The ever-shrinking world of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

By: Eric Moro
Date: Monday, June 18, 2001

Whether you agree with this statement or not, the world of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER is getting smaller by the minute. Sure, with each incarnation of the series' characters (animated, comic book adaptation, novelization, etc.) the franchise expands exponentially. However, series creator and executive producer Joss Whedon's increasing involvement with each new project insures that a tight leash remains affixed to the BUFFY mythos.

Perhaps the most recent project to receive Whedon's (and the rest of his Mutant Enemy writing staff's) attention is the recently revamped line of Dark Horse comics. This summer alone will bear witness to four BUFFY-related books two of which will be written by Whedon and a fifth anthology book out this winter.

'There's the BUFFY ongoing series,' says BUFFY editor Scott Allie. 'There's an Oz miniseries that's three issues long running through the middle of the summer. FRAY, which is eight issues and goes on for quite a while. We're re-launching ANGEL as just a four-issue miniseries and Joss is co-writing that and along the way we have a lot of collections and reprints coming out. In November, we have TALES OF THE SLAYER, which is entirely written by writers from the TV show (if you include Amber Benson who's the one actress from the show who's writing something for this) including Joss and some really big name comics artists: Craig Russell, Gene Colan, Tim Sale and some other guys.'

While Whedon's involvement in the above-mentioned projects not only provides for an instant fan base, it also provides for a fair amount of continuity policing a guarantee that the story being told falls in line with the creator's vision for the property. However, this was not always the case with Buffy's illustrious comic book career. Allie himself recalls a time when the stories being published weren't quite living up to the standard set by the popular television series.

'For a while, we weren't doing great comics because we didn't really know what the comics could or should be,' admits Allie. 'There was this really funny moment one day when we were doing this big conference call with [Fox and the Mutant Enemy team] and they were beating the crap out of me telling me that the comics had to be better. They said, 'You know what the comic should be like? It should be more like this comic HELLBOY. Do you know HELLBOY?' And I'm like, 'Yeah, I know HELLBOY.' Right then Mike Mignola [the writer of HELLBOY] walks into my office because I've been editing his book for like seven years. I put them on hold, tell Mike what happened, we crack up and when I get back on the phone, they weren't beating the crap out of me anymore. We just started going off in a different direction and ever since then the comics have been so much better and I'm really happy with what we've been doing.'

With a clearer image of what the comics should be, Allie set about re-invigorating the entire of line of books, the results of which are only now beginning to be felt.

'The best thing about the show is the way things evolve, characters change and things really happen to people,' says Allie. 'The best thing about working really closely with Joss is he's helped us to do a little bit more of that in the comic mess around with the characters just a little bit more. The results of that haven't really been seen yet because this is a very new development, but that evolution of the characters that you see in the show is going to be a little more apparent in the comics in the near future.'

FOR STARTERS...

First in line to feel the effects of this new BUFFY was the ongoing series. The creative team of Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe authors of the mystery novel BY THE BALLS: A BOWLING ALLEY MURDER MYSTERY were brought onboard to work their magic on the series. Attributing their ability to build characters through dialogue as the key to their appointment, the duo was a bit scared to affect any kind of serious change on the pre-established mythos.

'Tom and I had this fear coming into this because these are big characters,' says Pascoe. 'Everybody loves these characters; everybody knows these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon. We felt we had to be careful what situations we put them into. We found ourselves as storytellers very naturally coming up in some of our early pitches with secondary characters that we would then inevitably put in jeopardy. We heard from the creative team at 20th Century Fox loud and clear that the comics are about Joss's characters. They are about the gang we've come to know and love. In order for that story to really have a lot of piece to it, we really work hard to put these characters in jeopardy and change them significantly as long as we bring them back to an area that still stays consistent with the show.'

In their latest story arc, Fassbender and Pascoe will be exploring the most recent addition to the BUFFY cast the character of Dawn. Tentatively titled 'False Memories,' the tale will elaborate on and provide back story for the concept of Dawn as the Key (a source of mystical energy disguised as Buffy's never-before-seen teenage sister) in ways the series could not afford (time-wise) to do.

