Buffy’s storyline on TV ended with the series finale of season 7.
Then I heard that the story continued in the form of a comic book, called Season 8. I have googled a lot, but it is all very confusing, even on the official site of Dark Horse.
There seem to be Buffy comics whose timeline is parallel to seasons 1-7. Season 8 itself seems to be divided in a lot of separate comics, all confusingly available with different covers. And it is unclear to me if season 8 is by now finished, or if it is *still *issuing comics. Also unclear is whetether the comics are all “Real Whedon” or if they are merely extensive fanfiction, that is not essential to the central storyline.
Can anyone tell me where I can buy just the whole of season eight, all parts together, in a non-fancy issue? I just want to read the damn thing, not make a collection out of it.
Lsura, is an “arc” comparable to a TV season, or to an episode? Would you perhaps know much issues are planned, and when an omnibus is expected to appear?
An arc is a short plotline that develops & is resolved over several issues/episodes - there may be connections to other plots later, but the basic plot of that line is finished. Think Willow and magic as an addiction - that was an arc that was developed over a whole season & then some, but was *essentially *resolved at the end of season 6.
According to the Wikipedia entry on Season 8 they’re expecting at least 50 issues at this point.
Your best bet is to try Amazon and buy the trade paperbacks of the collected arcs. Like this one, which is Issues 1-5 of Season 8. They are all “Real Whedon,” as Joss is either writing them himself or overseeing the scripts to his liking. It isn’t an “add-on.” It is the on-going central story line. Lots of interesting twists so far, too.
Silenus, that link goes to a “volume” that is supposedly 136 pages. How does that compare to the fifty expected parts? The first one? The first five? Half of total? Does an " volume" equal an 'arc"?
I’m sorry, but I find the whole thing very confusing.
The volume I linked to is the collected first 5 issues of the comic, which covers one distinct “arc.” The ongoing story, or season, is looking like it will run 10 times that long. But this volume is self-contained, if open-ended. Each issue of the comic is the equivalent of an episode, more or less.
