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Christos Gauges The Impact of Buffy The Vampire Slayer

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by Vince Brusio

When characters are congenial, we want to have a beer with them at the bar. Or, maybe hang out with them at a cookout. That way, when the end of the world comes, we can at least say we were lucky enough to know the people that were cool. It’s that kind of camaraderie that have endeared fans to Buffy The Vampire Slayer for years, and writer Christos Gage who starts his writing arc on Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 11 #1 (SEP160020) says that the tenure of the title at Dark Horse Comics is testament to how Joss Whedon did something that will far outlive his time here on planet Earth. Read what Christos has to say about his upcoming work on the book in this PREVIEWSworld Exclusive interview.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 11 #1 (SEP160020) is in comic shops November 23.

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PREVIEWSworld: What do you think is the appeal of Buffy? The series is now moving into Season 11, and there's a special 30th anniversary variant cover coming from Fray artist Karl Moline for the start of this series. Why do you think the stories of Buffy's adventures have held up over the years, and continues to make them popular with comics fans?

Christos Gage: It's really the characters Joss and his collaborators have created. They feel real and human. We can relate to them. We want to spend more time with them. It was clever to tell stories about life stages we all go through using the supernatural as a device, but if the characters hadn't been compelling, no one would care about the vampires and demons. The fact that people still care about Buffy, the Scoobies, and even such characters as Harmony and Clem all these years later means they were done right.

PREVIEWSworld: Without spoiling the series, what can you tell us about Season 11? Imagine we're on an interstate highway, and that highway is this series. What billboard advertising might we pass outside the car window?

Christos Gage: I've said before that while most seasons have a looming apocalypse threatening at the end, we're kind of flipping the game by having a disaster happen in the first issue that drives everything that happens after. It's a look at how Buffy, her friends and the world around them react to their failure to prevent a crisis. I guess if there were a poster tag line it would be something like, "Your job is to protect humanity. You failed. Now what?"

PREVIEWSworld: Do you ever put any of your own personal experiences or thoughts into any of the subplots or characterizations in this series? Any Easter Eggs that, when opened, might reveal a clue as to how Christos Gage sees people, or approaches life?

Christos Gage: I'm sure a psychiatrist could find plenty, but it's hard for me to tell objectively. I have promised that Xander and Spike's cats will never be hurt or killed, while making no such promises for any human characters, which is definitely reflective of my priorities. And it probably says something about me, and how much I love writing narcissistic, self-centered characters like Harmony. Yeah, it's probably best for me not to go too far into this can of worms.

PREVIEWSworld: How did things fall into place so that you and Rebekah Isaacs got to work together for this book? What levers of power were pulled to have everything come together? And what were your initial thoughts on seeing Rebekah's advance artwork for this project?

Christos Gage: Rebekah had some other projects lined up for just after Season 10, so it was a matter of making sure the schedule allowed for her to complete those and jump onto BTVS. We all wanted to try to make that happen, as Rebekah and I have been working together on Buffyverse comics for five years now, and everyone seems to like the result...me more than anyone! As I often say, her strengths are many, but her skill with character "acting" and creature design are so crucial to the book working. As for her advance Season 11 artwork, all I've seen so far is a couple of covers, but they are typically awesome. The first one combines a horrible monster and humor effortlessly.

PREVIEWSworld: If you could geek unhinged about one or two of your favorite scenes in the upcoming issues, what would they be?

Christos Gage: Hmm...trying not to spoil anything...let's just say one of them involves a dragon. And another involves Willow being pretty badass. I'll leave it there.

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