Dollhouse, Firefly, Angel, Buffy : news, photos & videos

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - Comicbookdaily.com Review

Webmaster — 2009-11-07T12:27:58Z

Just A Thought : Wherein Brent Discuss his Love For Vampire Slayers

Hey there loyal reader…all five of you…, thanks for coming back.

I've been knee deep in a column for my own website as well as preparing one for Comic Book Daily which we should see next week (it required a good chunk of reading), so I was kind of at a loss with what my column was going to be about.

But luckily I went to my neighborhood comic shop on Wednesday and an idea hit me.

I am very much a “wait for the trade” type of guy. They're more convenient for me and due to my limited income, it works out pretty well. At the moment my pull box is allowed one monthly title and one mini series. I then buy anything else in trade form with the exception of Moon Knight , Walking Dead, the recent reprint of Alan Moore's Swamp Thing and most Neil Gaiman titles which for some reason I decided hard covers are the way to go.

Trade wise capturing my attention is Grant Morrison's run on Batman, Runaways (which I prefer the manga sized editions), Criminal, occasional mini-series and every once and a while a surprise. For instance a few weeks ago I picked up Pinocchio Vampire Slayer from Slave Labor and it was well worth it. The other great thing about trades is they are much easier to lend out to friends. I try this very much like a crack dealer. I get them hooked on a series or author, when I new one comes out, I make sure to mention it to them and usually one out of five will start buying it.

So what book is it that I can't wait five to ten months for ? Which is the comic book I must have ever single month ?

I imagine some of you are a little surprised give some of the other recommendations I've made in the previous columns but I'll be honest, Buffy is that consistently good.

Let's get the first part out of the way. I'm a big fan of Joss Whedon mainly because in my opinion, we both have very similar writing styles. Although Joss is much better at it then I am, we do have very similar sensibilities. His wok, 9 times out of 10 worth a look (the only exception I'd make to that rule is his second arc on Astonishing X-Men was not great). I was a fan of his television work (I got sucked into Firefly and the subsequently went into Buffy) and I am looking forward to his future internet work, especially if Dr. Horrible was any indication of how good it might get.

But the thing a lot of people tend to forget that is that Joss isn't writing the entire series.

Sure he's over seeing it but he's only jumping on a few arcs here and a one shot there. In the meantime he's brought in writers from comics (Brian K. Vaughn) and writers from the original show (current writer Jan Espenson was a mainstay of Buffy's creative staff and currently serves as show runner for Caprica) while Joss runs the ship along with editor Scott Allie.

Essentially not only is the story an extension of the tv show but so is the creative crew behind it.

The unsung hero of the series however has to be artist Georges Jeanty. Now others might disagree with me but Georges work is incredibly solid. When I first picked up the book, I thought he was okay but his art really grew on me. It is clean, solid and consistent and fits in the book perfectly. So much so that when they let the poor guy take a break for a few issues I tend to wish he was back drawing it. Georges has also managed to make all of the characters look the actors that portrayed them without giving up any of his style. He has impressed me enough that whatever he does after Buffy, I'm going to have to check out.

And I really want a sketch of Xander with an eye patch. Will have to hit Georges up next time I see him at a convention (for the record, met him a few years ago, very nice guy).

The other great thing about Buffy is the fact that because it feels like the tv series, it is strongly becoming the best “season” out of the lot because they can do what ever they want.

Hordes of monsters with no limit of an FX budget, hundreds maybe thousands of slayers up against the US army with ancient giant gods storming both sides and a submarine sitting in the middle.

This all adds up into a great sense of what I like to call “awesomeness”. The writers have been unleashed but the characters are still the same. Only now they can throw at Buffy and the Scoobies anything that Georges can draw. And given that we've seen submarines, magic and gigantic mecha version of Dawn stomping in Tokyo, I'm not sure what Georges can't draw.

The final thing that I like about Buffy is that it's given out the idea that tv shows don't have to end when they are canceled. Serenity has quickly followed suit as has Jericho and I've also heard rumblings of Pushing Daisies will also be joining the fray. And while I am all for new and creative comics, if some of my tv shows are going to be brought back and done as well as Buffy, I'm all for it.

Buffy is everything a licensed comic should be. It is well written, well drawn and keeps you wanting the next issue. Other companies should take a look at Buffy when they decide to license a property as the gold standard.

I promise I will with my take on The Adventures of Dr. Johnny Fever.

