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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. BACK TO THE TOP |
A COMIC INTERLUDE |
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