Buffy: The Animated Series Gives Us a Break from Our Usually Scheduled Season Eight

by Josh Roth @ 8:43 pm December 18th, 2008

A few months ago the spec pilot for Buffy: The Animated Series leaked onto the web, stirring interest in the dead project. Jeph Loeb, famed TV and Comic producer/writer, worked with Joss to bring Buffy back to our screens starting in 2001 and continuing through 2005. Most the cast were ready to reprise their roles (expect Sarah Michelle Gellar who was too busy making Japanese horror remakes and Scooby Doo), and many of the original series writers were on board. But surprisingly no network wanted to ‘risk’ picking up the series…well their loss and our eventual gain. This week’s Buffy comic is a small preview of what the series would have been like, and it is simply wonderful. Loeb is able to capture the charming nature of the first few seasons and spice it up with bits and pieces of Season Eight goodness. Nothing in this week’s comic really propels the overall season arc along…but that’s OK, because what it does offer is a delightful look into the realm of what could have (and what maybe someday will possibly) been.

Jeph Loeb is clearly a die hard Buffy fan, with a real love of the source material. His writing is truly reminiscent of classic Buffy, it really captures both the creature feature and high school aspects of the first few seasons, what really made the series unique. All the characters speak exactly as they did in the early years. Xander still has both eyes and skateboarding attitude, Willow is still wonderfully geeky and quiet, and Cordy is still a stuck up rich teenager. We know their future, making it that much more interesting to watch them develop, as Buffy herself mentions.

We start off in classic Season Eight style with Buffy returning from battle and collapsing in bed, which is all drawn by Georges Jeanty in his usually amazing style. And then we switch to the brilliant work of Eric Wight, who was to be the artist behind the animated series. Wight is a truly talented cartoonist, with the ability to create worlds in his own visionary style, much in the vein of the great Bruce Timm of DC cartoon fame. Each of Wight’s characters are clearly defined and look both highly stylized and like their live action counterparts. I’m incredibly impressed with Wight as an artist, and he really brought something to the table with Buffy. His vampires looked perfect, his demons were epic, and his action shots felt as if they were really in motion. An animated series with this artwork, the actors’ voices, and the staff’s writing would be utterly perfect.

Season Eight’s last few issues had quite a few delays, leaving me highly anxious for their release. Buffy #20 was worth every second of the wait, even though it was a break from the usual plot line. We didn’t get any new info about Twilight or the government, but it was a fun ride. This should serve as a new pitch for the animated series. We’re ready, the fan base is here, ready and willing to tune in to the show and I believe that we’ve gotten far enough from the finale of Buffy to have a new take on the material. If you’re even remotely a Buffy fan I highly recommend this latest issue of Season Eight.

Next up for Season Eight, Battlestar Galactica and Whedonverse veteran Jane Espenson returns to the Buffyverse. Harmony gets a reality show, making vampires famous and  the Slayers uncool. It hits store shelves on January 7th.