Buffy : Season 9

1. Bamph: The new character Severin seems to burn out a vampire’s demon leaving a human corpse. Did you have any special instructions on how this should look when he uses his power or were you given total creative freedom in how it would appear?

Georges: Not really. that was something that developed over time. I knew I wanted to have something distinctive for Severin’s power. There was talk of it being electricity, which was fine, but I also wanted to draw stuff that I don’t often do. Jack Kirby became famous for an effect that was later named after him: Kirby Krackle. It’s all those little black spots grouped together in some creative design. That became more of a style thing for Sevrin’s power. Usually the visuals are left up to the artist. It’s one of those things where if you get good people, then leave them to do their work.

2. Bamph: How has it been drawing the more real world C.S.I. scenes we’ve seen so far and the interrogation of Buffy scene in the new issue.

Georges: That’s more true than you think. We are in an age in the Buffyverse where ’reality’ is starting to creep in. Seriously. If you’ll notice in Seasons 1 through 7, we pretty much had Buffy in Sunnydale and that was for all intents and purposes her world. It became kind of a surreal world where you accepted all the weird goings on (actually you wondered how in the world could anyone live in Sunnydale?!). Yes, there was that time at the beginning of Season 3 where she left, but starting with Season 8 Buffy and the crew were jet-setting all over the globe, bringing her into the ’real world’, when you think of it. Granted Angel Season 5 had glimpses of Buffy in the real world, but you never ’saw’ her. Now that she’s out in the world and the general population knows about Slayers, things feel a little more real. The interrogation room scene just drives home how reality was creeping in. Look out for a lot more ’reality’ in the future.

3. Bamph: I loved the homage covers you did last season especially the ones of famous comic covers during the Twilight arc and Xander as Nick Fury and the slayers as his Howling Commandos during "Retreat". With the awesome trailer for Joss’s Avengers hitting earlier in the week it got me hoping for some more homage covers this season especially one homaging Marvel’s Avengers in some way around the time the movie comes out in May. A fun way to link Joss’s two current projects, I think. Any chance we’ll see any homage covers in Season 9?

Georges: Yes! Starting with Issue 6, I think. It’s a cover I wish I would have done when Dracula was in the book back in Season 8. it would have been so perfect and I still kick myself for not thinking about it at the time, but what we did also works incredibly well, I think. I can’t say more about it because it would ruin the surprise. It’s very cool, though! I would love to do an Avengers cover, and if the opportunity arises I’ll certainly consider it!

4. Wenxina: I noticed that you’ve stopped doing the one panel first page, which I actually really liked about the Season 8 books. Was this so that you could fit in more panels, or was this a stylistic approach to separate Season 9 from Season 8. I noticed that the Angel & Faith books also lack that one panel first page.

Georges: We all felt that with a new season we should have something new that would distinguish it from Season 8. We all just wanted something different. There were a few ideas I came up with when we were discussing the first page. That page needed to get straightened out quickly because now that Angel was back at Dark Horse and coming out a month before the Buffy book. I like what we did. I liked some of the other ideas too, but this one fit just as well. I’m sure Season 10 will have its own distinction.

5. Wenxina: Is there a reason Buffy ditched her pink coat after her conversation with Spike on the roof in this issue?

Georges: Yeah... that was my bad. When I work I usually work out of sequence and while I was figuring out those pages I think I thought that Buffy would have changed when we got to that point. I didn’t realize it until I had drawn the pages and was looking at the sequence. I e-mailed the Editor, Scott Allie, and told him about the mistake and asked him to maybe put in a line where Buffy says to Spike, "...here hold my jacket." I wasn’t sure what would happen until the book came out.

6. Wenxina: Let’s talk about Severin’s sense of style. Was that entirely up to you, or were there notes saying that he should be quite the dandy, with his 3-button vest and beads?

Georges: That was me. It was written that Severin was a man of means (... then along come two and they got nothing but their jeans...), he had a nice loft and some money in the back so naturally he would dress nice. It wasn’t a big thing, I just put him in stuff he could move in and use his hands freely. He’s going to have a very interesting arc...

