Kelly Thompson revamping BUFFY and ANGEL at Dynamite

Dynamite Entertainment has announced they have acquired the comic book rights for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and that Kelly Thompson will write the relaunch of both series. Few other specifics were shared, other than that David Nakayama will provide covers for both series, but Thompson, editor Nate Cosby, and CEO Nick Barrucci still had plenty to say about the Buffyverse and its new era at Dynamite.

Thompson says, “In my early days trying to figure out how to be a writer and what stories mattered to me and why — no heroine quite broke through for me like Buffy Summers. She was somehow everything my young geek heart had always wanted but hadn’t known to ask for. Something about that delicate alchemy of horror, fantasy, and comedy paired with a hero so pure of heart and yet flawed and relatable was… impossible to deny. I fell deeply in love with Buffy, and following that, her whole world.”

Cosby comments, “There was one name on my wish list of writers for Buffy: Kelly Thompson. There was one name on my wish list of writers for Angel: Kelly Thompson. Her passion for these characters is second-to-none. The interweaving story she’s crafted for both books is going to knock everyone’s socks off.”

Barrucci adds, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer is truly one of the crown jewels of modern television, and comics fans know that she’s more than made her mark in this medium as well. The genius mix of its small-town vibes with fantasy and horror, the seamless touches of humor, incredible strong female characters that we’ve been proud to always represent at Dynamite — it all works together for a perfect set of characters and framework for stories. Including Angel! Which we’re excited to contribute to and build for new and returning fans!”

Dynamite will become the third home of the Buffyverse comics, following Dark Horse, which held the license from 1998 to 2018, and BOOM! Studios, whose last series, Buffy: The Last Vampire Slayer (by Casey Gilly and Oriol Roig), was released in 2023. It strengthens the ties between franchise owner Disney and Dynamite, who’ve published several comics based on animated Disney projects in recent years, and will arrive ahead of the currently planned revival of the show on Hulu, which will see Sarah Michelle Gellar‘s Buffy mentor a new Slayer, played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew).

More details will be announced soon, although like the upcoming show, we suspect series creator Joss Whedon will not be involved. In 2021, following the allegations of abusive behavior from Whedon, Gellar (who serves as executive producer on the revival) declared, “I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon. I am more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently, so I will not be making any further statements at this time. But I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.”