Now this doesn’t really do anything for me, but I know a lot of you have interest in the upcoming comic depicting season 8 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Here is a sneak peek, with some art and plot points (don’t worry, no spoilers).
Like I’ve said in the past, I’m a casual Buffy watcher, not a fan by any means — but I have to say, I love the idea of continuing the TV series in comics form, can you imagine how many other great shows that died that could live on in comics form? Oz? Party of Five? Carnivale? There’s no reason why, if done well, that couldn’t happen…
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I’ll buy it for my sister.
I’m a big Buffy fan so i cant wait for this series to start.
The second arc written by Brian K Vaughan spotlighting Faith should be especially good, she was always a favourite of mine.
I’m looking forward to this but oddly I can’t ever get through one of these articles. The content usually scares me away. So, I’m off of them until it comes out. I don’t want to be poisoned and I feel like every article has something in it that makes me go: what?
Great, one more thing keeping Astonishing from coming out.
Sheesh!
I’ve read at least one really funny plot point about this series already. I personally cannot wait.
If you can get the show runner and show’s writers to come back and write comics as if the series never ended, I think it’s an absolutely outstanding opportunity. Of course, it wouldn’t work in cases where the ensemble cast or timing made the show– Marvel’s “Arrested Development” comic would be an abject failure– but in a case like this you’d almost be crazy not to try it given the chance.
i’m really curious as to how well this is going to sell. I know its going to be a huge success for dark horse, but i’m wondering if its going to post anything close to, say, Astonishing X-Men numbers.
Can’t wait for this. will the ifanboys be picking it up?
I will definitely consider it…but mostly based on what I hear from the fans. Being a big a big Buffy (and Angel: the Series) fan fully steeped in the lore, there are definitely things I will be looking for… of course people that worked on the show working on the comic is a plus, but… I have some trepidations… And demands. Andrew better be in that book big time, or I’m firing off my “canon” big time and I’m off to Astonishing or something else.
Again, the Jimski insight, on target:
“Of course, it wouldn’t work in cases where the ensemble cast or timing made the show…”
Which is what I think made the show, but I’m willing to give it a go. I just read 2 very entertaining issues of X-Factor and 1 of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, and those are two good examples of what Jimski so rightfully cites, in comics form: ensemble cast and good comic (funny) timing.
I am also wondering how much of it Whedon is actually writing. The article was not clear, and Whedon said in an interview, “I’m happy to give my toys to other people to play with as long as they stay true to the characters.”
So what does that mean?
Can’t wait. I only wish Loeb weren’t writing an arc. In a perfect world, Joss and BKV would just take turns. Maybe Drew Goddard (who wrote for Buffy and now works on Lost),
I’m looking forward to this, but I think I’m going to wait for the trade, to avoid ads. I guess it would make it feel more like a show, ads being like commercial breaks, but I have a feeling it won’t flow that way.
I’m intrigued… Grant it, I still have to watch the DVD’s I got myself for Christmas… 🙁
The whole series, ACBG?
You guys ever read FRAY? I really dug that, but for some reason have bever been able to get into Buffy.
Just ordered the trade for Fray yesterday.
I guess a lot of people have trouble getting into Buffy, even if they like the spin-offs or Whedon’s other work. I started watching in season 1 when I was in…god, must have been the end of sixth grade? I just know that the show ended when I graduated high school. So there’s some built-n loyalty. In looking back on it, there are a lot–a lot–of hokey episodes. But Whedon’s scripts were always good TV, and it was always about the characters. Some of the best arcs ever. Just tracking the journey that Willow takes over the course of seven years? Crazy. It really is worth the ride.
We all got to have a great geek-out moment a few years back when the legendary weapon Fray used in the comic showed up in the last season of Buffy. It was so strange; “wait… is that…?!”
Haha, I remember that! I hadn’t read Fray yet (won’t til later this week actually), but the significance was not lost on me.
Was I the only one who secretly wanted Spike to appear in Firefly? Probably.
That was awesome. the weapon, itself though, kinda looked like plastic. Come to think of it, a lot of props and monsters from that show looked really cheap. i guess thats one benefit the comic has, budget’s not really a problem.
