Even though the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series ended in 2003, we’re finally getting a glimpse at what happens after Dawn asks that fateful series ending question, “What are we gonna do now?” Creator Joss Whedon is releasing the comic book Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Long Way Home that is effectively the eighth season of the TV show. Whedon talks with TV Guide about the series, including details like the lack of comic book breast implants for Buffy and why we won’t see much of Spike in the comic book (doh). You can also check out the Dark Horse Comics site for a sneak peek at the first five or six pages of issue #1.
Despite being a geek, I’ve never really been a comic book geek (except for a brief foray into the G.I. Joe comic books around the time when Destro broke ranks with Cobra to form his own terrorist organization). But this is probably the strongest temptation I’ve ever felt to get into comic books.
So how do you become a comic book geek?
Seriously, how do you do it? Do I have to visit a comic book store every time an issue comes out to buy one (how terribly old fashioned)? Can you subscribe to a comic book like you can a magazine? And can I just read it online? I have no real interest in owning the entire 25-30 issues, but I’d love to read the stories and see what kind of plot lines Whedon comes up with. And no free-loading, I’d be happy to pay for PDF versions or something. I just don’t need another physical thing to collect.
Geek me up!
(And why do I even have to ask these questions? I know comic books have a geek rep to maintain, but shouldn’t it be easier for a newbie to come on board? Sigh. Yet again, it seems I think I know more than everybody else.)
Why make it a geek issue? I’ve bought all my Dark Horse comic books through Amazon.com.
And yes, I own three books, with a fourth on the way. ;-)
Ah, but can I subscribe on Amazon? No sense buying one comic at a time (when shipping will cost more than the comic book itself).
Plus it’s not showing up on Amazon yet.
My full experience with comic books boils down to reading three or four collections after the monthly run is done and they’ve been put into a bound book. Of those, there are only two that I recommend to casual comic people like myself.
The first is The Dark Knight Returns, which is Frank Miller’s Batman series. It’s pretty good, though it helps if you already like Batman. With the success of 300 and Sin City, there are new rumors that Warner Bros. is interested in turning the comic into a movie.
The other is Watchmen by Allen Moore, and this is the one I’d say anybody, even non-comic fans, could read and enjoy.
I’ve never been too interested in the serial comic books like the Buffy one you’re talking about, but if you wait until the whole series is done, I’m sure it’ll be released in a complete collection.
Wait until it’s done? Oh, but I want it now.
;-)