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"Have
you read any comic books based on media tie-ins?" Say that to
any comic fan and a chill will go down their spine. You see in the
world of comic books, media spin-offs are either a big hit or really bad
misses. Every comic publisher has one time or another dabbled in
this genre, and the company who has done so most recently has been Dark
Horse.
With Star Wars,
Aliens, Predator and Terminator firmly under its belt, due to a
lucky turn of events it also managed to acquire the rights for the comic
book based on the hit TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer. You
see, as not many of you out there may know, originally Buffy was
tipped to be published by Topps Comics, the same people who brought you
the Xena and X Files comics. Yet somehow the company
decided that the comic book business was not making the profits they
needed, and so decided to stop publishing all of its regular comics, thus
halting any plans for new titles they had. With Marvel Comics in
financial difficulties at the time, and DC in negotiation with Wildstorm
Comics to buy them out, Dark Horse seized the opportunity to buy the
license for Buffy comics, knowing that the fans would rush out to
buy the comic. And that's exactly what happened.
Within days of Dark
Horse's announcement, both comic fans and Buffy fans were excited
by the news of a Buffy comic, none more so than myself, and when
the first promos began to trickle onto the 'Net, everyone was itching to
pick up the first issue. Yet realising the money they could be
making from the franchise, Dark Horse made the choice to launch Buffy
in the black and white Dark Horse Presents series in the '98
Annual. This would decide if the series would make it or not in the
comic industry, and many fans thought it unwise to launch Buffy in
black and white. Luckily the Annual was a great success, and apart
from Star Wars, Buffy is Dark Horse's strongest selling title, and
the back issue prices have also shot up, the '98 Annual which launched it
all and which originally cost less than $5 now retails for around $20,
while the platinum edition of Buffy #1 retails for around $25.
That's not to say all the
Buffy comics have been good. Issues 4-6 have been a load of
rubbish, and the recent Angel series proved only to be mildly
better. Yet the surprising thing is that even with issues where the
art is terrible, the comics have still sold well, the recent Angel
mini series even managed to beat the regular series' #8, which featured
the best art in the series so far! To be fair though, the Buffy
comics are not exactly the worst comic books out there at the moment, and
if they attract new readers to the comic scene, then they can't be a bad
thing.
If you haven't read a
comic book before but like Buffy, then this is probably your chance
to jump aboard the comic book scene, and if you find you do like them
don't forget there are other comics out there to read from the Buffy-esque
Stars & S.T.R.I.P.E. to the heroic JLA. My
recommendations would be to pick up the Buffy graphic novel The
Remaining Sunlight and then any of the newest issues you can.
Then after that try Generation X from Marvel, Rising Stars
from Top Cow and all of the Batman books from DC. But those
are only my picks, there are hundreds of other comic books out there, so
just try try what you think will appeal to your tastes, unless of course
you see the name HECTOR GOMEZ anywhere in the comic book, from these books
stay well away.
Text copyright Richard
Morgan.
Used by permission.
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