Actually, I think one of the godsends of the series was that they didn’t have a big budget. When they didn’t try to do something huge, they racked their brains for great character stories. Intimate things. Some of the best writing comes out of frustrating creative restrictions.
Not gonna lie though, looking forward to seeing the Buffyverse expand. And Xander Harris, director of S.H.I.E.L.D.
” Actually, I think one of the godsends of the series was that they didn’t have a big budget.”
Whedon is quoted as saying just about the same thing. He said coming out of scriptwriting for Hollywood movies, he found himself pretty perplexed in season 1 with just having 1 warehouse to shoot it in, and lots of cold night at the cemetary….
remember how Xander first showed up on the show? How many other times did you see him on a skateboard? That was the TV people telling Whedon TV is different, him not listening, then getting it after doing so much to get the shot.
The real challenge of the first couple of seasons: How many times do they turn from one school hallway to another…and its the same hallway? I never noticed.
Whedon’s commentary on the DVDs are funny, honest (that’s different) and almost like a “filmakers 101” class. I enjoyed those very much. Love when he tells the story of how the execs said he had to make that new Willow character “more cute, more fashionable, more pretty..more glam….otherwise nobody will care about her Joss….”
i love the commentaries on the season sets. i was lucky enought to get the chosen collection as a christmas gift a couple years back so i’ve listened to most of the commentaries, and i so don’t usually pay attention to stuff like that. still, i’m sure joss is relieved that he won’t have to worry about things like how stupid Mayor Wilkins is going to look as a big giant snake.
That’s one thing you can say about Whedon — he totally does not do “self congratulatory” commentaries on the bonus features of DVDs, which is a welcome relief, or go and on about “now you are seeing such and such which was meant to convey an atmosphere of such and such” –gawd, I hate that kind of crap. Don’t they realize we’re watching the stuff as they talk?
But Whedon is hilarious in commentaries, totally cops to things he did wrong or too hokey, and my favourite line, when a rat ran across Buffy’s show:
“Oh, let me just take a moment to recognize the work of this rat. Always showed up time, hit his mark, always gave everything no matter how small his time on screen, a true professional and a delight to work with. Love the rat we cast here.”
Season 1 or Buffy may seem somewhat off putting as its just gettting started (lots of just “monster of the weeks stuff”) but I think it really starts to rock and roll by Season 2 — Spike pulling that “chosen” kid into the sunlight is totally what they needed then…
After polishing of Angel, season 5, I went back to watch Buffy Seaons 1 episode 1 all over again, and I was like…. wow, it has been a long time, and Boreanez was such a pretty boy, but he got old and FAT…. (not that I don’t sympathise..)
Mayor Wilkens… stand when you write that, Jerome. I think he ranks as one of the best of the “Big Bads…” (that Glory was something else, though…)
Spike doesn’t count. When you go from “Big Bad” to series regular, well…
i agree, he was the best. in order, i’d say:
1. Mayor Wilkens (the best season also)
2.Angel/Spike/Drusilla Trio (the finale to this storyline was awesome)
3. The First
4. Glory (I may be the only one, but i really enjoyed the chick from Bring It On playing a Hell God)
5. Dark Willow (this should be higher, but season six with her was such a letdown)
6. The Master
7. Adam
I’m curious why this doesn’t do anything for you Ron, since this show marked the beginning of TV getting good again, as far I’m concerned. The series may have stalled a bit in the middle seasons, but was quality overall. The art for this looks good to me. Not the particular stuff in this link, but I’ve seen a preview of the first 8 pages of issue 1 somewhere and they rocked!
I have a strange relationship with Whedon’s shows.
I loved Buffy 1-3. Really liked season 4 and found my interest beyond that completely disappear. It was perplexing.
But the hole in my heart that was created when Buffy left it was quickly filled by Angel which, once they got the ensemble in place, was one of my top five shows for the remainder of its run.
I also loved Firefly.
I’m not sure if I’ll buy this comic. I probably will because it’s significant and I should at least take a look.
