Once more, with feeling: Buffy the Vampire Slayer is coming back to comics, from Dynamite Entertainment and Disney’s 20th Television. And not only is Dynamite bringing back Buffy, but they’re launching a new Angel book as well… Both written by “master architect” Kelly Thompson.
“In my early days trying to figure out how to be a writer and what stories mattered to me and why — no heroine quite broke through for me like Buffy Summers,” said Thompson via a press release provided to Comic Book Club. “She was somehow everything my young geek heart had always wanted but hadn’t known to ask for. Something about that delicate alchemy of horror, fantasy, and comedy paired with a hero so pure of heart and yet flawed and relatable was… impossible to deny. I fell deeply in love with Buffy, and following that, her whole world. Her ex-boyfriend is now a supernatural detective in Los Angeles you say? Inject it directly into my veins! But unlike a lot of other worlds I loved, the world of Buffy and Angel somehow never fell to the wayside. I could always come back to it and find something new, or something I’d missed, or something I needed. And I hope this new story we’re telling can do the same for old and new fans everywhere.”
Though there weren’t any further details about the creative team involved other than artist David Nakayama providing covers for both titles, the two series will “interconnect and complement each other closely, for an epic introduction to the characters and franchise for new audiences as well as long-time readers.”
Added editor Nate Cosby, “There was one name on my wish list of writers for Buffy: Kelly Thompson. There was one name on my wish list of writers for Angel: Kelly Thompson. Her passion for these characters is second-to-none. The interweaving story she’s crafted for both books is going to knock everyone’s socks off.”
Following up on a cult classic movie, Buffy the Vampire Slayer reinvented television — no hyperbole, just truth — from 1997-2003, following the adventures of the titular vampire slayer and her cursed vampire love Angel, who got his own excellent spinoff following his time as a detective in LA.
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer is truly one of the crown jewels of modern television, and comics fans know that she’s more than made her mark in this medium as well,” said Nick Barrucci, Dynamite CEO and Publisher. “The genius mix of its small-town vibes with fantasy and horror, the seamless touches of humor, incredible strong female characters that we’ve been proud to always represent at Dynamite — it all works together for a perfect set of characters and framework for stories. Including Angel! Which we’re excited to contribute to and build for new and returning fans!”
Buffy comics have been published almost as long as the TV series has been running, starting with Dark Horse in 1998. Dark Horse released official, in-continuity tie-ins to the series, and even continued with further “seasons” of the show in comic book form, once Buffy concluded its run on UPN. In 2018, Dark Horse lost the license, which went to BOOM! Studios, who started publishing its own Buffy books in 2019. However, BOOM! also lost the license in 2024 leading to speculation that the license might go to Marvel — which is currently publishing multiple series with the 20th Century label on them, including Alien, Predator, and Planet of the Apes.
Nope! Dynamite has snagged the license to the franchise, in a true shocker, and will be publishing Buffy and Angel going forward, though no debut date has been announced at this time.
There is one more outstanding question about these series, though: how involved is Buffy creator Joss Whedon? His name doesn’t appear anywhere in the provided press release or a note sent to press from Barrucci effusing about the Eisner-Award-winning Thompson tackling the Slayer. Whedon has been involved in some fashion with the previous comics iterations, including writing multiple volumes of the Dark Horse series, and giving his “blessing” to the BOOM! iteration. However, after multiple long-standing accusations of abusive behavior on TV and movie sets, as well as sexual misconduct, Whedon went from Geek God to persona non grata. Even the upcoming Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot on Hulu has gone out of its way to not include Whedon in any step of the process.
So is Whedon involved at all in these comics? Likely: no. However, Comic Book Club has reached out to Dynamite to confirm whether Whedon is involved, creatively and/or financially, but did not hear back as of press time. In the meantime, you can check out a piece of art featuring Buffy by Nakayama.
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