'It's a four-part series within the regular comic book,' says Fassbender. 'It's issues #35 through #38. Basically, this comes about at a time in the show's continuity where both Giles and Buffy know that Dawn has not always been Buffy's sister, but nobody else does. So Dawn starts coming up with memories and it's right after Riley has left Buffy and she's a little broken up about that. Dawn keeps coming up with these painful memories about Riley and about things Buffy now knows didn't happen and it's really starting to eat at her because she really can't talk to anybody about it but Giles.'

Adding to the mythology yet steering clear of continuity problems, stories of this nature help enhance the overall experience for fans of the show.

'This provides us with a really fun opportunity to take a look at the rather rich history of BUFFY that we know through five seasons of the episodes,' says Pascoe. 'We can look at some events that may be familiar to some of the fans of the TV show and tell them as if Dawn were there because that's the conceit of the show right now.'

While the duo is privy to each episode's script prior to its airdate, the final five minutes of the shocking season finale, which saw Buffy sacrifice herself for her 'sister,' was excluded from Fassbender and Pascoe's copy. As a result, a small amount of fine-tuning will be needed to bring their story arc to a fitting conclusion.

'It does give us more insight into the relationship that Buffy and Dawn have,' says Fassbender. 'Fox is real good about getting Dark Horse and then us the scripts, so we kind of know what's going on ahead of time. So it really isn't going to change the story that much, but the final five minutes of the show, which we hadn't been privy to, gave us a little more fodder that we didn't have before.'[IMG4L]

In terms of future story arcs, the duo remains tight-lipped. However, their enthusiasm for a particular upcoming issue one that involves all-out monster bashing can't help but shine through.

'We've got some things cooking up after the Dawn story that we can't talk a lot about,' says Pascoe. 'One that might be a little bit fun is we're going to be seeing probably just a single episode of pure out-and-out vampire fighting. Cliff Richards [the artist for the ongoing series] draws great fight scenes and we're going to let him go to town.'

DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST

It's no secret that Whedon is a huge fan of comics strange then that the creator never took a more active interest in the production of the BUFFY books. However, Allie helped to change all of that with a gift for the ultimate fanboy.

'Jeff Matsuda, who used to do a lot of covers for BUFFY, was a huge fan of the show,' says Allie. 'Every time he turned in a cover he would go, 'I want to do a comic with Joss.' I heard that there was this one particular Matsuda cover that Joss really liked so I had Jeff give it to me, we framed it with a big color print of the final version and we sent it to Joss as a gift from Jeff with a note saying, 'Write me a comic and let's do something.' That hasn't materialized yet, but I think that sort of paved the way toward Joss getting involved.'

And Whedon got involved in a big way. First up on the creator's list of projects is the eight-issue miniseries FRAY. Debuting in June, the story takes place in a future world that has essentially become a man-made hell, complete with vampires, demons and other supernatural threats lurking in the shadows. When the forces of darkness come calling, street urchin Melaka Fray is transformed into society's only salvation a futuristic slayer.

'Joss eventually called me and said, 'Hey, I want to do this Faith comic',' says Allie. 'He was throwing around ideas for a Faith comic and then said, 'Hey, why not make up a whole new character.' When we started working on FRAY, we were talking like once or twice a week and so other stuff came up. Then the idea for the TALES OF THE SLAYER book just kind of came up one day. '

Creativity sparks more creativity and soon Whedon found himself involved in a second project. Set for a November release, TALES OF THE SLAYER is an 88-page anthology-style one-shot featuring work from Whedon and other members of the Mutant Enemy team (including Amber Benson, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Rebecca Kirshner, and Doug Petrie). Each story will be illustrated by a different artist and feature a slayer from varying epochs.

If that weren't enough, the overworked creator volunteered to kick-start yet another comic book project one Whedon holds very close to his heart.

'In that meeting with Joss, we also started talking about ANGEL,' says Allie. 'He didn't like the direction the comic was going in. I didn't really know what we were doing with it. I thought we were being as faithful to the show as we could, but I didn't really know where it was going. Joss was like, 'Well, what if you made it totally unfaithful to the show? What if you made it really a comic book and nothing like the show?' I thought it was a great idea, but that it would be a little hard to jumpstart the title again. And he said, 'Well, what if I wrote it?'

Focusing on pyrotechnics, bizarre looking monsters, and special effects the likes of which would deplete an entire season's budget, the upcoming four-issue ANGEL miniseries (which will most likely launch several follow-up minis) is all about pulse-pounding action.

