Blog de Puree

Thank god for comic books! And for Joss Whedon’s continuation of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer storyline with Dark Horse Comics.

In march, the story of Buffy, her watcher Giles, and the rest of the Scooby gang lives on to season eight, but in comic book format. (The television series ended with season 7.) Dark Horse Comics released issue one in March and issue two in April, each with multiple covers for collectors. The comics continue the story of Buffy and her friends in a dark world of vampires, demons and other nefarious beasts. The comics have also remained true to the characters through artwork that closely mirrors the characters from the show and through the writing, which contains the same great witty quips, expressions and dialogue from the original show.

Here’s where Randye and I dive into the geekiness. We knew about the comics months ago and were excited to continue the story. Then we forgot about them. (We must be getting old) Randye read about them again last week and reminded me about them at dinner. She then made the mistake of telling me that they had multiple covers for collectors.

Having been a comic book collector in my formative years, and knowing about the cultish loyalty that fans have to Joss Whedon’s shows, the mental cash register “cha-chinged” in my brain. I insisted we find the comics that night.

After we finished our meal at our favorite restaurant in Newburyport—which we can’t tell anyone about lest it become too crowded—I dragged her down the street to Fowles, a news stand in town. But it was closed. Our next step was a comic book and gaming shop on Rt. 110 in Amesbury, but it only had about 5 boxes of old comic books in the corner. Now the place mostly panders to the gaming crowd with YuGiOh tournaments and the like. Our last chance was the Toy Soldier in downtown Amesbury, so dashed over.

I must digress and explain the Toy Soldier. Had I grown up in Amesbury, this would have been the place of my dreams and I would probably have turned out somewhat differently. A gaming and comic book shop, they sell games for role players and table-top strategists, models and comics. They also have games for recreational, “time-to-time,” social gamers. But the coup de gras is that they run tournaments and gaming sessions until the wee hours of the night. One can drive by at any time, look to the back of the store through the large front windows, and see pimply, pubescent, squeaky-voiced kids battling in imaginary worlds with adult men who are mentally scarred from years of role playing game (RPG) swordplay and thievery. Randye and I have popped into the Toy Soldier once or twice while walking around downtown and I’ve confessed that I would rather see a child of mine hanging around in there rather than with Amesbury’s disaffected youth, who hang about downtown looking for something or nothing to do.

Back to the story. So I ran inside and inquired about the Buffy comics. A store associate named Dave, who had hair and an outfit like he was in the 80′s band Flock of Seagulls, helped me find them in the comic racks on the wall. The place had both issues and in both covers. ( I knew I could count on the Toy Soldier.)

Sensing my excitement, Dave was astute enough to realize that I would be back and asked if I wanted to be notified of each new edition when it comes in.

“You guys do that for people?” I asked.
“Sure we do,” he answered. “We have a whole list of contacts for comics. We can call or e-mail, whichever you prefer.”

My eyes lit up knowing I would finally be plugged in at the Toy Soldier. He asked if I was a Buffy fan. Slightly embarrassed (It’s not every day that 35-year-old men go around admitting that they are into Buffy the Vampire Slayer to total strangers.), I looked down, bit the bullet and confessed my allegiance to Joss Whedon and his story-telling genius. But with the caveat that it was my wife who wrestled me, kicking and screaming, into the world of Buffy. I had to save face a little bit.

“It’s totally cool,” Dave told me. “You could do a lot worse in this place. Besides, all of Whedon’s shows are great.”

In addition to helping me save face, Dave won customer service award for the night by asking if I wanted plastic covers and cardboard backings to store the comics with. That was the nail in the coffin.

“Hell, yes!” I practically hollered. Cardboard backings and plastic covers are an absolute must for any serious comic book collector looking to keep his investments in mint condition.

I gave him my e-mail address, while he carefully put everything in the bag. After charging the whole mess, which came to just over $15 for four comics, four backs and four plastic covers, I ran out like a kid from a candy shop to Randye who was patiently sitting in the car. (She knew there was a good chance I might poke around inside forever, so she wanted to ensure that didn’t happen.)

As I related the story and our good fortune at the Toy Soldier, her eyes rolled and all she could say was that I needed help. Then she agreed when I retorted that she’d be the first one to tear into and start reading the comics when we got home.

The drive home was silent as we reflected about what just happened.

As we pulled into the driveway, I said, “You know, between not being able to let go of the Buffy universe and my arrangement with the Toy Soldier, we’ve just descended into a whole new level of geekiness.”

“Yes. Yes, we did,” she quietly replied.