Reinvention is a fundamental part of Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s DNA. The TV show that made the property a pop culture phenomenon was a reinvention of a cinematic bomb, and after the conclusion of the series, the characters lived on for years in comic books. Twenty years after the height of the TV series’ popularity, the nostalgia wave is hitting Buffy The Vampire Slayer (BTVS) hard, with a potential TV reboot in the works and a new comic book that offers an updated take on the original high school years of Buffy, Willow, Xander, and the rest of the Scooby Gang.
With the Buffy license’s jump from Dark Horse Comics to Boom! Studios, there’s a new opportunity to redefine BTVS in comics. The approach for the Boom! BTVS series is akin to what Marvel did with its Ultimate line, holding on to fundamental aspects of the characters and concept while making changes that modernize the property for a new generation of readers and give longtime fans a fresh interpretation. Written by Jordie Bellaire with art by Dan Mora, colorist Raúl Angulo, and letterer Ed Dukeshire, BTVS is very familiar but gains new layers of complexity and intrigue thanks to significant alterations to the narrative. The emotional core of the series is still the relationship between Buffy and her friends, but Bellaire, working closely with editor Jeanine Schaefer, has redefined characters so that they begin with the extra dimensions they gained later in the series.
It took Willow four seasons to accept her queer sexuality in the TV show, but in the new comic, she has a girlfriend from the very beginning. Xander’s insecurity is pushed to the forefront of his character, and in a clever move, Bellaire has the series’ everyman narrate the first two issues to provide a more grounded perspective on these fantastic circumstances. Buffy’s home situation is complicated by her mom’s boyfriend living with them for a year, creating extra tension and bringing out more of Buffy’s teenage petulance. Her main father figure replacement, Giles, whips out his guitar in this month’s issue, introducing an element of his out-of-school life so that he’s not relegated to the stodgy librarian role.
The big bad of BTVS season one, The Master, is nowhere to be seen, replaced by a new Mistress, Drusilla, who has full control of her mental faculties and is presented as a stylish vampire in the vein of Lady Gaga’s American Horror Story: Hotel character. She’s still paired with Spike, and Bellaire recognizes that these two characters drastically elevated the series when they debuted in the second season, so why not have them around from the very beginning? The same goes for the beloved vengeance demon, Anya, who owns Sunnydale’s magic shop and has been alive since at least 500 BCE.
A lot of characters are entering the story earlier on, making the book feel like even more of an ensemble piece. The most notable absence is Buffy’s vampire paramour, which creates anticipation for his inevitable arrival. Will he be Angel, the brooding vampire with a soul Buffy falls in love with, or Angelus, the soulless mass murderer who terrorizes Buffy and her friends? While we wait to find out, Buffy gains a new potential love interest in Robin Wood, who was introduced in the TV show’s final season as the principal of Sunnydale High. He’s de-aged here to be one of Buffy’s classmates, a track star impressed by her beauty, wit, and superhuman athleticism. The addition of Robin also helps to remedy BTVS’ diversity issue, and while he’s still the token POC at this point, at least the cast isn’t entirely white anymore.
Bellaire started in comics as a prolific colorist, earning Eisner Awards in 2014 and 2016 for coloring a whopping 11 books in each year. Her first ongoing writing project, Image Comics’ Redlands, garnered another Eisner nomination for Best New Series last year, boosting Bellaire’s profile and making her an ideal writer for BTVS thanks to the book’s focus on horror-based female empowerment. Bellaire’s passion for this property shines through in the specificity of the character’s voices, and her dialogue is often laugh-out-loud funny. BTVS #3 is full of hilarious moments like Harmony asking if the giant talking bat escaped from the zoo, Spike lamenting the sound of Giles butchering a classic English song, and Buffy not knowing which part of Giles’ broken guitar she’s handing back to him.
One of the most challenging aspects of comics based on live-action properties is nailing actor likenesses while still imbuing characters with a sense of vitality. Dan Mora is a rare talent in this regard, drawing spot-on likenesses that make the series stand out in an era of constant reboots and revivals. Even with advanced CGI de-aging technology, you can’t do a live-action high school-era reboot of BTVS with the same actors playing their teenage selves without it being incredibly awkward, but this comic makes that idea possible with depictions that clearly read as those individual performers.
Dan Mora is a superstar artist who has surprisingly steered clear of working for Marvel and DC with the exception of covers, staying loyal to Boom! as the interior artist on Hexed, Klaus, and Go Go Power Rangers. His work on Klaus is astounding, and the annual Klaus holiday specials consistently reveal new facets of his talent as writer Grant Morrison gives him increasingly outrageous and ambitious stories to draw and color. Go Go Power Rangers honed his ability to draw convincing teenagers as it focused on the high school drama of the superheroes, and established his creative relationship with colorist Raúl Angulo, who matches the detail of Mora’s linework in his rendering while adding intensity to the page with bold palettes.
