In many ways I grew up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Like Buffy Summers, I discovered Sunnydale while I was in high school and, like Buffy (and so many others), felt high school was a hell that you had to survive. Buffy graduated and went on to college around the same time that I did, and, although our paths diverged (I thankfully found college to be the positive experience that high school never was), I continued to find an emotional connection to the characters and their world.
Although I had never really thought about it before, Buffy was (and is) important to me because her experiences ring emotionally true. For so many people, feeling like an outcast and like fate is conspiring against you is a daily experience. Feeling that no one else sees the weight you have to carry and that your world could legitimately end rings true.
Unlike emo music, however, Buffy is about more than just feeling wronged by the world. Buffy is about empowerment in the face of your demons and overwhelming odds. Buffy found friends despite her circumstances and thrived because of them. Buffy says that although the world is a dark place, you are strong and can do this. She doesn’t promise that it’ll get better and you just have to wait. Instead she tells you that even if you’re on the Hellmouth, you can beat this; you’re just going to have to kick some ass in the process!
While Buffy had the benefit of being able to suspend time after the collapse of Sunnydale, I continued to grow and find my place in the world. I went to graduate school, found a career that I love, and finally got to feel like a “grownup” (which is to say not at all; I just pay the bills). When I heard that Buffy was coming back in comic-book form I was curious and excited to reconnect to the Buffyverse. As I rejoined Ms. Summers on her journey to stand and fight vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness, I found some of the emotional connection was missing until the very end.
I could relate to the feeling of getting to where you wanted to be and then watching as things don’t happen the way they were “supposed to.” Being an adult isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be, and it’s definitely not as funny or easy as a romantic comedy or an episode of Friends. On the other hand, Buffy was traveling to Tibet, fighting ancient gods, and then literally having world-ending sex while flying through the air. In exploring everything that couldn’t happen while on TV, Buffy lost a bit of her way.
At the end of Season 8, Buffy was no longer the general of an army of superpowered women, but once again a woman feeling out of place, trying to find her way in the world. This is what excites me most about Season 9. Buffy promises to once again speak to the reality that so many of us face—of feeling like the world can be a scary and sometimes overwhelming place conspiring to suck the life out of you, but also that there’s a superhero inside of us that can beat it back and rise above the challenges. Buffy is someone we can relate to and aspire to be like at the same time.
The brilliance of Joss Whedon and all the other amazing people who have created this universe is that while talking about vampires, demons, and Slayers, they have created something that is more true and three dimensional than any “reality” TV show. I’ve tremendously enjoyed my journey with Buffy throughout the years and cannot wait to see where we go next.
—Scott Radimer