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - Down for the Count : Dracula's Greatest Comics Appearances

Webmaster — 2009-10-14T13:03:21Z

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Dracula

Dracula's appearance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer — a season-opener designed to make viewers think he was the villain of a major arc before Buffy soundly defeated him at the end of the episode — is one of the true highlights of the series. When he returns as part of the "Season 8" comics, writer Drew Goddard is able to touch on a few aspects of the Count that didn't quite make it to television. Namely the fact that he is crazy racist.

It's like if the great-aunt that you only see on holidays who invariably makes for an awkward Thanksgiving dinner by casually working a racial slur into a request for more cranberry sauce, except that instead of eighty years to build to that point, she's had four hundred and is also a demon wearing human flesh to prey upon the living. But what do you expect ? Dude eats people !

Rating : 5/10

Click on the link for more :

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2009/10/13/down-for-the-count-draculas-greatest-comics-appearances/

"Buffy Season 8" Comic Book - 2009 Baltimore Comic Con - Comicbookresources.com Report

Webmaster — 2009-10-11T21:27:10Z

Half an hour before the Dark Horse Buffy Season Eight Panel began at this year's Baltimore Comic Con, a line full of eager fans trailed out from the panel room door. After the patient group had been filtered into the room, panelists Georges Jeanty, Jo Chen and Scott Allie—the book's artist, cover artist and editor, respectively—entered the room and sat down for a casual chat with fans about Joss Whedons "Buffy Season 8."

The trio began the panel by telling fans how they got their jobs for the series. Both Jeanty and Chen had never seen a single episode of "Buffy" before signing on to the project. Though Jeanty was initially met with groans, he explained that he was sent seasons six and seven of the show, fell in love with it, and became a "Buffy" fan.

Chen, who began as a manga artist in Taiwan, got her start on "Buffy" after working on "Runways" with Brian K. Vaughan. Chen was introduced to Whedon by Vaughan and that's how things took off. When Chen was pitched on doing covers by Whedon, she thought it sounded like more of an indie comic before a friend relayed how popular "Buffy" was and loaned her some DVDs.

"Joss is very nice, very respectful. He's almost like a fanboy," Chen said.

Allie, who was an editor on the original "Buffy" series, explained that Whedon initially wanted to do a series about Faith, but ended up doing the story of a future slayer that turned in to "Fray."

Whedon, who Jeanty had spoken with a few days prior, told the artist to relay this message to fans : "Tell everybody there, thank you so much for your support. I love you all."

The panel then opened up to fan questions, the first of which asked where is "Season 8" going to end and go into "Season 9 ?"

For a while the plan was to go to 40 issues Allie explained, but Brad Meltzer's arc—which begins after Jane Espenson's current arc ends—was so complicated that it might have to go an extra issue. Then, they will likely take a break, do some smaller projects and then move on to "Season Nine."

"I would loved to be involved in 'Season Nine' in some way," Jeanty revealed, after Allie mentioned they had been dancing around the issue.

When asked about future plots, Allie said "All we know now is what 'Season Nine' will be. We know what the story for 'Season 9' is. We don't know that we'll do another one after that." Allie explained that it's all up to Whedon if he wanted to continue.

"But hopefully he'll have gotten his team together and just said 'Well, let's just do the movie,'" Jeanty replied.

A fan asked what the artists use for reference when drawing the book. Chen explained she uses the DVDs and hates to look at publicity photos from online.

"For me, the subtleties are the things for this book." Jeanty said before explaining that things like mannerisms and even character heights are crucial factors to how they look in the books.

"When Joss and I picked Georges, we picked him mainly for his style," Allie said. "We picked him because we had a look in mind of what the book would look like. We had this kind of expressive but conventional superhero look. We didn't want it to be a dark, Vertigo-looking thing, we didn't want it to look like an indie comic, we didn't want it to look like a Mignola comic. We had this look and Georges was the perfect guy for that look. But then what we didn't know because the books he had previously worked on were more like straight up superhero books, we didn't realize his impeccable fashion sense."

As personality is key to how the characters in this book look and that was often expressed through their wardrobe on the show, Jeanty asked Whedon for examples of where the characters would shop so he could draw them in the style that suited them. Whedon cited Anthropology as the store that would match Buffy's wardrobe yet and that sent Jeanty digging out catalogs for examples.

"Once you dress them the right way, they tend to act the way you think they would," Jeanty said.