The opening nightmare sequence of last month’s issue #2 showed off how this art team switches up the visuals to enhance story beats, with Mora making his linework scratchier and Angulo pumping up the hot colors to create an infernal atmosphere for Buffy’s disturbing dream. BTVS #3 is the series’ first big action extravaganza, taking advantage of the unlimited budget of comics as it pits Buffy against a huge bat-monster wreaking havoc as it hunts vampires on the streets of Sunnydale. Angulo makes teal the predominant color for backgrounds, so the bright red bat pops on the page, and strings of lights add an extra graphic element that creates a stronger sense of motion on the page.
Willow and Xander show up toward the end of the fight to save Buffy from Drusilla, appearing in a dramatic panel that showcases their badass battle outfits. Willow looks a lot like Hack/Slash’s Cassie Hack in her monster-fighting clothes, and the general shift in her fashion says a lot about the change in her personality. In response to a reader letter in last month’s issue, Schaefer addressed Willow’s new style by explaining that 2019 Willow has access to a network of online peers who help her process her personal issues earlier in life, so her look has changed to reflect this self-assuredness. She’s more confident and outgoing in this series, fully embracing her queer sexuality, aggressively pursuing her interest in witchcraft, and playing a more active part in her school’s social dynamics by running for class president against Cordelia.
Sunnydale High’s resident mean girl has also undergone a significant personality makeover, presenting herself as a chipper friend to all until she finally breaks at the end of this issue, unable to keep up her nice facade when confronted with all the overwhelming weirdness. Cordelia is also the voice of each issue’s opening recap, which adds personality to the summaries while establishing Cordelia as the school’s big gossip. She’s keeping a close eye on everything, including Xander’s depressing blog, and that high level of engagement actually makes her a pretty great candidate for class president.
Michelle Ankley deserves recognition for giving the book a distinct publication design, starting with a recap/credits page colored with vibrant pink and purple and adorned with an image of a spell book, smartphone, and lipstick that showcases the combination of the mystical and mundane at the core of the property. The letter’s column for each issue is presented as the website for the Sunnydale High newspaper, complete with daily school bulletins teasing future events for the series.
The cover design for this series is also very striking. The main covers by Matt Taylor are outfitted with the signature BTVS logo, but Kevin Wada’s portrait variants replace the logo with the specific character’s name. The “Chosen One” variants spotlight slayers of the past, presenting the location and time period alongside evocative images that hopefully foreshadow the appearances of these women within the book’s narrative. This BTVS revival reveals how much potential this concept still has in a modern context, and the creative team has laid fertile ground to continue growing the property in surprising, engrossing ways.
71 Comments
I’ve really been enjoying this so far. I was a huge fan of the series. I really like the new approach to the characters. I’m wondering if/how they’ll approach the Angel thing though. At a certain point you have to admit the 240 year old guy dating a 16 year old is kinda creepy.
At the end of the day, he was always the responsible one and left her for LA. …Very sunny LA. In a convertible.
So who is he supposed to date? Dig up Buffy’s great-great-great-great-grandmother?
Well the rule is half your age +7 so anyone over 127. There have to be any number of supernatural beings who fit that.But more realistically, certainly “someone in their twenties” at least, would be reasonable.
What about just not a teenager? I don’t know for you but if I was someone who had over 200 years of life experience, I think I’d like to date someone with some life experience themselves, some advanced educatiob, and who knows where they are going with their life. Not some boring lovestruck teenager. And yes, that is a complaint I have for all YA vampire romance. It’s even stupider when the vampire goes to high school as well – what the hell are you gonna learn there that you don’t already know?
Maybe only the living should date.
or an 18 year old
Sure, if she’s hot. Or I don’t know, at the very least wait till she’s 18.
Except it repeatedly also showed that a lot of the vampires are at least partially trapped in the social constructs of their pre-vampire life. 16 is *old* for a relationship considering when Angel grew up. Someone of his stature and breeding would have likely been married to an 11-13 year old to cement some sort of family deal. He never saw 16 as a hindrance because he saw her as adult (adults can be just as immature and petulant as Buffy was most of the time in their relationship… especially people of high birth who were traditionally fairly stunted in the maturity department anyway because of privilege).
I always figured part of what drew him to Buffy was the very familiarity her relationship had and the way it grounded him in a time before he lost his soul. He hangs out with these kids because..well, they’re kind of the exact kind of maturity level he hung out with when he was human.
