High praise indeed, comparing the iconic nature of Buffy to that of Superman. That's arguably a little overstated, but, Wow!

topolino | May 09, 19:46 CET

I assumed at first that the rite and oath were required in order to be trusted with the material. But it seems it's more of a "spoil the story in an interview and I will smite you" kind of thing. Interesting. Writing the next to the last arc must be all happy, light-hearted stuff, too. I bet there's an entire issue devoted to puppies.

Sunfire | May 09, 19:52 CET

And hugs. Can't have puppies without the hugs.

ManEnoughToAdmitIt | May 09, 20:18 CET

And hugging of puppies! It'll be a musical issue.

All these hints about the grand plan are a bit of a tease, really. I don't even know who Twilight is, yet.

Sunfire | May 09, 20:33 CET

Superman and Buffy... Buffy and Superman... Superman sucks and I can prove that with science... well technically not science... more like black magic...

[ edited by xerox on 2008-05-09 20:47 ]

xerox | May 09, 20:46 CET

I bet there's an entire issue devoted to puppies.

Could also be an entire issue devoted to shrimp (alternate universes) or bunnies (horror/apocalypse).

OneTeV | May 09, 21:05 CET

I'm all for hugging puppies. And my two small dogs will happily agree. And Buffy is much better than Superman. He's just been around longer.

Valentyn | May 09, 23:00 CET

Just so we're clear: I wasn't inviting a debate over "who's better." I was simply marveling (no pun intended) at the fact that a prominent comic book writer evidently considers Buffy as iconic a character as Supes. As Valentyn pointed out, Superman has been around longer (70 years, in fact!). So for Buffy to have attained such a lofty reputation in such a short period of time is, in my mind, quite a testament to the work of Joss and all of the creative team at Mutant Enemy (and Dark Horse).

Yeah, yeah, I know - duh. ;)

[ edited by topolino on 2008-05-09 23:39 ]

topolino | May 09, 23:33 CET

Yeah, it's worth pointing out that that's an offhand association he made in an interview and that he doesn't specify who the "we" that apparently all know and love Buffy includes. Much as I love Buffy I really doubt he's claiming that she's as widely recognised as Superman (one interpretation of "as iconic").

(and it's just an opinion anyway of course - if Alan Moore or another prominent comics writer said he hadn't heard of her or didn't love her would that make the character less iconic ? ;)

Interesting, i'm actually quite liking the sound of 'Trinity' and this could be a nice prelude/companion piece. Quite liked 'Identity Crisis' and didn't share a lot of the issues some had with it (probably because I wasn't invested in most of the characters previously).

Saje | May 10, 00:43 CET

Besides being a well-known writer of mostly mainstream comics, what association does Brad Meltzer have with the 'verse ? The only other writer (as far as I know, unless Jeff Loeb is getting a kick at an upcoming arc--he sorta makes sense, due to the Buffy Animated pre-planning he was a part of) that isn't Mutant Enemy and has worked on Buffy is Brian K. Vaughan. Which felt instantly natural for readers of Y: The Last Man and Runaways--he and Joss are big fans of eachothers' works (didn't hurt that Vaughan had worked in TV a little on Lost before his stint on adapting Buffy to comics).

Maybe Joss is just a big fan of Meltzer's too. Given how is sounds like the interview process went before further pre-production on Season 8...maybe Meltzer's answers had Joss convinced he was the right man to write the penultimate arc on the book (or just the season ? I'm not sure if they were talking about the end of Season 8 in that interview, or where the book will presumably end in Season 9, if that's still gonna happen).

Kris | May 10, 01:43 CET

Kris, they're definitely referring to the penultimate arc of Season 8.

theonetruebix | May 10, 02:45 CET

Kris, Joss penned the glowing introduction to the TPB of Meltzer's "Identity Crisis" - which is an awfully good yarn. Bonus excerpt:



So, yeah, I'd say Joss is a sizeable fan of Meltzer's. And Kremlinologists may ponder the above introduction and seek to deduce what role Meltzer is going to play in his part of Season 8. Not me, though. I leave the spec to y'all.

SoddingNancyTribe | May 10, 03:31 CET

Kris, Jim Krueger (Earth X, Justice) is also doing one of the one shot issues that will come before Meltzer's arc, along Jeph Loeb, and that bunch of old timers, I mean ex-Mutant Enemy writers.

Numfar PTB | May 10, 03:58 CET