Another fan asked if they would have to wait till the end of "Season 8" for the reveal of Twilight, the big bad of the season. Allie revealed they would not and both Jeanty and Chen have drawn their covers for the issue already.

A three-part question came next. A fan asked if there was a chance of "Dollhouse" comic, if there was going to be a series revealing the past of "Serenity's" Shepherd and if Dark Horse would be getting former Buffy beaus Spike and Angel from IDW, the company which owns the rights to them.

Allie replied with a simple "yes," but expanded on that after the laughter died down. First he explained that Angel and Spike have appeared, but likely wouldn't again.

"'Dollhouse ? There's a chance," Allie explained. "When Joss first told me he was going to do the 'Dollhouse' show, I said 'Well, I know you don't want to do comic right away, but whenever you want to do then, we want to do them.' He said, 'Yeah, I just don't really see how it's a comic, but if we're gonna do it, I'll do it with you guys.' And then at San Diego this year, he said 'I know how we can do it as a comic.' And that's where we left it."

Allie then explained that a writer has been hired for the Shepherd story, but they are still looking for an artist. He went to explain that Ron Glass, the actor who portrayed Shepherd Book, asked Whedon to give him some backstory on the character's past because people were always asking him for answers about the shadowed history. Whedon told him that it would be a comic, but that he could reveal these four things, three of which Allie could remember : Book found god in a bowl of soup, one part of him is artificial and he got his name from a dead man. When the artist has been found, Ron Glass will announce the creative team.

When asked about characters that were hardest to draw, Chen shared an interesting tidbit about Fray. As she likes to keep her cover realistic, she asked original "Fray" artist Karl Moline which actresses he thought she most looked like. Moline went with Elizabeth Taylor and Natalie Portman.

About halfway through the panel, when the artists were talking about selling the realism of fantastic situations with their art in the story, Jeanty came dangerously close to revealing the final cliffhanger of November's issue #30 of "Buffy," insisting it had come out this week. After a playful back and forth with Allie, and the audience prompting Jeanty to tell them what he was about to reveal, the artist gave the audience a bit of a teaser but nothing nearly as juicy as they were hoping for.

"There are things that are happening that couldn't be done on the show. I think if you believe enough in the characters and how they are, you can take a character doing something she wouldn't normally be doing and make it look, I guess, authentic. I think if you can make Buffy or whomever believable enough, you can put them in the most extreme situations—that I guess are coming up in issue #30— "

"In November !" Allie chimed in as the audience chuckled at the almost slip up from earlier.

"…that's because you believe in it becomes believable within that universe," Jeanty finished.

A few minutes later, Allie was frantically saying "No" again, much to the eager audience's chagrin, as Chen almost revealed something else while talking about details of an upcoming cover.

At the end of the panel, Allie was pressed for more information about "Season 9."As the current amount of issues would have "Season 8" end in 2010, Allie relayed that after Whedon takes a break and comes back to work on "Season 9" he hopes they'll be able to begin it in 2011 to coincide with Dark Horse's 25th anniversary.

Keep those fingers crossed, slayer fanatics !

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - Issue 23 - Ifanboy.com Podcast Review

Webmaster — 2009-03-09T12:45:03Z

Click on the link :

http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/audio/03_08_2009_-_Episode__174_-_Superman__World_of_New_Krypton__1

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - Issue 26 - Wonder Con 2009 Panel Report

Webmaster — 2009-03-01T13:41:42Z

Attendees of WonderCon 2009 were let in on some of the details of Dark Horse Comics' plans for the future during the Saturday afternoon Dark Horse panel. Jeremy Atkins, Director of Publicity for Dark Horse and Shawna Gore (Emily the Strange, Creepy, Criminal Macabre) made their voices heard during the panel.

After coming clean about having forgotten to bring the original presentation they intended to show during the panel, Atkins decided to show the crowd in attendance a sort of "best of" Dark Horse, using images and slideshows already on the equipment he was using.

Starting with the Aliens franchise, Atkins touched on Dark Horse's re-launching of the Aliens proper book to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original Alien film, with Predator coming along for the ride. To go along with the announcement, Atkins showed off the covers to both the Aliens and Predator Free Comic Book Day issues as well as a couple of pages of interior pencils.

Moving on to Eric Powell's The Goon, Atkins displayed the cover to 10th anniversary issue of the book. The cover was a "take off of the first issue of the comic", according to Atkins.

Continuing on the theme of anniversaries, Atkins indicated that Stan Sakai would be producing the first original Usagi Yojimbo graphic novel in full color this November in honor of the character's 25th anniversary.