He once (according to the Buffyverse Wiki) called noblewomen of his generation (while he was human I think) “incredibly dull, simpering morons” which… for much of the run of Buffy when he was on it could rightfully be applied to the behavior of Buffy at times.
It…kind of made sense. Also remember that he seems to have been a pretty emotionally stunted man when he was human, and is dealing with extreme mental damage from his life as a vampire.
Well said. It’s nice to find another fan!
But if you’re a vampire you’re kind of immortal so you’re stuck at the age at which you were turned. So if Angel was 21 then it’d be like a 21 year-old dating a 16 year-old. I’m also really loving the book.
Not only is it creepy, it never made much sense to me. I’m only 30 and I cannot see myself ever dating a teenager – I’d be bored out of my mind and couldn’t deal with the immaturity. So why the hell would someone who has over 200 more years of life experience than me want to date a teenager?
Hell I think it’s weird one or two years out of high school. You grow so much as a person those first few years out of high school (college or not).
Totally! You’d think a vampire would like someone who has their life more or less in order, so someone who has a career, even if only the start of one. It’s even worse for me when the vampire actually goes to high school, as in Twilight. What the hell is a 200 years old vampire gonna learn in a high school? College I can see , especially for graduate degrees. If I was hundreds of years old and as rich as vampires tend to be, I’d totally have a bunch of Masters and Doctorates. But high school?
I think they are jumping the gun a little by making Spike a little too much like Angel this early on.He was always the fun evil one before he got REALLY hung up on Buffy.
“A BEAR. You made a BEAR.”“I didn’t mean to.”“UNDO IT! UNDO IT!”
“Don’t I get a cookie?”“No.”
I liked Spike as an antagonist. He worked well as a fun villain without being a big bad so I enjoyed it whenever he showed up. Until he wasn’t and then I liked him a lot less.Xander I never liked even a little bit. He should’ve died instead of Anya. Which has nothing to do with your post but I just wanted to say it.
Disagree. I’m dropping out after issue three. It’s incredibly choppy and a frankly bizarre interpretation of the characters and premise. It’s lacking all the snappy dialogue, the friendship, the use of monster stuff as an exploration for growing up, the horror, the action. It’s like someone had a weird dream full of non sequiturs about Buffy and scribbled it down in their journal.
Love the changes they’ve made, especially bringing in Spike early. Though I can kinda see how Angel’s debut will go down: Spike will be Drusilla’s mole and poison Angel against the Scoobies only for them to realize too late that made a big mistake trusting Spike.
Eh, this became a pass for me. They’ve changed the core of so many characters. Cordelia, Anya and Dru are especially terrible. If you aren’t making them better, why change them?
These changes are especially jarring since the characters all look like the actors who played them. Compliments to the artist, of course, but it make this story that much harder to separate from the TV series. I’d almost rather they were drawn like the latter issues of the Dark Horse comics, a little looser with the likeness.
I’m not feeling the art personally. Looks too traced for me
As someone above mentioned, Willow’s update works because her prime characteristics are now considered socially ‘cool’.Cordelia’s change is jarring and a major misstep. On the show, her lack of tact was both hilarious *and* served as the show’s Greek Chorus. Plus, her shady comments helped bring levity into serious situations. Taking that away just makes Cordy a generic Nice Girl – and both Buffy and Willow already fill that role.Granted, Cordelia’s outburst at the end of Issue 3 may change things. But if that is so, why spend the first three issues spinning their wheels with that characterization?Plus, considering we knew the least about Cordy’s family, it would’ve been a great opportunity to make her Latinx. ‘Riverdale’ successfully did it with Veronica Lodge.And if they were determined to make Cordy ‘nice’, they should’ve kept Anya high school aged and made *her* the mean girl/Greek chorus. I think making Anya (theoretically) older than the core group is bad move.
Am I the only one who realized Cordelia’s sunny demeanor was supposed to be fake as fuck and completely transparent from the first issue?
“Am I the only one who realized Cordelia’s sunny demeanor was supposed to be fake as fuck…?”Possibly?I mean, it did cross my mind (since it is *Cordelia* we’re referencing) during my initial reading. But, if so, the writer’s attempt to show she’s being fake isn’t entirely convincing (IMO, of course).And that, if it is supposed to be the intention, is a failure in the writing. But then, I’m reading Cordelia via the delivery of Original Recipe – whose pre-Angel Investigations attempts at niceness were *supposed* to be transparent. But if this is supposed to be ORC, then shouldn’t we have already been rewarded with an aside that made her intent clear? Because that outburst at the end of Issue 3…just isn’t cutting it.And that this seems unclear to the folks here remarking on it is…not good. :-/
Obviously it’s not supposed to be Cordelia exactly as she was in the show. But there was definitely a fake veneer to the niceness that was obvious from the beginning. I mean, come on, that whole conversation with Willow about the class election? That was pure passive-aggressiveness. It was very clear.
