BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Boom! Studios takes custody of Buffy’s world – and sends her back to Sunnydale High
Sunnydale’s duster of the undead gets rebooted in the comic books.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s going back to school. Just as the new TV show will feature a teenage slayer, the new series from Boom! Studios (taking over the licence from Dark Horse) will go back to the Chosen One’s formative days at Sunnydale High. With Joss Whedon acting as story consultant, and Jordie Bellaire and Dan Mora handling scripting and art duties respectively, the monthly book is designed for both new and seasoned fans.
“This will absolutely be new-reader friendly, as we’re telling the story from the beginning, learning about Buffy’s world along with her,” says editor Jeanine Schaefer. “But for people who loved the original show, there’s so much that we’re going to be revisiting and putting a new spin on: ‘Do all the same people survive or die? Do the Big Bads function differently than they did before? How does the established era change the way familiar plots might shake out?’ These things play out as new, fully fleshed-out stories for new readers, but there’s another layer entirely for people who have been here the whole time, and I can’t say too much but there’s a pretty neat Easter egg to find that will make long time fans incredibly happy, and will open up an entirely new door for the established Buffy canon.”
new girl
And you can expect to see plenty of familiar Scoobies including Giles, Willow, Xander and Cordelia. “It’s fair to say that we’ll see a lot of the faces we saw in previous incarnations of Buffy,” reveals Bellaire. “My absolute favourite that I’ll be bringing into the fold as soon as possible is the wonderful, daring and demonic Anya.”
“Jordie and Dan are also creating a few new characters,” adds Schaefer. “The fun part in both cases will be seeing how the new and familiar get shuffled around, and you’ll be seeing that sooner than you think!”
“Buffy will face tangible opponents throughout the series,” says Bellaire. “But the few first issues will show that the main conflict she has to face is against herself, as she is often her own worst enemy.”
“If you look to the title of the first issue, ‘Welcome Back To The Hellmouth’, you can make some guesses as to who Buffy’s first opponent will be,” teases Schaefer. “What that Bad looks like is something else altogether, and you’ll see that on the last page, so I’m not giving anything away!” SJ
Buffy The Vampire Slayer #1 is out on 9 January.