Gore took the mic to shed some light on the new Creepy Magazine, which is scheduled to launch this July. Gore explained that Eric Powell is assisting in the development of the new publication and that the book will keep the same style and aesthetic as the original Creepy Magazine, describing it as a "series of one or two page short, little stories" that introduce readers to the Creepy family. Powell will also be painting the covers for the first three issues of the quarterly series with Neal Adams contributing his services to the book down the line.

Atkins took over again to talk about the Star Wars line of books that Dark Horse has slated for release this year. Starting with Star Wars : Legacy, Atkins described it was being his favorite Star Wars book coming out this year as he directed the audience's attention to a couple of covers from upcoming issues of the series.

As for Knights of the Old Republic, Atkins announced a bi-weekly online comic that will eventually be collected into a trade. In describing Knights of the Old Republic, Atkins said that he feels that it's "a good jumping off point, as Star Wars is kind of intimidating".

Star Wars : Dark Times has hit delays due to artist Doug Wheatley being his own worst critic according to Atkins. Atkins also displayed an image of the first issue in the ongoing series.

Following the big announcement of Star Wars : Invasion at the New York Comic Con, the series that takes place 25 years aver the Battle of Yavin and lets readers in on the movies' beloved characters whereabouts, Atkins made it known that Jo Chen would be doing the covers for Invasion, directing those in attendance to the official Star Wars website in order to check one of the covers out.

Continuing, Atkins showed images from The End League and Gigantic, announcing a trade for the former to be on the way later this year.

Returning to The Goon, Atkins told everyone to keep an eye out online, most likely on the official Dark Horse site, for a big announcement regarding the 10th anniversary of the series.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer's next story arc revolves around "slayers being outlaws and trying to regroup since vampires took charge during the reality show that took place in the last arc", said Atkins. Along with that tidbit of information regarding the main Buffy series, Atkins announced a Tales of the Vampire one shot coming this July, which will essentially be a vampire love story set in season eight of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

A couple of cover images were shown for Mike Oeming and Taki Soma's Rapture and Amazon from Tim Sale, which is a republishing of some of his very early work.

Gore took the reigns again for a minute to explain the history of Domo and his Japanese background to audience members as Atkins drew attention to a shot of some of the new blind box Domo keys that were recently shown off at Toy Fair in New York.

The Umbrella Academy proved to be a huge hit for Dark Horse, but Atkins admitted that he was "a little bit skeptical because you've got this guy who is this massive rock star and says [to Dark Horse] I want to publish a comic with you guys". Atkins went into how Umbrella Academy creator Gerard Way actually wanted to do comics before My Chemical Romance, implying that it is easier to become an international rock star than a comic book artist. Atkins did set the record straight though in confirming that comic artists make more money than rock stars, much to the enjoyment of the panel attendees. Atkins detailed a set of PVC Umbrella Academy figures and special edition of the first trade paperback coming later this year.

Atkins mentioned Joe Linsner's Conan : The Cimmerian as re-launching the character into the next phase of his life as he showed cover images for Conan and Kull.

In regards to Mike Mignola, Atkins said that he has a lot of books coming, keeping the momentum from last year's Hellboy 2 release going strong with B.P.R.D. 1947 on the way, as well as Sir Edward Grey : Witch Hunter and Lobster Johnson.

Werewolves on the Moon Versus Vampires was described as "one of those moments in your life where you're like how in the hell did I not think of it" by Atkins. Dave Land is writing this quirky title.

Moving on to Beasts of Burden, a new, fully-painted series about a group of animals that hunts ghosts, Atkins related that it is a "dark Milo and Otis. Beasts of Burden launches in July.

Gore took the opportunity to mention Emily the Strange, a character that she works on, announcing a new four issue series that launches this July, which takes the character into uncharted territory. This new series will be the first full-length story featuring Emily and starts on her 13th birthday, before she becomes the Emily she is now. She also mentioned an Art of Emily book, collecting 15 years of history, on the way from creator Rob Reger.

She was able to touch on The Cleaners, saying she has received more fan letters about this book than anything else she has ever worked on, save for the Kiss comics she has contributed to. She said that she hopes to be able to make an announcement about a second The Cleaners series by the time the San Diego Comic-Con rolls around.

Due to the nature of having to develop their presentation on the fly, Atkins and Gore were only able to field a couple of questions before the panel ended.

