Autumnal is a word that better reflects atmosphere than actions, and it's a perfectly subtle descriptor for a scary tale inspired by the changing of seasons that begins as September ends and the wonderful weirdness of October sets in. It was this melancholic twinge, coupled with the promise of Halloween horrors that inspired Allie to first begin exploring the idea of tipping the scales more toward horror in Dark Horse's line of Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, if only for a few months.
"Autumnal" launches in October with an intriguing group of Buffy tales, including the first-ever Giles one-shot (written by Chris Golden with art by Eric Powell), another intoxicatingly bloodthirsty Spike and Dru extravaganza (by Golden and artist Ryan Sook), and new dark delights from both the ongoing Angel and Buffy series.
We caught up with Allie at the end of July to talk about "Autumnal" and all things Buffy. Read on for a behind-the-scenes look at the scariest season Buffy and the Scooby Gang have ever known.
Ivana Fanboy: Let's talk a little about where the Buffy comics started ... what was it like getting this series off the ground two years ago, and what positive changes have you seen develop in the series since?
Scott Allie: It was hard getting started mainly because it was so behind schedule when I took over. Jamie Rich had been the editor on it before me, and he hired a whole staff for the book. Then he left, and the license was languishing for a while because of delays with the licensor. By the time we were able to proceed, the artist, Randy Green, had moved on. So suddenly I was behind schedule, without an artist, and we just had to hustle. All that led to not the greatest of creative circumstances. I wasn't happy with the art for a long time. The license took a major turn for the better when Cliff Richards signed on for Buffy. Around the same time, Ryan Sook started doing a decent amount of work for us, and Christian Zanier came on board. With the addition of Eric Powell, I think I have a really great art team, but it took quite a while to put that together.
IF: What would you consider to be the strengths of the series?
SA: One of my favorite things is that we have a strong female character who's not all about T&A. You never see Buffy flaunting her breasts in order to distract the villain. That's just ridiculous, and it's great that the character is built around something better than that. There's a great supporting cast as well. Christopher Golden, who's written some of the Buffy novels, as well as the encyclopedia books about the show, has brought a lot of experience and knowledge to the comics. But maybe the strongest asset we have is the improved relationship with the licensors.
IF: How did that come about?
SA: When James Marsters and Golden and Sook did the first Spike and Dru book, Joss Whedon said that he loved it. He made quite a point of it. He said he wished the books all looked like that. Well, so did I, but we'd had our hands tied about which kinds of artists we could use. Strangely, it was Joss's own people who had held us back. So when we all found out what Joss really liked -- which is Mike Mignola, and Geof Darrow, and other comics luminaries from the past and present -- I set my sites on different art styles. Previously, the most important thing was that an artist could do a decent likeness of Buffy. Now we're more concerned with fluid storytelling and a dynamic style.
IF: Who has been involved in the series creatively since it started? There have been a lot of great creators contributing stories and art -- are there any defining moments you can share that really reflect when the book took off?
SA: It's bad to play favorites, but Ryan really made a tremendous difference on this license in more ways than one, in terms of bringing in a new approach to the art. Never would have wound up with Cliff or Christian or Eric if it weren't for Ryan. And I do think Ryan is one of the best comics artists out there. When Chris Golden joined the comics, that gave us a new standard for the writing. And now having Doug Petrie writing for us brings it to a whole new level, and we're bringing in another show writer, Jane Espenson. All this just helps the series evolve, and improve.
IF: You're a big fan of horror-genre media, from movies to comics ... what does a die-hard horror enthusiast like yourself think of a property like Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
SA: As a die-hard horror enthusiast ... I didn't watch Buffy until we started doing the comics. I like something a lot darker. Really, I just don't like TV. It'ard to establish a dark mood when you have Coors and Dawson's Creek ads popping up every quarter hour. I will say that Buffy's "Hush" episode was one of the creepiest things on TV since Twin Peaks.
IF: How does Buffy work as a horror title, in your mind? I had a conversation once with Kelley Jones where he mentioned that there is almost always some element of humor thrown in with most popular horror mediums ... do you agree?
