured in a comic book (then again, telling a story in comic book terms is also more freeing because comic books have a smaller audience than a national/syndicated television show does). But as we have learned from recent issues of Archie Comics, real life issues such as same-sex marriage and interracial marriage can be showcased alongside the usual, more mundane comic book fare. It seems to me that the BtVS comic book series has alienated a lot of longtime Buffy fans who don’t consider the comic books to be a real extension of the TV series. IMHO, I am just absolutely thrilled that Joss and his longtime team of Buffy collaborators are creating new stories for Buffy and her friends … no matter how much they differ from the TV series that we all know and love. I’m of the mind that if Buffy the Vampire Slayer was still in television production today, Joss would put the characters thru many of the same paces that he has put them thru in the comic book series (er, except for all the flying around by Super Buffy). It doesn’t seem at all out of the realm of possibility that this abortion storyline would show up eventually if BtVS was still on the air. It’s a very sensitive subject but when has Joss shied away from tackling sensitive subjects before? I have to admit, I’m quite a few issues behind on reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 9 but now that I know what to expect in Issue 6, I’m really curious to get to reading so I can learn how Buffy got herself in this predicament.

So, Buffy fans, what do y’all think of this development? Have you been keeping up with the comic book series? If not, what do you think of Joss‘s decision to bring this storyline into the Buffyverse?