7. bonnaleah: Hi Georges. First I’d like to say how much I enjoy your fabulous artwork and the way your drawings make our beloved characters come alive.

My question is about the rooftop panel where Buffy is telling Spike that fun is overrated. My first impression was that Buffy was so very sad..worn down...wistful...I know that’s a lot to take from one small panel but did I interpret what Buffy was feeling correctly?

Georges: Thanks, first of all, and I am constantly trying to inject emotion in Buffy, and maybe this is just me, but when it comes to Spike I feel there is always an undercurrent of emotions with these two. The way I see it, they never just have a simple conversation, there is always a subtext. Whatever emotion you sense, that means I’m doing my job. It doesn’t have to be the right emotion, but at least you know there is something there!

8. stormwreath: Hi Georges!

This is a very minor question but it’s been bugging me: in Buffy’s bedroom you’ve drawn a big picture of a woman looking over her shoulder - in fact, she seems to be looking straight at Buffy’s bed. Is this just random set dressing or does it have some significance? And who is she, that Buffy would want to have her picture on her wall so prominently?

Georges: I would love to say that it was all planned and there was a reason for everything, but yeah, it was window dressing. I couldn’t think of anything else to put in. Now I’m stuck with it, because if I change it I’ll get letters as to why it’s not there.

9. spuffyspangellover: Hi Georges! I’m a huge fan of your artwork. I was really hesitant to start the Buffy comics because I was worried the art was going to repel me away, especially since I loved the actors from the television show so much. My fears were quickly put to rest ever since the very first issue of Buffy. There are so many moments when I could literally feel the emotions resonating from your artwork.

Who’s your favorite character to draw and who’s your favorite character in Buffy, and why? Are they the same character?

Georges: Wow. Thanks! That’s high praise. As most people know, I do spend a lot of time on the character likeness and the emotion of the scene. My favorite characters are the ones that are easiest to draw, which doesn’t leave me with much. The girls are always the harder to draw. And it’s even harder to draw an emotional response when you have to do that in as few lines as possible with one image to do it in. I certainly don’t always succeed but the effort is put forth. I really like drawing Buffy. I think I’m starting to get better with her.

10. spuffyspangellover: Being a huge Spike fan, I’m really curious as to what his role in Season 9 is. I absolutely adore the way that he has Buffy’s back so far. Very reminiscent of the later seasons of the show. Although they have had some great interactions in the season so far, my favorite Spike and Buffy scene is when they’re on the rooftop. I absolutely loved it. That moment between Spike and Buffy was tender, intimate and very sweet. As much fun as it is to see them at each other’s throats, I love it even more when they do share a nice moment because they are so few and far between. I can only hope we get more sweet moments between them in this season. I’m always blown away by your close-ups, but there was one in that scene that particularly stuck out to me:

I love love LOVE this panel. I love the way that Spike is in the shadows while Buffy looks and feels so bright. Was there any indication in the script to draw this panel this way or was there some creative inspiration for this? Regardless, it is beautiful and quite possibly my favorite panel that you’ve drawn It is now my background on my iPhone 4S.

Georges: I am the same way! I really like the Spike/Buffy dynamic and when they get together there is always more than what’s on the surface. I like their quiet moments too. I am wrecked when I see the episode where Spike is going over all in a huff to kill Buffy once and for all and when he gets to her house, she’s crying about her mom and all he does is sit by her and put his hand on her back. I always lose it at the end of Season 7 where Spike is keeping back the Hellmouth and Buffy says she loves him and he says "no you don’t. But thanks for saying it." There is never a dry eye for me when I watch that. If I can bring a ittle of that in the comic, I have done my job in a big way. When I read the script I read it as a fan and if there are scenes like that I can think I can bring out, and the writing is usually so good that it pops out, I know I have my job cut out for me to bring that emotion out visually. There is one such scene like that in Issue 6 where Buffy is going through a MAJOR life change and Spike is there for her. It’s only 2 pages but it really resonated with me like the scene on Buffy’s back porch. I can’t wait to hear wait people think about it.

Click on the link for more : http://slayalive.com/showthread.php/2262-Q-amp-A-with-Georges-Jeanty-for-Buffy-Season-9-2