While many comic books based on the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer were published when the television show was on air they are not all considered canonical and often deal with characters who do not appear in the television series, most notably in the Tales of the Slayers and Tales of the Vampires mini-series.
The first series of books were published by Dark Horse Comics between 1998 and 2004, originally in comic format but then gathered into volumes of trade paperbacks. A small number of Buffy comics have not been included in trade paperbacks, such as the books entitled "Giles", "Jonathan", and "Reunion".
Following the television series finale, Dark Horse began releasing new books titled Season Eight, Nine, and Ten, and various spin-offs, which are written and/or supervised by creator Joss Whedon and officially recognized as canon to the show. In 2007, Dark Horse allowed the rights to produce the comics for Buffy's companion show Angel to lapse, and they were picked up for a short time by IDW Publishing, which released the canon series Angel: After the Fall among other non-canon titles. Dark Horse reacquired the rights in 2010 and went on to release the series Angel & Faith and Angel.
In 2018 it was announced after 20 years at Dark Horse Comics, the license for Buffy and all related material will transfer to Boom! Studios.[1] The first issue of the reboot series was released in January 2019.
Buffy comics have a long history, with comics produced during the lifetime of the run of the show generally considered "non-canonical", with notable exceptions written by Joss Whedon himself. Buffy comic books published during the period 2007–2018 told the "official" continuation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with series creator Joss Whedon acting as the primary writer and working with other writers from the television series writers room to continue Buffy's story.
Pre-2007
In common with most ancillary media for TV shows such as novels and video games, storylines for the original Dark Horse comic books that aired during the original run of the show were "approved" by both Fox and Joss Whedon as part of a wider wave of Buffy merchandise. Stories in the original issues 1–63 for example of the Buffy comics were published while the show was on air and purported to take place "between episode"s of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, but remained difficult to place definitively other than the season they are set in. However, plot elements or character details introduced within these stories would not be followed by episodes of the TV show. Other later storylines in this era of the comics attempted to fill in the gaps following character exits in the show (as with the Oz comic) or during the time between seasons five and six (as with the The Death of Buffy) without introducing information that could be contradicted by the show's official storyline.
Buffy creator Joss Whedon distanced himself from these ancillary media written by authors,[2] on a number of occasions, saying:
Canon is key, as is continuity.. I believe there's a demarcation between the creation and ancillary creations by different people. I'm all for that stuff, just like fanfic, but I like to know what's there's an absolutely official story-so-far, especially when something changes mediums, which my stuff seems to do a lot.[3]
During this era, several "canonical" Buffy comics were also published with Whedon's close involvement. These began with Whedon writing the far-future comic book Fray (2001–2003) about a Slayer many generations after Buffy, which introduced plot elements that also appeared in the seventh season of the TV series. Whedon and other writers from the show also wrote for the Tales of the Slayers and Tales of the Vampires (2002–2004) anthology stories about past vampires and Slayers before Buffy's time.
From 2019, the Buffy license was transferred to BOOM! Studios, which presided over its own run of explicitly non-canon stories set in an alternative universe from 2019 to 2023.
Dark Horse Comics (1998–2018)
Pre-Season Eight Stories
These stories are first published by Dark Horse comics, later most of Buffy stories are collected in Buffy comic books.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eleven is the sequel to the Season Ten comic book series, a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Buffy & Angel consist of only 12 issues per series, a much shorter run than the previous seasons, while the miniseries, Giles, runs for 4 issues. The series was published by Dark Horse Comics and began on November 23, 2016.[8]
The series was concluded with Season Twelve which began on June 20, 2018 and concluded on September 19, 2018.
In 2019, a new Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book series was released by Boom! Studios; this version of the series is a reboot with no continuity to the television series or previous comics. Despite being set in an alternate modern-day continuity, the likenesses of the series' actors are still used to represent their respective characters.
Main series (2019–)
#
Title
Writer(s)
Artist(s)
Release Date
Reprinted in
1–4
High School is Hell
(4 episodes)
Jordie Bellaire
Dan Mora
January 9, 2019 February 13, 2019 March 13, 2019 April 17, 2019
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: High School is Hell
5–8
Once Bitten
(4 episodes)
David López
June 5, 2019 July 3, 2019 August 7, 2019 September 4, 2019
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Once Bitten
9–12
From Beneath You
(4 episodes)
November 13, 2019 December 4, 2019 January 1, 2020 February 5, 2020
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: From Beneath You
13–16
Frenemies
(4 episodes)
Rosemary Valero-O'Connell
March 4, 2020
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Frenemies
Julian López with Moisés Hildalgo
May 20, 2020
Ramon Bachs
July 1, 2020 August 5, 2020
17–20
The Biggest Bad
(4 episodes)
Jordie Bellaire & Jeremy Lambert
David López
September 2, 2020
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Biggest Bad
Ramon Bachs
October 7, 2020 November 4, 2020
21–22
Secrets of the Slayer
(2 episodes)
Andrés Genolet
January 6, 2021
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Secrets of the Slayer
Ramon Bachs
February 3, 2021
23–26
The World Without Shrimp
(4 episodes)
March 3, 2021 April 7, 2021 May 5, 2021
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The World Without Shrimp
Jeremy Lambert
Marianna Ignazzi
June 2, 2021
27–28
A Rainbow upon Her Head
(2 episodes)
Carmelo Zagaria
July 7, 2021
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: A Rainbow upon Her Head
Valentina Pinti
August 4, 2021
29–32
Forget Me Not
(4 episodes)
Marianna Ignazzi
September 1, 2021 October 6, 2021 November 17, 2021 December 1, 2021
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