Buffy : Tales of the Vampires

1. Emmie: So the big news in the fandom recently surrounded the Buffy rebooted movie. What was your first reaction to hearing this and any thoughts for how this might change the franchise’s landscape for the comics?

Scott Allie: My first reaction was WHY?, and then to call Fox to find out what was going on. But we’ll all have to wait and see. I don’t want to speculate on something that sounds so dingbat at the moment.

2. Emmie: The MDHP where ’lovers return’ written by Joss and illustrated by Chen - when is this scheduled to happen?

Scott Allie: Next month. First Wednesday in July.

3. Jay: Why do some of the old Buffy comics say "Sunnyvale" instead of "Sunnydale"?

Scott Allie: Because the artist was South American and the writer was British, and I was a dunce. One of them did some little bit of research, knew that there was a Sunnyvale in CA, and used that. And I should have caught it, but knew so little about Buffy at the time that I blew it. Sorry ...

4. Paul730: Back when Season Eight was starting, you said not to expect any more Tales books, since those types of stories could be told in S8. What made you decide to go back to this series and can we expect anymore Tales in the future? A Tales of Vengeance series hosted by D’Hoffryn would be brilliant and might satisfy our thirst for Anya. ;)

Scott Allie: I was wrong—turns out there’s not as much room as I thought there’d be in Season Eight. I think what I meant at the time was that the original Tales of the V & S books were done apart from the then-current regular Buffy book, because the Tales books were the only real Joss comics; now all Joss comics can just fall under the Season Eight banner. But not only do we not have room to throw interesting departures into the monthly series, I felt with Tales of the Vampires, there was something we needed to see to fully understand Season Eight—what life is like now for vampires not associated with Buffy—and there wasn’t even room for that. Hence our first spinoff. Note I said First.

5. Paul 730: Warren appears on the cover to #26. Can we expect him to have a more involved role in "Retreat", or is it just a "Time of Your Life"-style cameo?

Scott Allie: He has a fairly significant role. Pretty significant, as much as the first arc, if not more so.

6. AndrewCrossett: After reading this new ToTV story, I have to wonder... aside from the Slayers and their closest allies, is anyone in the world questioning the "mainstreaming" of vampires? I’m wondering if there’s any controversy or dissent at all. Do the Slayers have any friends at all left in the world in positions of influence?

Scott Allie: I’d assume so, but the scary thing is that in general most people are going along with it.

7. AndrewCrossett: In "Time of Your Life" Will connects with Saga Vasuki by having sex with Kennedy, and that only buys her a couple of minutes. But it’s clear the two of them have had much more sustained contact (ahem) in the past. On the last page of "Wolves at the Gate" Will seems to be contacting SV with a spell, no sex. Can you clarify what the rules are regarding Willow contacting SV, and why and when the sex is necessary?

Scott Allie: I’ve written before about what I think of rules when it comes to magic, right? Boring ... Sorry. In occultism, the tenets of magic are often refered to as "mysteries." As it works in fiction, magic is best unexplained. Just was going over this with a writer on another book today. Explaining it takes all the magic out of it.

8. Ryan: I want to break into comics either doing lettering and colouring, I have been trying to refine my style and I have shown samples of comic art colourings to writers, editors and the artists themselves that originally drew the art but I really want more tips on how to make it happen and to get my foot in the door? Thanks.

Scott Allie: It’s really, really competitive, lot of people wanting to get into it, and fewer paying jobs than there used to be. So the place to start, if you’re really serious, is the non-paying jobs. Start with small companies or self-publishers, or even that can’t afford to pay seasoned pros, get in touch with them through email or whatever, and refine your craft that way. It also means your work is getting out there, and if it’s any good, bigger publishers with deeper pockets will see it and hire you away.

9. vampireinrug: I’m a guy who loves owning trade-paperbacks. The story "The Broken Bottle of Djinn" has yet to be included in a collection, and I’m guessing the same applies to this latest TOTV story. Any plans or re-releasing "Tales" with these stories included?

Scott Allie: Yes, there are plans to do a book collecting those two with some other stuff. Probably a little more than a year away.

10. vampireinrug: When I was first reading "Fray", the two demon characters Boluz and Vrill reminded me a lot like they guys who might be behind Wolfram and Hart. They reside in another dimension, and even though they are clearly evil they are willing to help out in an apocalypse because they have something bigger planned for a later date. Were the similarities intentional? And dare I ask, might these guys be the Senior Partners themselves?

Scott Allie: Never talked to Joss about that specifically, but I doubt it.

11. El Diablo Robotico: Expanding on Paul730’s question about more potential Tales books, would you ever consider any new S8-related Tales of the Slayers, either in the near- or distant-future? Maybe focusing on Satsu, Leah, Rowena (or even Renee in a flashback story) and helping to flesh out their characters a little more? I just have this feeling that all four of them have interesting stories to tell...

Scott Allie: We’re talking about another Slayers thing along the lines of the Vampires one we just did, but nothing to do with Rowena or the other girls you know. Not that I wouldn’t want to see their back stories, just that that’s not the direction we’re talking about. We might do a Tales thing that would show Slayers out there in the world, not connected to Buffy directly, dealing with the new world order.

12. vampmogs: I don’t know how spoilerish you consider this to be but... Is the upcoming 2 page story written by Joss that involves old love interests, a serious or comical story?

Scott Allie: The 2-pager has grown to 3, but it is less than serious.

13. vampmogs: Will Amy play a significant role in the upcoming arc?

Scott Allie: Yes. This will be a very significant arc for her.

