Vampires as Symbols for Capitalism – Talking with Casey Gilly and Joe Jaro about ‘Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer’

Last week we reviewed Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, and this week Casey Gilly, the writer, and Joe Jaro, the artist, were kind enough to sit down with us and talk about what it takes to make a dark, alternative future for a beloved franchise. Black Nerd Problems: So today, we get to talk about Buffy the Last Vampire Slayer, which is such a fun sentence. Where did the idea of doing a dark future Buffy comic come from? Casey Gilly: Well, it was a combination of Elizabeth Brei, the editor, and myself. Elizabeth and I had previously worked together, and we really liked each other. She reached out to me and said, “Hey, we have this skeleton of an idea for an older Buffy who is dealing with some kind of an apocalypse. Do you want to take a crack at it?” And I sure did. So, there was a prompt, which, by the way, if any publishers or editors are reading this or listening to it, that is incredibly helpful for writers, to give us a little bit of a direction. And it just turned into what it is now.  BNP: Given how many iterations of Buffy have existed between the movie, the series, the original comic, and the rebooted comic, what were the challenges of approaching this new, alternate-reality Buffy? Casey: I would say that my challenge is I am the demographic who grew up with Buffy. I’m in my forties. And I love the show, it will always have a very special place in my heart, and I do think that the fans of Buffy who have been there from the drop might ask themselves, “Why would I w…