Welcome to the Hellmouth

She’s back! She’s really back! Buffy is back! Girl, you’re a sight for sore eyes. The first issue of the new “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” comic is available in PDF form* for free from Dark Horse. The comics by series creator Joss Whedon will essentially be the unfilmed eighth season of the show.

The action picks up where the series left off. Sunnydale is a hole in the ground. Girls all over the world have slayer strength. And Buffy is still fighting the good fight. Only now, she has some 500 other slayers fighting with her.
[spoilers ahead]

The first issue, which hits store shelves March 14, sets up the premise for the season and its potential Big Bad. Buffy is leading squads of Buffy juniors. Xander, doing his best Nick Fury, is her pseudo watcher. Little Dawnie isn’t so little anymore, or a virgin. And Giles and Willow are M.I.A., for the moment. But while everyone’s favorite lesbian witch is out of sight, she is not out of mind. Buffy even cracks wise on her lesbian tendencies.
The government is aware of the new world order and the military regards Buffy and her enlarged Scooby Gang as “terrorist cells.” While exploring the crater formerly known as The Hellmouth, officials stumble across everyone’s least favorite witch turned rat turned witch, Amy. She wants revenge and cheese, lots of cheese.

While we have yet to see several key Scoobies, the first issue is a nice appetizer. We get treated to a little of that old Joss magic with witty repartee and signature one-liners. Longtime fans will feel the continuity and newcomers will be able to play along. Damn, I can’t wait for Buffy to save the world a lot, again.

*UPDATE: This link now only previews the first six pages. When I got home this evening I had a polite but stern email from the folks at Dark Horse chiding me for posting the link to what I thought was a great free preview of the first “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” season eight comic. Apparently, not so much. The link was for reviewers. I found it through Sarah’s weekly AE column. I passed it along to Whitney at PopCandy and so the trail of angry emails probably goes. My apologies to Dark Horse and Joss and Buffy. Fear not corporate types, I plan to buy multiple issues of the comic and I believe this to be true of the vast majority of the Buffy fans who might have caught the preview, too. Your $2.99 is assured and then some. Another fun lesson of the things that appear too good to be true often are variety.