When asked about whether Dark Horse generates any revenue from free comic sources online such as Dark Horse Presents, Gore stated that they were looked upon more as outreach to fans to engender excitement in their properties and introduce them to lesser known titles, but that the comics published online is oftentimes collected into anthologies for print at the end of the year.

As The Umbrella Academy and Emily the Strange are being made into movies, a fan asked the panelists whether there were any plans for other Dark Horse based movies in the works, to which Atkins announced that there were quite a few sitting in studios right now, with Universal getting first right of refusal on everything, but was not ready to talk about any specifics at the moment. He did mention an animated movie based on The Goon, being produced by David Fincher, which is on the way as well as the fact that both Criminal Macabre and Freaks of the Heartland having been optioned.

When asked about the whereabouts of the Dark Horse 20th anniversary commemoration, Atkins said they had fallen behind schedule and felt like it would be more appropriate to hold them off until Dark Horse's 25th anniversary, citing it as it being better to celebrate "being old enough to rent a car than being of legal drinking age".

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - Issue 24 - Comicbookresources.com Review

Webmaster — 2009-02-20T13:07:55Z

It's not like Joss Whedon is “getting by” with a little help from his friends, but the Buffyverse creator sure is pulling in some big-time talent for his Eisner Award-winning “Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Season Eight” series.

After top-selling runs penned by Brian K. Vaughn (“Lost,” “Ex Machina”) and Drew Goddard (“Cloverfield”), Dark Horse Comics just released back-to-back one-shots penned by superstar writer Jeph Loeb (“Heroes,” “Hulk”) and fan favorite “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” television series veteran Jane Espenson.

In April, Jim Krueger (“Justice,” “Avengers/Invaders”) takes his stab at slaying, writing a one-shot to be illustrated by Cliff Richards, focusing on the relationship between the book's resident odd couple, Giles and Faith.

Rupert Giles was of course played by Anthony Stewart Head on the original television series, is Buffy's Watcher — or Obi-Wan, for lack of a better term.

Faith Lehane, brought to life on screen by Eliza Dushku (“Dollhouse”), is a slayer who flirts (well, more than flirts) with the dark side for most of the original series, but again, sticking with the Star Wars reference, finds the light at the end of the tunnel like Anakin Skywalker.

Krueger told CBR News that a casual meeting with Whedon at a comic book convention not only led him to writing issue #24 of the Dark Horse series, but also, more importantly, launch a friendship that continues today.

“I had read a number of interviews with Joss in which he had talked about how much he liked ‘Earth X,'” Kruger explained. “I approached him at WizardWorld and asked him if he'd like to write the introduction to the trade. He said, ‘Yes.' That, I guess, was our first meeting.

“A couple years later, after Dark Horse had gone through its first major run of ‘Buffy' comics, I pitched them on the idea of a ‘Buffy' limited series that would act as an overview of all seven ‘Buffy' series, all from the perspective of Giles – sort of a watcher's view of Buffy's growth as a hero and Seasons 1-7 retrospective.

“This idea, while pitched, somehow led to the creation of ‘Season 8.' I think someone at Dark Horse told me I somehow got some sort of ball rolling even though I can't imagine how I had anything to do with it.

“Anyhow, at that time, I asked if I could be a part of it. [Editor] Scott [Allie] said sure. And then he said, ‘Would you like to do the next ‘Serenity' limited series next instead, and work with Joss on that ?' And then I asked if I could do both. And everyone seemed to say okay.”

Obviously, Jim Krueger is a big fan of Buffy – as is his daughter – and estimates he has watched all seven seasons, four times each. “What I love about Buffy is that it's all got to do with the fact that, despite everything that happens, she's still a girl,” offered Krueger. “Joss and his teams of writers have created this girl who never loses herself to the fight. And that's really admirable. I often think that this is the problem with say, Wonder Woman. Despite the costume, despite the curves, she's not really a girl. She's not allowed to mess up in relationships the way a girl would, not allowed to love someone she shouldn't, not able to really be human. And that's what makes Buffy really great. And that's why so many of her enemies become her friends throughout the series.”

Known predominantly for his cape-friendly collaborations with artist Alex Ross on “Earth X,” “Justice,” “Project Superpowers” and “Avengers/Invaders,” Krueger knows a thing or two about what it takes about being a superhero. And he has no problem calling Buffy a superhero, too. Even without the tights.

