Buffy : Season 8

With Buffy Season 8 finally behind us, it was time to talk to the guy who carried the immense responsibility of drawing most of the sprawling 40-issue (more, if you count the ancillary material) "season" that spanned almost four years in its telling. Ladies and gents, I give you the ever gracious, Georges Jeanty.

SlayAlive: So, Georges… here we are, almost 4 years since the release of Buffy Season 8 #1. How does it feel to have run the gauntlet and survived? Any sexy scars and battlewounds you want to tell us about?

Georges: Any battle scars I had have long since healed. I am most impressed with being on the book for as along as I have. And the fact that I’ve drawn 40 covers for the series, a feat which I would have never thought I could pull off in the beginning! I love all the people I’ve come to meet and call friends while on this book. I have been very fortunate to travel as much as I have because of Buffy. I can’t wait to see what the new season holds! (Probably a coronary!)



SlayAlive: Let’s start with some easy questions. The coda was definitely something that was right up your alley, given all the quieter character moments that you excel in. How did it feel wrapping up the tale, checking in with familiar faces, and seeing where they are now as compared to where they were when you started the series?

Georges: I finally felt like I was drawing the characters the way they should be. Like I found my groove, just to quit for a few months! I certainly feel I’m much better about this series than when I started. I never thought in the beginning that I was ever going to get any of the likenesses right!





SlayAlive: Which was your favorite segment of Issue 40?

Georges: I was most happy with the way the Buffy/Kennedy scene turned out. That was something I think I hit dead on.

SlayAlive: Did you cry while drawing some of those scenes? I mean, the scene between Buffy and Faith… that probably made Chuck Norris cry.

Georges: I was really emotional when I read it, and I remember being in a slight funk the rest of the day, but no tears. When you have to draw the scene you start to break it down so much and you have to look at so many things that will make an emotional impact. You guys are lucky, like in movies, all you have to do is sit and be affected by what you’re watching (reading). It’s my job to make sure you feel something.





SlayAlive: Going through Issue 40, I noticed a few callbacks, either to earlier issues, or even to the non-canon earlier run of Buffy comics. There were the Eeyore sweatpants that Buffy wore in “Wolves at the Gate,” Hoopy the bear (he even makes two appearances). There was fight between the three Slayers and Buffy, which calls back the sparring match between Buffy and Leah, Rowena, and Satsu from Issue 2. The General’s execution is remarkably similar to Ethan Rayne’s death. Were those decisions made by you, or specified in the script?

Georges: The Eeyore sweats were mine. I also wondered if readers would get that Dawn in her scene with Buffy is wearing the bottoms of the PJs that Xander wore way back in Issue 2. Hoopy I think was Scott Allie’s suggestion. That bear has been around before and he asked me to put it in somewhere, I think. The General’s execution was specific and Joss wanted it to parallel Ethan Rayne’s death.





SlayAlive: That final image of Buffy flying into action is beautiful. It’s a reminder that even without her crazy superpowers, Buffy is still a superhero in her own right. It’s also a beautiful callback to when we first see Buffy in #1, jumping out of a helicopter flanked by her Slayers. Was that specified in the script, or did Joss trust you to just “get it”?

Georges: Y’know, that was just a fortunate happenstance. It wasn’t written in the script. I didn’t remember the helicopter jump. If I did I would have tried to make it look more similar, but I love that people are saying it is. It makes me look like a genius!





SlayAlive: In the preview pages that you showed me, even without the letters, the content of the pages was clear. For example, I guessed that Xander and Dawn had moved in, based on the page of Buffy and Dawn talking in the kitchen. There’s just so much interesting detail in those pages. The shelf of Xander’s nerd toys, Buffy’s The Thing mug, the Cookie Monster cookie jar. How much time goes into putting in details like that, and why do you bother?

Georges: Well, I bother for the very reason you mentioned them. People like that stuff. I like that stuff. That’s why it takes me a while sometimes to do a page because I’m always thinking what I might be able to put in that will take it to the next level.


SlayAlive: Random pop culture question: The “Mutant X” scrawl on the tram, was that a nod at the X-Men? I only ask as you had previously done a homage cover, and at one point or another (I’m not really up to date with my X-Men reading), they operated out of San Francisco.

Georges: Yeah, I think that was supposed to be a poster, but I don’t think it comes across like that. I wanted to put more advertising on the trolley but there wasn’t enough time.

 



SlayAlive: We see Simone with a hit list pinned on a wall. Two of the targets have already been executed, it seems. One of them is the General, but who is the other guy? What about the guy with red glasses that’s covered in blood? Things that’ll be explored in Season 9?

Georges: The other guy was the general’s assistant (the “suit”) in the first few issues and the glasses guy... well, you’ll just have to keep reading!





SlayAlive: Switching gears here to something more retrospective. So, in comparing your earlier work on the series with the later stuff, there is a distinct change in style, especially with the characters. Your pencils seemed to get looser, more relaxed. Was this something that was necessitated by time constraints (damn deadlines!) or was it a deliberate choice, as you got more familiar with drawing the characters?

Georges: I just felt I was a little more comfortable with the subject matter. I finished drawing a Teen Titans issue right after I did Buffy and I had the hardest time getting out of ’Buffy’ mode. I ended up drawing Wonder Girl with Buffy’s face and Superboy with Xander’s. So I don’t know where all the residual information goes when you’ve been on a series so long, I do know that I miss drawing the gang and can’t wait to get back on!

SlayAlive: As a fan of the series now, which parts of Season 8 do you think were absolutely perfect in the conception and execution? Any particular arcs, issues, moments come to mind? How about ones that you think could’ve been improved?

Georges: I think the Faith arc was solid. Easily an episode on the show. As well as “The Chain.” So much of Season 8 was interrelated it’s hard to think of it on TV without context, but most of the stand alone issues would have made great episodes.

Where I think we need more was in the planning. It was never planned as a 40-issue extravaganza and I think there should have been a little more exposition for people who maybe weren’t die-hard fans. I would have loved to have seen a crossover here and there (probably next Season) and I think we lost sight of some characters or didn’t give them enough play. Rowena and Leah were supposed to have bigger parts that never happened, and I would have liked to have seen more of Robin Wood.





SlayAlive: So, what’s next for you? Is there life after Buffy? New projects lined up, more Buffy sketchbooks, Con appearances… Tell us, what does the year 2011 look like for you?

Georges: All of the above! I just finished a Teen Titans fill-in that should be out February 23 as well as various Cons and hopefully more Sketch books. I know Dark Horse is putting together new editions of Season 8 and there is the motion comic, so there will be a lot of stuff in 2011. You can keep track of me at my website www.kabalounge.com.


Thanks for doing this, Georges. You have been amazingly gracious with your time, and on behalf of SlayAlive, thanks for all the hard work you’ve put in.