Exclusive Juicy News: 'Spike' & 'Willow' Mini-Series Q&A

We spoke to Dark Horse editor Scott Allie just before C2E2 and got the scoop about some new projects that have now been announced at the expo. Not only is a Spike 5-issue Mini-Series launching August 22nd, but Willow's Mini has also been given a release date of November 21. On top of all of that, Dark Horse has a new book titled Ex Sanguine coming out in October that'll vibe with our favorite type of story, those oh-so-romantic vampires. Check out all the deets below, straight from the (dark) horse's mouth:

Spike mini-series:

Buffyfest: Writer/Artist/Cover Artist?
Scott Allie: We've got Victor Gischler, Paul Lee, Jenny Frison and Steve Morris. This marks Jenny's return to the character, and her debut on the Dark Horse Whedon books. We're excited about that. Also our first time working with Victor, who's really throwing himself into things.

Buffyfest: Was this mini planned since the writer's summit? Did Joss always want Spike a story?
SA: It was not. The only one to emerge for sure from the Summit was Willow. The Drusilla one came later, though not much later, and Spike came together last, based on the direction of the Buffy series.

Buffyfest: Is this an arm of the central Buffy story or a one-shot separate from the main book?
SA: It is an arm of the main story for Season 9, not just Buffy, but Angel & Faith. All of these books support the main story of the two monthlies, though I guess some more than others.

Buffyfest: Will it bring Spike out of the Buffy book for a while?
SA: Yeah. He'll be leaving the Buffy book soon, not to return for quite some time.

Buffyfest: Any hints as to what Spike's story will be about?
SA: Well, the working title is A Dark Place, although that may change still. So I suppose that hints a bit ...

Buffyfest: Will anyone from the series be tagging along with him?
SA: Yeah, quite a few familiar faces. Multiple, nearly identical faces, if you follow me.

Willow mini-series:

Cover by David Mack

Buffyfest: Writer/Artist/Cover Artist?

SA: Jeff Parker, Brian Ching, David Mack and Megan Lara, al making their Whedonverse debut, although Megan is known to fandom for her Serenity Mucha pieces. Jeff has done very little for Dark Horse, is mainly busy on Marvel books and the occasional creator-owned thing for other publishers. Brian has done a lot of Star Wars stuff, and it was our assistant editor, Freddye, who pulled him in for this. I've been wanting to do something with David Mack for ages. Megan was Sierra's idea. David and Megan both stylistically get us to that mystical place that we want for the series. These covers will look a lot different from any other Whedonverse covers.

Buffyfest: Is this the story of her journey with the scythe?
SA: Yep!

Buffyfest: Timeline-wise, will this mini take place after Willow makes her appearance on Angel & Faith?
SA: Indeed. Yeah, picks up right out of the last panels of her arc in Angel & Faith.

Ex Sanguine
Buffyfest: You described the Tim Seeley book Ex Sanguine as a story about a serial killer and vampire who fall in love…Buffy and Angel if they were Natural Born Killers. Can you elaborate?

SA: It's a pretty dark story, a bit of a detective story, and it does feature a relationship between a vampire and a serial killer. The darkness of it, and the darkness of the protagonists makes the comparison to Natural Born Killers make sense. Tim made the Buffy, Angel, Natural Born Killer reference in the pitch, and I immediately got it, but those sorts of elevator pitches don't mean a lot to me. The intricacy of the mystery story is a big part of what attracted me, and just my love of Tim's work. I wanted to do more real horror comics, and we have a bunch of them cooking, like the Colder miniseries we announced with Paul Tobin and Juan Ferreyra a couple weeks ago. More to be announced shortly ...

Buffyfest: Thanks as always, Scott!

You can find even more info about the mini-series over at EW. Warning, it's all a bit spoilery for Buffy Season 9.