“She's a hero certainly because of her actions, because of what she has lost to do the right thing,” said Krueger. “And because she hasn't stopped doing the right thing even after no one has really noticed that she's been saved. Think of the X-Men. I don't really care that they're different. I care that they do the right thing even though they're hated.

“I also think part of the heroic journey is being caught up into a bigger story than your own. And there's always a cost for that. For Buffy, it's a normal life, a normal love, a normal peace.”

But despite his ever-present affection towards Miss Summers, Krueger won't be writing her in “Buffy” #24. “This is all about Faith and Giles and is a direct sequel to the Brian K. Vaughn run from earlier in the series,” teased Krueger. “Brian and Joss did a great job of putting those two together. And by suggesting that in the future, they would be helping slayers find their way. Of course, that way is sort of off-track now that it's considered cool to be a vampire.”

Krueger agreed Giles and Faith are unusual bedmates, but loves their synergy on the printed page. “They're certainly coming from two different worlds. Faith is from a dysfunctional broken family with loads of betrayal under her belt. And bad sex, now that we're speaking of things under the belt while Giles comes from a prim and proper world of academia and rules.

“But this war they've been drafted into has changed them. Giles' hands are dirty. He's killed people in the war. Faith has had to become better than she ever was. To a certain degree, these two individuals have come a little closer to the center to find, in the midst of their fight against vampires and demons, a friendship and strange sense of family.

“Both Giles and Faith have sort of had to deal with the fact that they don't fit their prospective molds,” continued Krueger. “Faith is not quite the model slayer. And Giles is not the model Watcher. And so, they fit together. They didn't fit together at the beginning of the series, but the growth of these two individuals has created this perfect partnership, I think.”

Asked to tease what readers will see in his anticipated one-shot, Krueger revealed, “Now that it's cool to be a vampire, it's very uncool to be a slayer. And as a result, many slayers have sort of given up on being chosen. This is the story that deals with a place referred to as Slayer Sanctuary, where a number of slayers have gone to hide.

“From there, Faith and Giles go to investigate, and some really bad things happen.”

Cliff Richards' artwork for “Buffy the Vampire Slayer : Season Eight” #24 made Jim Krueger an instant fan. “His ability to capture the look of the characters and tell a story is really fantastic,” the writer said. “In all honesty, I didn't even know he was so good. It's no wonder he's done as much work on Buffy as he has. He totally made me a fan.”

Richards penciled a majority of Dark Horse's original “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series from #8 (April 1999) to #63 (November 2003).

Jim Krueger's first published work in comics was “The Foot Soldiers” for Dark Horse in 1996. He later created “Galactic” for the publisher in 2003. Krueger also penned an eight-page “Serenity” story for MySpace Dark Horse Presents and it's been announced that he's writing the next “Serenity” limited series.

“Dark Horse was the first real place I got to write comics,” said Krueger. “So I'm always really happy to work here. I also feel a strange sense of indebtedness.”

Next up for the ever-busy Jim Krueger is the next wave of “Project Superpowers” with Alex Ross for Dynamite Entertainment, and finishing up “Avengers/Invaders” for Marvel. Landing more and more film work, as well, he's also writing “The Stand-In” for Ardden Entertainment, which Krueger said “is about an out-of-work actor asked to double for a senator, who then gets in over his head during an assassination attempt on the Senator's… well, this actor's life.”

Krueger also has one more volume of “TOMO” to do for his friends Tom Bankroft and Rob Corley at Funny Pages, and he's working on a final draft for an original graphic novel for FOX ATOMIC.

No fooling, “Buffy the Vampire : Season Eight” #24, with covers by Georges Jeanty and Jo Chen, goes on sale April 1 from Dark Horse.

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - 2009 New York Comic Con - Comicbookresources.com Report

Webmaster — 2009-02-12T10:03:39Z

Assembled on stage at the Dark Horse panel at last weekend's New York Comic Con were editor Scott Allie, Dark Horse marketing chief Jeremy Atkins and "The Goon" creator Eric Powell, who were later joined by cartoonist Evan Dorkin. Major announcements at the panel included tenth anniversary plans for Powell's Goon character, a new in-continuity "Buffy" one-shot overseen by Joss Whedon and created by the indie talents behind "Pixu," and a limited series for Dorkin and Jill Thompson's award-winning "Beasts of Burden" horror comics, amongst plenty of other new and continuing comics updates.

