Season 8 Using comics to promote and cash-in on film and tel-
Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
evision properties is nothing new. Dark Shadows did it in the late 1960s and all manner of popular horror (Friday the 13th) and sci-fi franchises (Star Wars) have been ex- ploiting the tie-in market ever since. What is ground- breaking, however, is using the medium to officially continue the episodic run of a defunct TV series, as has been done with Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 (and the upcoming Season 9), with the show’s creator, Joss Whedon, overseeing every aspect of the comics’ produc- tion. “By the time I see the script, [Joss] has already done a
round of editing and he’s approved it,” says Scott Allie, head editor on the Buffy comics. “Every page of layout, every page of pencils, the colours and the letters all go by him. He’s most involved in the layout stage – he’ll comment a lot on the layout, a lit- tle bit on the pencils and usually not that much on the colours or the letters.” The change of medium allowed
Hellboy and Hideshi Hino
early ’80s, which brought a palpable horror feel to those issues. For anyone weaned on Adam West’s caped crusader and the Super Friends, this was a harrowing glimpse at the genuine Dark Knight, as he went up against the dreaded Mole, Man-Bat, mutated plant creatures, Doctor Death and even a Nosferatu-like vampire. Doug Moench’s scripts supplied the words, but it was Colan’s art that provided the nightmares. PC
Ghost Rider
Few comic heroes appear as frightening as Marvel’s motorcycle-riding demon, who looks as if he rode in straight from hell – or at least from the airbrushed art on the side of a boogie van. The Faustian character debuted in 1972 as a kind of updated Horseman of the Apoca- lypse who transformed each night from stunt- man Johnny Blaze into a leather-clad, flaming skeleton that slays his enemies with blasts of hellfire. Full of dark imagery and ’70s biker iconography, Ghost Rider remains a favourite of supernatural comic fans. PAUL C.
The Haunted Tank
You’ve heard of possessed cars, ghost planes and death ships, but DC’s inspired comic cross- breeding of the horror and war genres pro- duced one of the more unique supernatural characters of its time. Appearing in the anthol- ogy title G.I. Combat in 1961, the Haunted Tank was a World War II army vehicle commanded by Jeb Stuart that often received advanced (if sometimes cryptic) Nazi-busting advice from Jeb’s long-dead ancestor, a similarly named
Confederate general. Though a minor character, the Haunted Tank reappeared in a 2008 minis- eries under DC’s Vertigo imprint. PAUL C.
Hellboy
Comics writer/artist Mike Mignola hit genre gold in the mid-’90s with Hellboy, a hulking, cigar-chomping red demon raised by humans to help fight supernatural (often Lovecraftian) foes and occult-obsessed Nazis. Big Red quickly won over readers with his rebellious, wisecracking nature, and was eventually brought to the big screen by Guillermo del Toro. His cohorts at the Bureau for Paranormal Re- search got a free ride on his XL coattails and now have their own B.P.R.D. comic series. MSK
Hideshi Hino
No comic book artist/writer is as much at home with insects, sickness, slime and body horror as Japan’s Hideshi Hino. Tales such as “The Bug Boy,” “Living Corpse” and “Oninbo and the Bugs From Hell” (Cocoro Books/DH Publishing) showcase emotionally wounded, physically hideous loners in a cruel world. For decades, gore fans have celebrated him for writing and directing the ultra disgusting Guinea Pig horror movies, based on his manga. Gleefully gross. DA
Horror Hosts
They started as the unseen narrators of spooky radio shows, but horror hosts really came into their ghastly glory when the Old Witch, the Crypt Keeper and the Vault Keeper were intro-
the narrative to explore new terri- tory that would prove to be far too cost-prohibitive for TV, including a subplot that sees Buffy’s sister Dawn turned into an honest-to- goodness giant.
“You have an unlimited budget to approach any special
effects kinda stuff – we can sic Buffy against an army of demons, we can give Spike a spaceship, we can pull this stuff off stylistically however we want to,” says Allie. “And the soap opera nature of comics fits with the soap opera nature of Buffy, where the story continues over a long pe- riod of time, so you get to grow the characters without the detriment of actors aging.” But with the creative freedom came some new unex-
pected challenges. Allie explains: “We’re dealing with a lot of activity over a relatively short period of time, but with the TV show you get an hour a week for most of nine months, with the comic you get 22, 25 pages a month over four years.” That said, the series has been a success thus far and
plans for Season 9 are now in full swing. And since Dark Horse recently acquired the rights to the Angel spin-off property, Allie confirms this means the long- awaited re-introduction of Angel crossover stories into the Buffyverse. Exciting, indeed. MSK
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