With Star Wars comics published by Marvel.

Since 2015, Marvel's main Star Wars series has meticulously filled in the gaps in the franchise's timeline between the films of the Original Trilogy, serving to deepen the on-screen arcs of the franchise's legendary heroes.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer's canon sequel comics, billed as "Season Eight" onward, proved to be somewhat controversial among the series' fandom; with the comics' continuity now presumably going to be overwritten by the show, the next generation of Buffy comics would arguably be better off following Marvel's Star Wars model and exploring the era of the original TV run.

Buffy's "Canon" Sequel Comics Are About To Be Overwritten; The Next Gen Of Stories Can Do Something Different

A Healthy Reset For The Franchise

Since Buffy the Vampire Slayer concluded its seven-season run in 2003, fans have understandably clamored for further adventures of the GOAT Slayer, Buffy Summers, and the Scooby Gang. Speculation about a follow-up show have circulated off-and-on in the decades since, but from 2007 through 2018, it was the domain of Dark Horse's Buffy comics to carry the torch of the "canon" adventures of the franchise's cast. Labeled Buffy Season Eight through Season Twelve, these comics hold a nostalgic place in many fans' hearts, but they certainly aren't without their critics.

As much as fans want their favorite franchises to continue in perpetuity, there is an increased degree of scrutiny applied to sequels, and canon continuations.

Season Eight alone, which was plotted and overseen by series creator Joss Whedon, made some perplexing creative choices, from the decision to make Xander and Dawn a romantic item, to the late reveal that the season's Big Bad was, in fact, Angel. Subsequent seasons continued to make some controversial advancements in the Scooby Gang's character arcs, and changes to the franchise's lore; while no single moment alone was a deal-breaker for most readers, this does speak to an abstract problem with "sequel" comics.

That is, building on any beloved story is its own risky proposition, one that the Buffy reboot will also face, whenever it eventually airs. As much as fans want their favorite franchises to continue in perpetuity, there is an increased degree of scrutiny applied to sequels, and canon continuations, especially those produced in a different medium from the original story. So, in retrospect, while comics might not have been the best way to tell the next chapter of Buffy's story, there is another way they could be utilized to their strongest storytelling capacity.

Over The Past 10 Years, Marvel's Star Wars Has Modeled How To Flesh Out A Franchise's Existing Timeline

Buffy Should Revisit Its Past

Case in point: Star Wars. Many fans weren't happy with Disney's decision to reboot Star Wars continuity in 2014, or when Marvel announced it would return to the immediate aftermath of the original film to tell more stories about Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, and Han Solo. Yet ten years later, the Star Wars comics set between the Original Trilogy movies are rightfully lauded for doing more than just extending the Star Wars universe, but also deepening it, and making the story arcs of its famous protagonists more complex.

After all these years, Marvel's Star Wars is finally returning to the fertile narrative ground of the post-Return of the Jedi era, but it is doing so with a basis in the solid foundation laid by the time spent fleshing out the Original Trilogy. The natural inclination, for Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans, might be to expect new Buffy comics to help link the original series and the sequel show, and in time the franchise can get there; before that, however, Buffy comics should go back to the era of the first seven seasons in order to thrive.

Like Star Wars, Buffy Comics Can Add To The Franchise's Familiar Character Arcs

Deepening The Series' Canon, Not Just Expanding It

Telling stories set during the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV run isn't exactly a brand-new idea for the franchise; previous novels and comics have done this before, in many cases highlighting the strengths of this approach, in the same way the Season Eight comics onward demonstrate the risks inherent in sequelizing such an illustrious series. However, especially with the television sequel coming now, the creators of Buffy comics need to think long and hard about how they can best supplement the series.

A future Buffy comic has the opportunity to tell more stories...couched within the continuity of the original series, with the express aim of adding to the impact of the on-screen stories.

The initial instinct will naturally be to tie into the reboot, but the alternative is to develop the comic book versions of Buffy's characters more fully by telling stories taking place between the original show's episodes and seasons. Like Marvel's Star Wars comics, several years worth of patient storytelling featuring the classic version of Buffy and the Scoobies, in their prime, would be the ideal lead in for stories set in the gap between Season Seven of the show and Hulu's Buffy the Vampire Slayer reprise.

Buffy famously delivered its own version of this technique in the all-time great episode “The Zeppo,” which followed Xander on a standalone adventure, which ran parallel to an apocalypse-averting mission for Buffy and the rest of the Gang, depicted in the background of the episode. A future Buffy comic has the opportunity to tell more stories like this, couched within the continuity of the original series, with the express aim of adding to the impact of the on-screen stories. Notably, a comic like this shouldn’t seek to drastically recontextualize the show, but rather operate in harmony with it.

While The Buffy Reboot Serves As A Sequel, The Comics Can Go Back To The Classic Era

Nostalgia That Moves The Franchise Forward

Buffy fans have always known that the canonicity of the Season Eight through Twelve comics was contingent, that a reboot would render them outdated in franchise lore. For more critical readers, this is a good thing. Yet the question remains what the next era of Buffy comics will look like. More stories starring young Buffy Summers, and the youthful Scooby Gang, are all-but-inevitable, and that is also a good thing, as they stand the best chance of being satisfying for readers.

Yet how Dark Horse Comics approaches these throwback stories is important, and the lesson that can be taken from Marvel's Original Trilogy Star Wars comics is about more than just chronology. It is a lesson in how to approach characters with predetermined arcs and make those arcs even more resonant than they were before. It is also a way of tapping into nostalgia while still moving the iconic franchise forward. A series that offers glimpses of previously unseen moments in Buffy the Vampire Slayer history could be the franchise's equivalent of the Star Wars recipe for success.