With 2009 marking the tenth anniversary of Powell's signature series, Dark Horse is releasing a special anniversary issue of “The Goon” that Powell announced while trying to describe his series to potential new readers. "It's kind of a dark comedy/horror noir/drama/dramedy thing that I never thought would get past ten issues let alone ten years," he said. "So it's pretty exciting to come up on that. We are producing a tenth anniversary issue with some pinups from some people that inspired me : Bernie Wrightson, Kevin Nowlan, Jeff Smith Mike Mignola and Mike Ploog." To top those contributions off, the cover of the comic will provide Powell the opportunity to remix his original cover for "The Goon's" debut by redrawing the image in his current style.

Atkins presented a laundry list of upcoming released from Dark Horse, including a September original graphic novel for "Usagi Ujimbo" which marks the first ever Usagi OGN by artist Stan Sakai. The panelists explained that newer editions of older Usagi material were also on tap.

Recently newlywed cartoonists Mike Oeming and Taki Soma will take their "The Rapture" series, initially seen on Dark Horse's MySpace iteration of "Dark Horse Presents," to print with an all-new miniseries. Steven Seagle and Tim Sale's 1980s indie series "The Amazon" will see print in color for the first time first as a May-launching miniseries and then as a graphic novel. "Werewolves On the Moon : Versus Vampires," a tongue-in-cheek horror series about exactly what the title says conceived by editor Dave Land with art by the Philbach brothers ("Star Wars : The Clone Wars," "Maxwell Strangewell") will also debut later in 2009.

"Pixu : Mark of Evil" is a hardcover reprint of the popular indie horror anthology/group project from Eisner Award-winning artists Becky Cloonan, Vasilis Lolos, Gabriel Bé and Fábio Moon. The f same crew will be collaborating on a new "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" one-shot titled "Tales of the Vampires" (a spiritual sequel to Joss Whedon's 2005 miniseries of the same name). The book comes with a cover by Jo Chen and an alternate cover by Bá and Moon, while the interior stories will be written by Cloonan and drawn by Lolos. On top of that, May 21 sees the start of the new "Buffy" arc, "Predators and Prey," featuring the character Harmony as a reality star after vampires come out of the closet and announce their existence to the world.

"Over the course of the next few months, we're going to see how the popularity of vampires leads to the unpopularity of slayers and makes things even harder for Buffy and friends," said Allie, who noted the book would take a skip month to catch up in June (hence the "Tales" one-shot) and that a new in-continuity MySpace story would surface before the end of the year – all playing on the series' new status quo.

Many other longstanding projects saw new information released in New York, including word that Guy Davis' "The Marquis" would land at Dark Horse with new material — including a 40-page sketchbook — in July, followed next year with a new OGN. Dark Horse will also continue its prolific webcomics-to-print model with a hardcover of strips from the popular online feature "Sinfest." Artist Joseph Michael Linsner will return as cover artist for "Conan" this spring, and issue #14 will feature interiors by writer Tim Truman and the legendary Joe Kubert.

In other Robert E. Howard news, Dark Horse will publish a follow-up to their current "Kull" series by writer Arvid Nelson and artist Will Conrad sometime in 2010, and Mike Mignola will cover the trade for the publisher's "Solomon Kane" comic book. Another adaptation of an unfinished Howard Kane tale in the works.

In Mignola news, Allie confirmed there will be a publishing break in the most recent "Hellboy : The Wild Hunt" series, between the upcoming issues #4 and #5 to accommodate the creative team, although the editor said that a fairly natural break in the 8-issue story meant that fans wouldn't be left hanging too badly. Issue #5 will ship in July.

The B.P.R.D. return to their past again with the upcoming "1947" miniseries, which explores a vampire epidemic in Europe. Brothers Bá and Moon will draw the series interiors together. The perennially popular Lobster Johnson should return with a second miniseries, hopefully by end of year, which will be titled "The Burning Hand."

Mid-way through the panel, cartoonist Evan Dorkin joined the crew on stage to announce that he and Jill Thompson will take their Eisner-winning horror stories of neighborhood dogs investigating ghosts into a four-issue miniseries called "Beasts of Burden." "Dozens of people know me for my humor work," said the "Milk & Cheese" creator. "I've always wanted to do some horror books because I like horror books. The first story was an eight-page, self-contained strip about a haunted doghouse [for an Allie-edited Anthology]... I hadn't seen anything quite like it in comics." When it came up that two of the original four short stories won Eisner's, Dorkin added, "I have more Eisner's than the Hernandez Brothers, so that makes no sense. Any award where that happens has problem."

