A Few Alternatives For Buffy And Angel Fans

After the cancellation of Buffy The Vampire Slayer (2003) and Angel (2004), along with little hope of even a made-for-TV film concluding Angel, fans of the vampire and demon-filled universe Joss Whedon had created were left with an unfilled void which no TV show at that time seemed to be able to fill. However, in 2007 that has changed: there are a couple of interesting TV shows and the continuation of Buffy’s and Angel’s stories in their own comics.

Buffy’s comic is Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 8, which was published by Dark Horse Comics, and the first issue was released on 14 March 2007. The comics follow on from where the TV series left off and Joss Whedon is, of course, involved in the writing so fans are assured of quality. It does of course feature the "Scooby Gang" and guest appearance from an old "favourite" - Spike! The comics have been very successful and look set to run longer than the originally planned 25 issues.

And soon (November 2007) Angel: After The Fall will be released by IDW Publishing, and it is based upon some of the ideas Joss Whedon had for season 6 of Angel. Let’s hope it has the same success as the Buffy comics!

Not only were two great comics, which continue the stories of Buffy and Angel, released this year but also a couple of TV shows featuring vampire detectives. The first released (in March 2007) was Blood Ties which is based upon novels written by Tanya Huff. The show is about a former police detective, turned private investigator, named Vicki Nelson. While Vicki is human, she meets a 450 (perhaps even 480) years old vampire called Henry who works with her on cases… she soon becomes entangled in a word of demons and black magic. Season 2 has now been released and the ratings are continuing to improve, so hopefully it will be around for a third season. I will post more on Blood Ties within the next few days.

Perhaps closer to the Angel theme is CBS’s Moonlight which is about a vampire private detective living in Los Angeles. The rules for vampires are slightly different in Moonlight, such as they can withstand a certain amount of sunlight, however it helps with the story line (which is more about human evil than demons and vampires) as his enemies are mostly day walkers. The show is great, but are the ratings good enough for CBS? New scripts have been ordered, but there is also a writer’s strike, so the future is currently clouded. Hopefully CBS will be a bit more thoughtful this time, rather than rash.. I’ll post more as events unfold.