14. lusciousxander: Wouldn’t it be better to add this issue (Tales of the Vampires) to the next trade-paperback? Most fans have issues with the whole people rooting for vampires deal, and this issue may help them understand it a bit.

Scott Allie: That’s a good point, but there will already be some added material for that trade, making it perhaps the biggest trade so far; if we added TOTV we’d have to increase the price, and I want to avoid that.

15. AndrewCrossett: At the end of this month’s lettercol we’re told the upcoming arc will have "plenty for fans to get mad about." Most of us are bracing for the fact that this season is gonna really bring the pain before it’s done with. Do you ever worry about those "duck and cover" moments when you know fans are going to scream at you (or worse yet, quit reading), or do you revel in it like Joss does?

Scott Allie: Sort of worry about it, but there’s nothing you can do about it. We can’t do the story differently than we want just because we’re afraid what people will think. And yes, to some degree we enjoy it, because it shows how much you care. Not that we enjoy frustrating you, but it is inspiring to evoke a reaction.

16. AndrewCrossett: Do you have any working titles yet for Brad Meltzer’s and/or Joss’s upcoming story arcs?

Scott Allie: Nope, sorry. Still much to be determined.

17. Jay: Are there any intimate relationships coming up (either romantic or sexual) that would definitely be controversial?

Scott Allie: Yep.

18. Paul730: What’s the story behind Angel: Long Night’s Journey? I’ve not read it, but I know Joss was involved with the writing/plotting, so I’ve never been sure what to think of it. Is it meant to be canon in the same way as Tales, Fray, and Season Eight?

Scott Allie: Joss had an idea for how he wanted Angel to exist as a comic, different from the comic we’d done previously, and so he cowrote that one with Brett Matthews. Quite frankly, I don’t know whether or not to call it canonical. We didn’t really have that conversation at the time, and we haven’t looked back at it too much. I would guess it’s canon, but only in the same way you’re guessing.

19. Paul730: What are the chances of a Buffy vs Army of Darkness comic? Ash seems to be crossing over into everything these days, and it’d be groovy to see him and Buffy team up to take down the Evil Dead. (This question is only half-serious, btw).

Scott Allie: None, none, zilch, nada. Seriously.

20. pablo: Mr Allie, can we please have a Faith spin-off? mini-series, on-going title, we’d take anything! pretty please! Yes I know it’s been asked countless times, but I’m sure that having Faith’s comic (meaning double dose of Buffyverse monthly goodness) would make the world a better place.

Scott Allie: Yeah, maybe.

21. Nicholas: I know you cant give away spoilers, but other than having the secret identity issue, will there be a signifigant reason as to why Twilight wears a mask as if he is actually a comic superhero because looking back, none of the past big bads have worn "masks" so I am hoping there is an actual reason behind it.

Scott Allie: Mainly the secret identity thing.

22. buffycomic: The Hellboy Compendium... as it was released last year, and more Hellboy and BPRD stories have come out since then, will Dark Horse eventually release an updated version with new information added to the various character entries?

Scott Allie: Eventually we will do something. It could potentially just be online updates, but it could be a new edition of the book down the road. That book was a massive headache, creatively unrewarding, and only possible because of Rachel Edidin, my fellow editor at Dark Horse.

23. buffycomic: Also, will there ever be bonus material in the BUffy trade paperbacks - could be sketches or notes, commentary etc.

Scott Allie: Aside from ancillary story bits, probably not. Not in the paperbacks ... tease ...

24. dane5by5: What would an ideal Season Nine involve, would it introduce a new villain (like Season Eight) and spend the entire run with that story, or perhaps be more character based like "No Future For You" and explore a group of characters in focus for a set of issues with an overarching narrative linking the mini-series together?

Scott Allie: Season Nine will most likely scale it down and focus on a smaller cast.

25. dane5by5: It has been mentioned that a BtVS project was being planned to be set between Season Eight and Season Nine, can you give an update or any hint as to what this might be?

Scott Allie: We might’ve decided not to do that one. We could always change our minds again, but probably we’re just gonna take a small breather, do some little bits and pieces, and then launch Season Nine. The project to which you refer, to which I’ve refered, was gonna be pretty grand, but I think what you’ll see between Seasons Eight and Nine will be more like the Tales of the Vampires oneshot we just did, or the Willow oneshot coming this fall.

26. trunkstheslayer: Are there any plans on releasing a cover collection? There’s been some discussion/desire floating around for maybe a set of Jo Chen’s covers collected together. Any chance that’s a potential release sometime?

Scott Allie: No. We’ve talked about it, and there might be something down the road, but we probably won’t decide on it until S8 is done. Check out the Jo gallery on the DH website, and also check out a new thing we’re throwing up there this week, showing her process on one of the Star Wars covers she just did.

27. Jay: Other than James Marsters and Amber Benson, have any of the original cast taken recent interest in contributing to Dark Horse?

Scott Allie: Yeah, but that’d be a big announcement that I wouldn’t want to spoil ahead of time.

28. richie: Do you know if Joss like to read the fan reactions? i was thinking that we really close to find out who twilight is (I hope this year). And its gonna be huge, cause it’ll be 2 years waiting for the reveal. So do you think you and Joss could have a question and awnser, like this, together?

Scott Allie: Joss doesn’t have the time to do this sort of thing, I don’t think. He liked doing that lettercol in Fray, but I don’t think it’s the best use of his time to do this sort of thing. You’d mostly have questions he wouldn’t want to answer.

 Okay, thanks, guys, sorry I was slow this time, traveling all over the Northwest, and finally home.