Dorkin continued, "We always wanted to do a series about this, but Jill was very busy having a career, and I was very busy playing video games, but now we've got an issue in the can. I've written the second script and am working on the third." Later, while discussing the makeup of the all dog cast and a bit of what happens to them in the story, Allie warned Dorkin about spoilers to which the writer said, "Spoiler warning : we're bringing The Flash back. It's Barry Allen. It's a coup. DC doesn't know we're doing this because Dan DiDio is busying ruining something."

Dorkin also said that he's still at work on new "Milk & Cheese" stories, but at the pace he draws, fans shouldn't get their hopes up for a new full issue any time soon.

"Buffy : Season 8" Comic Book - Issue 22 - Ifanboy.com Podcast Review

Webmaster — 2009-02-10T12:54:00Z

Running Time - 01:02:47

February 8, 2009 - Conor's sick ; iFanboy Staff Writer Sonia Harris steps in.

Click on the link :

http://www.ifanboy.com/podcasts/audio/02_08_2009_-_Episode__170_-_Amazing_Spider-Man__585

2009 New York City Comic Con - Dark Horse Panel - Buffyfest.blogspot.com Report

Webmaster — 2009-02-08T14:03:49Z

There will be no Buffy comic in June, The Tales of the Vampire one shot will be replacing it instead. The covers done by Jo Chen and will be about a boy in high school.

We asked Scott Allie the following in respose to that :

Buffyfest : "We already know that the "tales of the vampire" you story just announced won't feature characters from Buffy (CBR announced that earlier), but since it will be in the present timeline of the buffyverse, will our usual characters play a part somehow ? Does Joss Whedon approve a side project like this story-wise ?"

Scott Allie : "Yes, because we wanted to make this part of season 8 and because Tales of the Vampire was something he came up with first, he's not co-writing it to the extent that he does with season 8 but everything is going through him, the craetive team got approved by him, and he gives feedback. It will have his finger prints on it more than the old [pre-season 8] comics did [and has final approval]."

We then asked about the idenity of season 8's Twilight and when we'll be finding out who he is. Scott's funny dramatic pause was punctuated by a vague "Eventually."

Oh, and Twilight's identity ? We later found out he's George Washington. You heard it hear first, folks.

In response to a Serenity comic question someone asked - Scott explained that "Joss is so busy with the stupid Dollhouse thing" (in jest, of course) "it's kind of taking up a lot of his time". Allie went on to say, "Buffy is so demanding for Joss. He edits every script, every page of atwork goes through him, every cover concept...cover concepts often come from him. He has a Shepard Book outline in his head but he has to wait until there is time to work with Joss properly. He just agreed to write something that he probably should've said no to, but that's the kind of stuff that pushes Serenity back."

(...)

Click on the link for more :

http://buffyfest.blogspot.com/2009/02/dark-horse-dark-horse-dark-horse-theyre.html

"Buffy Season 8" Comic Book - Wolves at the Gate Arc - Npr.org Review

Webmaster — 2009-01-24T11:56:18Z

Graphic novels based on TV shows were once the dregs of the comic-book world, secret pleasures relegated to the bookshelves of undatable teenage boys. Then came Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

The Buffy comic series is co-written by the television show's creator, Joss Whedon. It picks up where the TV show left off, with Buffy Summers — the mystical California blonde chosen to kill supernatural baddies — and her friends casting a spell that turns thousands of girls into slayers. Now the commander of that spunky army of supergirls, Buffy has morphed into a fractious general plagued by the loneliness of leadership.

Wolves at the Gate, the third of the Buffy graphic novels, is particularly good, with a fast-moving plot and plenty of whimsical repartee. "You could, you know … take me out," says the beautiful slayer Renee, Xander's latest love interest. "You want me to assassinate you ?" the befuddled man replies.

This latest title adds new twists to the always-present sexual undercurrent. Buffy experiments with bisexuality, and Xander, her longtime friend, engages in some great homoerotic trash talk with Dracula, a former enemy (mainstream comics have had major homosexual characters before, but not bi-curious ones).

The Buffy TV character was originally inspired by B movies, the '60s horror magazine Creepy and, particularly, comic books like Tales from the Crypt — making Whedon's print reincarnation of his superhero blonde something of a homecoming. It's still Buffy — over-the-top and espousing a creed of girl power — but somewhere between their earnestness and their camp, the books have managed to become real art.