SA: Oh yeah, the humor is key. Especially in the real modern stuff. Now that it's a little harder to take monsters seriously, the humor really balances the melodrama, and also allows the scary stuff to catch the viewer off guard. Buffy uses humor a lot, and I think the snappy dialogue is the key ingredient of the show. It's definitely one of the harder things to imitate. I don't think Joss is really going for a horror show, though. The humor on Buffy MORE THAN balances the dark stuff.
IF: Let's talk about the upcoming "Autumnal" story arc the Buffy books will be following this Fall ... what's the basic concept behind the stories, and what does the word Autumnal reference? (editor's note: "Autumnal" won't appear as a subtitle on any of the books, but all Buffy titles running October through December are included in the series)
SA: Basically, I just wanted to do some horror comics. Real horror fiction never has happy, tidy endings. Apocalypse Now and Bitter Moon are much more horrific stories than Buffy or X Files. So, working within the Buffy franchise, I wanted to try to do something a little darker. Not just in terms of color--everyone things dark grey is all you need to make a horror comic. No.
IF: Considering these stories are aimed at being of a darker nature than Buffy fans might be used to reading, what elements are featured in Autumnal that you might not find in your average Buffy adventure?
SA: Marketing came up with the catch-phrase "No More Happy Endings," and that really is the difference between regular genre fiction and a good horror story. A horror story should never end by reassuring the audience that everything's fine. The mood, the tone, the morality, and the plotlines of these stories are darker than usual. It's hard, because people expect something particular from Buffy, so I can't do anything totally bizarre with the book. Sadly. But we have managed to make it different. The people who think I haven't been doing a dark enough book will hopefully be pleased. We're using a lot of elements of the gothic tradition.
IF: Like what?
SA: Well, all the stories have a preoccupation with the past, which is typical of the older, pre-20th Century horror tales. The first Buffy story features a slayer from the past, and Angel's first story features, basically, a haunted amusement park in which something was summoned about forty years ago. Giles returns to England to deal with the death of his mentor, and Spike and Dru are at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, being chased by the family of a Chinese Slayer they killed.
IF: Who's working on the "Autumnal" titles?
SA: A lot of the usual suspects, plus some new writers. On the Buffy monthly, we're introducing Christopher Boal, an old college pal of Joss Whedon's, who writes for film and TV. He's a big comics fan, and wanted to try something, and seemed up to the idea of "Autumnal." He's got a two-parter featuring an old Slayer who shows up in Sunnydale. Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe, who'll be taking over the monthly series, wrote the second Buffy story, featuring a famous voodoo priest. All these Buffy issues are drawn by Cliff Richards, the regular artist on the book. Golden and Sniegoski, the regular writers on Angel, are doing that whole arc, with Christian Zanier and Eric Powell, the regular artists. Golden and Sook are teaming up again for the final Spke and Dru, and Golden, Sniegoski, and Powell are teaming for the first Giles one shot. We have covers by Mike Mignola, John Totleben, Randy Green, and the regular interior artists.
IF: Now that we've talked about the immediate future of Buffy books, what plans have you made for longer-range Buffy projects .... anything definite with specific creators?
SA: Right after "Autumnal" we have a Buffy crossover, by Golden, Sniegoski, and Powell. Jane Espenson, one of the show writers, is doing a Jonathan one shot. She wrote the Jonathan "Superstar" episode, and wanted to do more with the character. Her script is great, and that comes out in the spring. We're going to be doing a graphic story album along the lines of our Aliens: Tribes book. That'll be written by Fassbender and Pascoe and painted by Brian Horton of Dreamworks Interactive and Paul Lee, both of whom worked on a recent Angel strip in DHP. This is going to be a huge undertaking, and the ideas we're batting around for it are phenomenal so far. I can't wait to really get that rolling. But the biggest news is Joss's book for us. He's writing a new series called Fray, about a futuristic fearless vampire killer. It'll be drawn by Karl Moline, who did a strip I wrote in DHP recently. He's great. He's done a bunch of comics in the past, but sort of disappeared to do other work. Fray is going to be tremendous. Joss's turned in the first script, and it's a hell of a read.