Your tone seems very pointed right now.
Uh
I can definitely understand your feelings about those three characters in particular. I’ve been warming up to these reinterpretations, though. I particularly appreciate that they ditched Cordelia’s mean girl act this time around – this version actually feels like a much better fit for how the original Cordie ended up in Angel (and I was also glad to see she still has some edge to her in this issue). This version also makes more sense with the times – overt bullying is a lot more frowned upon these days than it was in the 90s, and a savvy social climber like Cordelia would be better served with the aggressively positive, carefully curated image that social media tends to promote.Anya seems a lot more world weary, which I think fits a lot better for her background (the original character’s peppy cluelessness was entertaining, but didn’t fit at all with how she’d been in her first few episodes). As for Drusilla… at first I felt like this isn’t her at all, but rewatching some of the original episodes has led me to think that this Dru is actually very much like the original… in those rare moments that the original was lucid. “Cutesy, creepy, and crazy” got way too much use in the 90s and 00s, it was a trope that made for fairly one dimensional characters (and did very little to help people’s understanding of real world mental illness). YMMV, naturally. But I’m coming to appreciate these versions of the characters more and more.
A lot of what you say makes sense, but do you think overt bullying is really less popular now? It’s talked about more maybe, but still, I’m not really convinced.
I completely understand your skepticism! And while I don’t think that bullying is anywhere close to going away, it’s something that my undergraduate students regularly say was a much more anonymous thing when they were in high school. They’ve told me that being seen as a bully (physical or emotional) means you’re going to be shunned by most other students, and that teachers will very quickly intervene if they suspect anything is going on. The change isn’t all done out of compassion, mind you. A lot of it stems from fears about school shootings, that if you let kids pick on each other too much then you run the risk of one of them snapping.All of this is anecdotal, of course. Plus I teach in New England nowadays, but I began my teaching career in Iowa and Nebraska, so the differences that I’m encountering probably have plenty of variations depending on community. But even if it’s more of a perception thing than reality, I still think it helps put the change to Cordelia’s character make sense. And since the third issue seems to be setting up Cordie to still be at odds with Buffy and her friends, I think it makes for a much more interesting take. It’s easy when the villain is a mean girl, but what do you do when she’s actually very nice and charming?
oops, did not see this until now. That’s interesting you’ve seen that change firsthand, or at least secondhand. And good also, despite the motives. It’s weird because Cordelia was, at least on Buffy if not Angel, always one of my faves just because I found her compelling I guess, so I’m apprehensive about changes. She was also a fairly abstract and unknown character to me, but I probably chalked that up to the social differences between high school through the lens of girls and boys and America vs Australia and technically not even being in high school when I watched Buffy but middle school. Also, I can’t really comment on these changes because I haven’t read the comic but it’s cool to hear how they’re doing it.
With Joss Whedon toxic these days I figured it was only a matter of time before Buffy “reboots” would hit, now people can still vocally enjoy BTVS without his imprint!
I mean, his name is splashed across the cover of every issue.
Surprise! She’s still white
A lot of these changes sound great. The ones that seem a little off are student Robin Wood (he was a breath of fresh air because of how different he was from the other principals) and how Willow looks like a generic heroine in her Hot Topic battle stance above, despite the changes making sense in the description.But an adaptation with any well-thought changes is super interesting to me. Thanks for this review.
That’s actually the first time Willow’s done anything remotely aggressive so far. As for the Hot Topic look, though… yeah, that’s definitely fair. Though her girlfriend makes her look downright tame in comparison:
That works with my conception of Original Willow. She’s still Goth styling. but she has a sweater.I wonder how they’ll handle Vamp or Dark Willow with her already starting out dressing in dark colors?
Going by that panel, they haven’t ditched the “unrequited love” aspect of Xander and Willow’s relationship.
Possibly. But the narration that Xander supplies throughout the issue seems to say that he’s more feeling lonely and isolated. So I think it’s more of a “Rose stole my childhood friend” than “Rose stole my secret love interest.” But it’s certainly possible that it’s the latter.
Ow, my feels!
Why sidecuts aren’t a capital offence yet is beyond me.
Kids these days with their hairdos and vaping…
-the lesbionics are neat though, let’s have some more of that!
I’m not a proper old, I find sidecuts weirdly endearing!
