Kelly Thompson & Stephen Byrne Take The Helm On ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’
by Erik Amaya
Buffy Summers’ return to comics comes with a stellar creative team.
Dynamite announced Thursday that writer Kelly Thompson and artist Stephen Byrne will take the reins on its forthcoming Buffy The Vampire Slayer series. The new era for Buffy begins July 27th.
While Thompson and Dynamite are keeping details of the plot close to the vest, the company teased some of what will transpire in the oversized premiere issue: “[It] kicks off an event story that draws in the cast of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. Fans can expect to see all their favorite characters from both shows racing to deal with this wild new development in Sunnydale. Emotions are running high, and of course there’s a mythic new villain on the scene. It just wouldn’t be Sunnydale without some big bad trying to destroy the world in the midst of a personal crisis.”
The inciting incident takes place at “a pivotal point in the character’s chronology” and include “the comics debut of a beloved Buffy character and a massive twist that will shake the faithful fandom to the core.” Judging from the character renderings below, it seems the story will take place after Dawn Summers and Tara Maclay become part of the Scooby Gang, but will also see a return to Sunnydale for Angel and Cordelia Chase.
“Buffy Summers is, in my opinion, one of the best modern heroes of science-fiction/fantasy,” Thompson said in a statement. “The show was wildly inspirational for a young Kelly, and like so many things that feel very lucky in my life, I’m not sure I’m a writer today without encountering Buffy at the right moment. This idea for Buffy has been sitting with me for a long time — and so when the chance to grab both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel came along, I couldn’t resist trying it. I hope you guys will enjoy the ride — it comes from a place of deep love for the franchise — and I’ll try my best to be worthy of it.”
Byrne added, “I’ve been a lifelong Buffyverse obsessive and I’ve got the VHS boxsets and DVDs to prove it. Working on this comic with such a phenomenal writer is a surreal dream come true, and I still can’t quite believe it. I can’t wait for fans to see what Kelly has planned.”
Rounding out the creative team are colorist Lee Loughridge and letterer Jeff Eckleberry. Supporting the debut issue are covers from David Nakayama, Amanda Conner, Joshua “Sway” Swaby, and Juliet Nneka. Additionally, Dynamite is remastering the first ever Buffy comic cover from 1998 by Arthur Adams. Take a gander at the covers and character concept art here:
Die-hard Buffy fans can also opt into the issue’s blind bag program, which will feature “three premium variant covers for the book selected randomly from a range of logo-less editions, line art presentations of art, and wholly original artwork exclusive to this offering including covers by Byrne, Declan Shalvey, and more icon covers by the likes of J. Scott Campbell.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 arrives in stores on July 27th.
