THE LAST STAND?
Fray is back, and so is Joss, in Buffy The Vampire Slayer season 12
the end is nigh! for over a decade, Dark Horse has been publishing the canonical continuation of Buffy The Vampire Slayer in comic book form, overseen (and occasionally written) by Joss Whedon himself. The company has released four “seasons” that take the Scoobies well into adulthood, but the time has come for a grand finale. While Dark Horse will continue to publish Buffy comics, the season format is being retired after this year’s season 12, penned by Whedon and Christos Gage, with art by long-time Buffyverse penciller, Georges Jeanty.
Gage tells us that Season 12: The Reckoning picks up after a year of calm for the Scoobies. “There have been no huge crises or Big Bads, so their personal lives have had time to progress in different ways. One of which results in Buffy holding a baby on that first issue cover...” Who that baby belongs to, however, is unanswered...
This calm doesn’t last, however, as demonic law firm Wolfram & Hart shows up and Buffy is swept up in a time warp that brings her face to face with Melaka Fray, 23rd century slayer. “We are going to see the massive final battle referred to in the original Fray comic [by Whedon and Karl Moline, published in 2001], where the forces of evil take down the Final Slayer, and it all ends with no more Slayers, demons or vampires for almost 200 years. You’ll get to see how it really goes down here...”
While The Reckoning is only four-issues long, Gage promises it will be an epic conclusion. “It’d be hard to top the cosmic-ness of season eight, but we’re going to try! Poor Georges. He brings it on himself by depicting everything that we can throw at him so beautifully!”
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Reckoning #1 is published on 20 June.