Sweet! Ultimate Buffy.Also, it definitely makes sense that Willow is more outgoing and socially active here, since a lot of the things that made her an insecure geek in the 90s are a lot more acceptable nowadays and would probably make her one of the more popular kids. That’s one of the neat thing about Ultimate reboots. Updating the characters to fit with the times.
Very glad to see this get some attention! I stumbled across this completely by accident and was surprised that I hadn’t heard anything about it before.It’s not perfect by any means (the pacing dragged a bit in the first two issues, and a lot of the emotional weight of some key moments felt oddly muted), but I’m constantly impressed by how delicately the comic balances between staying true to the original characters while also making them feel genuinely different and at home in their updated setting. I’m already feeling very impatient for the next issue!
Why does Xander have wings?
Not Xander’s – they belong to the Bat standing behind Xander – you can see the head behind one of the shoulders.
One thing this update hasn’t changed–and absolutely nails–is the Buffy/Giles dynamic. It’s great to see again. I do wish Tara could have been Willow’s girlfriend instead though. And I still can’t stand Xander.
Considering how Willow’s girlfriend only had about 3 panels of screetime so far, all in issue 2, despite being the girlfriend of one of there main characters, I’m not expecting her to live long. I would not be surprised if she got turned into a vampire early on.
Oh, that’ll go over well.
Oh yeah, I fully expect it to piss off a lot of people. But I’ve been burned by Buffy comics before, so I do not see them avoiding that road just because it will piss off people. That said, if she is turned into a vampire and not killed, instead becoming a fun recurring bad guy, that might go over better. Maybe.
Spike was always my favorite character. Having him around from the beginning is great.
I always rooted for him over Angel.
Me too. The defining characteristic for me was that as a demon Spike made the choice to get his soul back and Angel was cursed.
I’ve always thought it would have been such a bold move if the show had had the balls to have the Shun Su prophecy end up being about Spike instead, it could have been a really great arc both of them.
Just wanted to thank you for the review, I’d read the first issue but wasn’t sure about bothering with the rest of it, but you persuaded me to give it a shot and I’m really enjoying it.
Out of interest though (and not being snarky at all), but does the AV Club ever publish negative reviews of comics these days? I’m sure they must do, I just can’t remember the last time I read one.
It’s “fazed”, not “phased”.
I was skeptical when this series was announced, but I do like it a lot. I do have one major complaint though – it’s too overstuffed. There are too many characters and plot in each issue, we barely have time to get to know anybody. Willow’s girlfriend feels like she should be an important characte, yet we don’t see her until issue 2 and then only for a couple of panels. I hope they dial back on the individual vignettes and let the core characters breathe more. Can’t wait for issue 3!
I would love to read these — I adore the stories! — but how can you guys afford to read comics? I read all the Y: The Last Man trade books when they came out, but each one cost like $17 and took me a half hour to read. This isn’t snark; it’s a genuine question from someone who’d love to read more comics but has never been able to afford it.
So they took all of the character growth of an entire series and tried to mash it all in at the very beginning?
What an incredible job of nailing the actors’ likenesses while imbuing them with visible new characteristics. I had no idea this was going on, but I am stoked.
I thought this was a terrible idea when i’d heard it.And now i’m swayed to the other side. Will order tpb when available!
good point about the likenesses – Mora’s done a great job. Getting them right without looking like stiff tracings is very tough.
Yeah, I’m talking about you, Marvel Star Wars comics….
For the most part, definitely. But the variant covers are hit and miss – that Cordelia cover up there definitely looks like ‘Photoshopped red carpet head on a drawn body.’
yeah, thats fair. Makes me appreciate Mora even uh, more…
I think the attempt completely fails for Buffy, however. She is a lot harder to capture properly.
i liked the “Bat boy lets dance” panel.
I like everything I hear *except* Dru. Eccentric madwoman loligoth Dru hit some particular necgray buttons. Her and Faith both. ……… Might be time for a series binge again….
There must be 10 different covers for each issue – it’s crazy stupid.
I fell out of following the comics awhile ago… It was after the magic seed was destroyed and the new magic rulebook was being written. I tried following it but it seemed obvious they didn’t really have any actual direction in mind and were spinning wheels for several trade paperbacks so I kinda drifted away from it.This might be fun. I’ve been noticing Boom Comics seem to be an up and coming line…
I am really enjoying the series so far. I was a bit surprised but I enjoy the tone. I wish there were more out. Are they coming out weekly or monthly?
Typo: you left out the word “Slayer” in the intro:
This week, it is Buffy The Vampire #3. Written by Jordie Bellaire