New "Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tales" Interview

[Angelic Slayer]

CBR posted an interview with writers Jane Espenson and Jackie Kessler that has some great details about the release. It's a nice read for anyone thinking of buying the book, even includes some screencaps of the comic to come I'm just posting an abbreviated version here, full story at the link below. 🙂

.... Kessler's story, "Carpe Noctem," originally ran in two eight-page installments on "MySpace Dark Horse Presents" and appears in print for the first time in "Buffy: Tales." It was also recently collected in the sixth and final volume of "MDHP." Asked how fans of her novels received her "Buffy" story, which featured two female vampires out on the town in a world that no longer hates and fears them, Kessler said, "So far, no one has told me that it was horrific and now they need therapy. So that's good. Actually, most of the response was, 'Wow, you're writing something in the Buffyverse -- that is so cool!'" As for seeing her story for the first time on the printed page (and in such a deluxe edition), Kessler was more than a little amused. "I giggled like a little girl when I read the introduction and saw my name," she said. "I had such a good time doing the comic book, and seeing it as part of this amazing package of slayer and vampire tales was just astounding. (And I couldn't believe how bigthe hardcover was!)" Asked whether she might like to return to her character Ash or perhaps explore a new vampire tale, Kessler said, "To quote 'Trading Places,' 'Can't we have both?'"

Jane Espenson, a veteran writer and producer of the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television series as well as "Battlestar Galactica," "Firefly," "Dollhouse," "Angel" and many other shows, was responsible for a significant portion of the material in "Tales." Her Harmony Kendall stories, which feature the flighty vampire as a television personality, are not included in this edition, though they are very much of a piece with some of her pre-Season 8 comics. Asked what appeals to her about venturing out amongst the vampires of the Slayerverse, Espenson told CBR, "I love world-building and I love moving the POV. Taking a story with a secondary character as the focus -- as in the Harmony story -- or taking a story set in the same world but in a different time or place, like my 'Dust Bowl' story. All of these require a believable universe.

"And they create a believable universe, too. They keep the 'verse from feeling insular and from folding in on itself, and they help the readers/viewers see the Buffy characters as existing in a real world."

Pages from the P. Craig Russel illustrated "Presumption"​

Another benefit offered by the "Tales of the Slayers" and "Tales of the Vampires" stories is the freedom they allow, the writer added. "I love that these stories have so few parameters -- you can change styles and break narrative forms," Espenson said. "One of my favorite pieces for 'Tales' is the one called 'Spot the Vampire,' an illustrated, humorous poem with a sort of twisty joke at the end. Not at all something you could ever get the chance to write for television. You can also explore the textures that different artists bring to the work, and you can play around with things that would simply be impossible to do, production-wise, on a show...."

The full article and photos can be found here: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=30518.