Buffy season 5 is the container that holds just about all of my least favorite episodes, and I believe 6 holds the remainder. In other words, Conor, your feelings are hardly isolated or inexplicable. I remember liking 7, but I also only watched each episode the night it aired (all the other seasons got multiple viewings). I’ve been planning to revisit them for a while… hmmm. Maybe this is the week…!
I think this might be summed up in one word: Dawn.
I liked the IDEA of Dawn, and in brief spurts I also enjoyed what Joss did with her, but on the whole she was just really annoying and detracted from the Scooby Squad.
Gotta love the musical show though.
The problem with Dawn was that once her arc was over, the writers did absolutely nothing with her. I still think she was a great twist on the whole “tv sibling you’ve never seen until now” cliche.
“Gotta love the musical show though.” Absolutely, Absolutely, Absolutely. I think there was a definite “drop” (or droop) after season 4, but then again I think from Season 4 the show really got more “girl centric.” Just name what the big highlights of Season 4 to Season 7, and you got a whole lotta stuff that girls like more than the boys — Anya, Spike, Glory, Spike, “The Rough Road of Willow,” Willow’s girlfriend drama, Spike and Buffy, Buffy and Dawn, Anya, more Spike and Buffy, the Slayers Team drama of Season 7… does this make sense? I liked the 3 guys of season 6, but (dare I say it) some may not have taken it as it was inteneded, and that season did lose quite a bit of direction, much meandering, and…anyway, does this make sense? More for the girls after season 4…
Why with the preface? Why not just spit in the faces of all Buffy Fans, one by one?
Why with the preface?
What are you referring to?
“Why with the preface? Why not just spit in the faces of all Buffy Fans, one by one?”
If I am “spitting in the face of all Buffy fans, one by one” then I am spitting in my face, and I don’t think this is the case. I also don’t see a thread here about Roswell, a show I like, or Sex and the City, for that matter, or a lot of other shows that do tend to appeal to a certain demographic. People here say they didn’t like Buffy after season 4, which is when the whole “Spike and Buffy” thing got started which I think was gold all the time, and when Anya really rose and shined, more gold, and Willow and Amber’s affair started, as well as Willow’s descent into the dark side… and again, Anya was absolutely a delight everytime she was on; these was also the time when Buffy’s mother died, absolutely some incredibly deep television, and Glory was just fun, and I could go on and on.
If you feel offended by my comment that the show might have some more appeal to women over its 7 year run, and you don’t like that someone might suggest you like that a show many women like, then maybe you have some issues that… well, I’ll just drop that “thing” right there.
And I stand by the preface: season 6 and 7 were not as compelling as previous seasons, and season 4-7 did feature many of the women characters. If a women wants to challenge my assumption, I welcome that completely. But in a site where 95% of the the people are men, I am not holding my breath. And if many men, in many posts on this thread did not find the show as compelling, I don’t hold that against them, even though I did like.
And I have no problems with any of that. Relax. Take a breath.
I don’t think the show got more “girl centric” as it went on. more “spike centric”, maybe.(i lovingly refer to seasons 6 and 7 as the Spike Years)
And I have no problems with any of that. Relax. Take a breath.
That goes for everyone, please.
Jerome: Definitely. This is very true. Whether or not someone liked 6-7 was completely up to whether or not you liked the Spike/Bufy thing (I loved it), and the Willow dark road, and I think the characters of Buffy, Spike and Willow (not to mention Amber) were as ambivelent to what was going on then in the show as any viewer — thus the magic of the show. Any Whedon fan certainly appreciates Whedon having no hesitations “shaking up the status quo,” and when it worked, it was wonderful, although season 6 was really Buffy pretty lost at sea, and Buffy being so lost at sea meant the show then had the tone it did, a little “lost at sea.”
Whedon certainly did this on Angel too (not afraide to shake up the status quo in a pretty dark way), and it was always quite welcome by me: I liked Season 4 of Angel, whereas many prefer 5. Any Cordelia fans that wanted her to be “just that same Cordelia from Buffy Season 1” were no doubt disapointed.
and -> constructive disagreement always welcome.
Very good, very nonspoilery Joss Whedon interview over at IGN: http://comics.ign.com/articles/769/769619p1.html
He also talks a little bit about Runaways