'The opening of the first issue is just amazing,' says Allie. 'Angel jumps off a roof onto the hood of a moving car, punches through the windshield, grabs the emergency brake and yanks it up, bringing the car to a halt. The two guys inside the car go flying through the windshield, smash against a brick wall and, of course, they're demons so c'est la vie. Try doing that on television you've just spent your whole budget!'

Known primarily as a film and television writer, Whedon has taken to the medium quite easily with FRAY and ANGEL perfect examples of his depth in comics writing.

'The writing Joss is doing on FRAY is really kind of introspective,' says Allie. 'It really gets into the character in great detail. You really get close to this character in a way that you can't do on television because you'd have all of this internal monologue that would be so boring. In FRAY, you really get to the heart of the character. With ANGEL, it's not the same thing. It's the same kind of storytelling as the show where you follow the characters through their actions and you don't get a lot of inner monologue, but you get so much more action then you could ever get on TV.'

AND THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING

With Whedon's involvement in the comic book franchise came the involvement of several other members of the Mutant Enemy writing staff. However, one did not necessarily lead to the other.

'I can't remember how this started, but I think somebody on the show mentioned that Doug Petrie really liked the comics and was interested in writing something,' recalls Allie. 'I called him up and he was really into Ryan Sook's work. He asked if he could do something with Ryan and I had a spot in the BUFFY annual a couple of years ago and so we did this little 16-page story featuring Oz and Buffy. That was the first time that I worked with a writer from the show.'

Soon Petrie's contributions became more frequent, with the writer penning a turning point issue of the monthly series, a graphic novel illustrated by Ryan Sook and a featurette in the upcoming TALES OF THE SLAYER. With the domino effect in full force, other writers from the series began contacting the book's editor.

'Another writer from the show, Jane Espenson, called me and we talked about stuff she'd like to do,' says Allie. 'She was the writer who wrote the 'Earshot' episode and she really liked the whole Jonathon conceit, so she wanted to do something else with him. In that episode, they wanted to have some Jonathon comic books as props so we slapped some together and gave them to the show. Jane called us up saying that it was cool to see those fake Jonathon covers and if we would be interested in doing an actual Jonathon comic. I said, 'Yeah, why not.' So we did this really good 26-page thing. She took to comics really well and right now she's doing a Faith miniseries for me that won't come out until sometime next year.'

While the concept for a Faith miniseries has been floating around for quite some time (with Whedon originally expressing an interest), Espenson is the writer to finally land the assignment. Illustrated by Richards, the series takes place right after the Sunnydale mayor's failed attempt at ascending to 'demonhood.' At this point in the show's history, Faith is in a coma. However, Allie assures that the character will play 'an interesting role' in the goings -on of the story (as will the mayor and Buffy) and her first comic book appearance will depict the character in 'a really weird way.'

Picking a favorite time period in the show's illustrious history is a prerequisite for any writer interested in penning a BUFFY comic. It then becomes that individual's responsibility to craft a tale that will enhance or elaborate on as opposed to rehash the established mythology. A perfect example of this can be found in the numerous stories that take place immediately after a particular season's finale, like Christopher Golden's upcoming Oz miniseries.

'The cool thing about taking a story and setting it immediately after the season finale is that every season when the BUFFY show starts up in September a lot has happened over the summer, but they don't really tell you everything,' says Allie. 'The Oz miniseries was just waiting to happen. Chris Golden called up and said, 'Hey, I want to do a story about what happens to Oz when he goes to Tibet to get control of the werewolf side of him.' We would have loved to have done an Oz story anyway, but the fact that there was this perfect story to be told was great.'

Fassbender and Pascoe, the team behind the ongoing series, also have their own upcoming assignment in the works. While still early in the creative process so early, in fact, that it has yet to be scheduled the working title of the rather unique project is CREATURES OF HABIT.

'We have something called a graphic story album,' says Fassbender. 'It's going to be similar in format to the ALIENS: TRIBES book. Its going to be a Buffy story that's more of a novella about 50,000 words or so that Jim and I are going to write and it's going to be drawn by Brian Horton and Paul Lee. There will be 18 full color oil paintings and black and white art throughout the story. Even though this is technically an illustrated story as opposed to a comic, we're working very closely with the artists to give the story a real organic feel between the work and the pictures.'