Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel are coming back to comics. IDW’s TMNT gets new creative team. A Kickstarter for The Art of Daniel Warren Johnson has already met 10 times its goal.
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Episode Transcript:
Buffy and Angel come back to comics.
TMNT gets new creative team.
Daniel Warren Johnson Kickstarter goes big.
This is Comic Book Club News for July 24, 2025.
Buffy And Angel Come Back To Comics:
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.
Though there weren’t any further details about the creative team involved other than Thompson, and 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.”
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 Dynamite 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 recording time.
TMNT Gets New Creative Team:
Looks like Jason Aaron and Juan Ferrerya no longer love being a turtle, as Gene Luen Yang and Freddie E. Williams II will be taking over IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, starting with lucky issue number 13.
The news, which was first revealed over at THR, is a bit of a surprise as Aaron was responsible for the recent reboot that has found the Turtles split up across the globe, then returning to New York to battle a corrupt mayor and a mysterious resurgent Foot Clan. Ferrerya joined the title starting with TMNT #6. The team’s final issue will drop in September, followed by a short break, with Yang and Williams taking over in December.
Said Yang, “All of us from that corner of comics owe a huge debt to [TMNT creators] Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. Their talent and creativity, both as comics creators and as businessmen, carved out a path for the rest of us to follow. In fact, the very first comic I ever self-published was funded by a grant from Peter Laird’s Xeric Foundation.”
While Yang’s experience with the Turtles is relegated to watching the ’80s cartoon, reading the comics, and loving the action figures, Williams previously drew the Turtles in crossovers with Batman and Masters of the Universe, and will now take on Donatello, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Leonardo full time.
Given Aaron and Ferrerya have yet to finish out their run, not much is known about the upcoming storyline other than the Turtles are back together and ready to protect the city — when they run into a “deadly new assassin” named Ujigami. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is also launching a number of spinoffs over the next few months, including one focusing on arch-enemy Shredder, and another focusing on the man in the hockey mask. No, not Jason; Casey Jones.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #13 hits stores on December 10, 2025.
The Art Of Daniel Warren Johnson Kickstarter Snags Big Money:
Just launched, a Kickstarter for The Art of Daniel Warren Johnson has already snagged 10 times its goal, and it looks like it won’t be stopping any time soon.
Created alongside Flesk Productions, the book includes, per the Kickstarter, “his favorite comic-book covers and pages, along with rarely seen commissions and personal works, preliminaries and cover thumbnails. Full access was given to his personal sketchbooks, allowing for a deep look at over 200 sketches that are presented in a dynamic and exciting way.”
Over 288 pages of art and commentary hand-picked by DWJ, the Kickstarter also offers signed prints by Johnson, and likely more as it — as of this recording — has made $150,000 versus its stated goal of $15,000. The Kickstarter is open for pledging until August 14.
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And Thompson is really slaying, lately. Get it? You get it.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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