"Buffy the Sketch Book": behind the scenes of well-drawn characters

I bought a couple of issues of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic while the show was still on. They were OK, but, with the notable exception of a two-issue story about Willow and Tara (by Amber Benson and Terry Moore), I didn't find the series interesting enough to add to my subscription list. Then came "Season Eight," with Joss Whedon himself at the helm, and by issue No. 2, I was hooked.

What surprised me most about the comic was not that the dialogue and pacing were in keeping with the show — after all, Whedon wrote it — but that the characters had the same look and feel of their live action versions. Pleasing fans of a cult classic isn't an easy task, but that is exactly what artist Georges Jeanty has done.

As you might expect from obsessive Buffy fans, no detail is too small to be noticed. When Jeanty released pencils for the cover of No. 2, for example, it sparked a debate on Whedonesque about the appropriateness of Buffy's sneakers. Maybe it's just me, but when I see that picture, I don't think of footwear.

Capturing the likenesses of the Scoobies — characters we saw in action for seven seasons — is no small task. Jeanty spoke to Comic Guide about the challenge.

"I think it's the likenesses that have taken me that much longer to finish an issue. I really sweat over them, but Joss Whedon told me something that really set me on the right path. He said he didn't want the characters to look like photographs and have that stiffness. He said I don't want you to draw Sarah Michelle Gellar, I want you to draw Buffy. Which just clicked with me. I still struggle, but not as much."

What Jeanty does is all the more impressive when you realize that what he gets from Whedon is a script with descriptions of the scene. (If you aren't familiar with how a comic goes from script to finished page, check out Making of a Comic: Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Dark Horse's website to see each step.) So, I'm looking forward to Buffy the Sketch Book, which collects Jeanty's thumbnails and preliminary sketches from the first story arc of Season Eight. Georges was kind enough to send us a few samples.

The cover for issue No. 5 started with this.

The finished pencils looked like this.

And here's the printed version.

Here are pencils for one of my favorite spreads from issue No. 1.

And the finished pages:

To see some of Georges' other work, visit his website and tell him AfterEllen.com sent you. Jeanty's next collection will feature Faith — maybe Willow will get her own one of these days. Hey, Willow, can I see your sketches?

Are you reading the Buffy comic? What do you think of the Season Eight art? Here's a chance to tell Georges.