Comic Book / Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The thing with changing the world is, once you do, the world's all different.

This is a page for the Dark Horse Comics series based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, particularly the later "seasons" of the franchise turned into a Sequel in Another Medium. The following examples may contain major spoilers for anyone who hasn't finished watching the television series, or who hasn't read the comics yet. Consider yourself forewarned. VERY forewarned.

Two years have passed since the series ended and Willow activated all the Potential Slayers. Buffy had turned to stealing diamonds to help fund the Slayer Army and trying to find them all while still fighting vampires, demons and the forces of darkness. With the destruction of Sunnydale now everyone knows about the supernatural, unfortunately vampires and demons look like the innocent victims persecuted by Slayers and the government and army are out to stop them. Meanwhile a far greater threat lurks in the shadows, Twilight, aided and abetted by those closest to Buffy.

Aside from the main series, a Spin-Off graphic novel series set during the early seasons of the TV show dubbed Buffy: The High School Years was launched in 2016.

In 2018, it was announced that Season Twelve would be the final one of the series, as the Buffy license had been newly acquired by Boom! Studios; thus marking the official end of the original continuity established by both television series. Boom's Buffy won't be maintaining the continuity of the television series and comic books, instead relaunching the franchise as a modern-day continuity reboot. Though Whedon won't be writing the reboot, he will be serving as a creative consultant. For tropes appearing in that series, see here.

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Tropes:

As a Whole

• Pregnancy Does Not Work That Way: In the miniseries "Viva Las Buffy", in which our heroine travels to Las Vegas, the villains are two twins joined at the hip: the man's a vampire, the woman's a mortal with deadly aim. One problem: their joining was so minor (both had full limbs and organs), any sane doctor would have separated them at birth — and conjoined twins are identical and not fraternal and would therefore necessarily be of the same sex. This being Buffy (and as such, anything can happen), a wizard probably did it.
• Revision: The comics do this for several aspects of the TV series.
  • Season Eight reveals that after Dark Willow flayed Warren alive, Amy saved him, using her magic to keep him "alive" despite his lack of skin; Word of God is that the First Evil was able to assume Warren's form because he was technically dead for a few moments before Amy's magic kicked in. It also reveals that the events of "The Killer in Me", where Amy transformed Willow into Warren with a spell, was in fact done on Warren's orders for revenge, rather than simple jealousy that Willow was now more powerful than Amy.
  • The Season Nine miniseries Willow: Wonderland also does this with Rack, the dark magic dealer Willow sucked the life and magic out of for a power boost. As it turns out, he was Not Quite Dead; Willow merely depowered him and left him in a coma.
  • Angel & Faith does much the same with Eyghon the Sleepwalker, a Monster of the Week from way back in Buffy Season 2. When he was apparently forced out of Angel's body due to the demon spirit within him and died, it's explained that he survived by possessing a dead rat under the floorboards.
  • Season Twelve pulls it once again with Mayor Wilkins, revealing that he in fact survived the explosion of Sunnydale High thanks to his Old One constitution, and spent the next several years pulling himself back together before forming a Villain Team-Up with Harth.
  • Season 10 pretty cut and dry explains the nature of vampirism, more in-depth than the season 2 explanation of "demon possesses a human corpse". The essence of a demon replaces the human soul, birthing a "half-breed" demon in the host's corpse, using the blueprint of their human personality and memories.
  • Season 10 also adds in a small detail that the Trio had digitally downloaded their brains into flash drives and stowed them away for safekeeping. Andrew destroys Warren's, but recovers Jonathon's, allowing Jonathan to kinda come back to life.
• Secondary Adaptation: Joss Whedon made Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a film, got permission to make Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a TV series, and continued the story as a comic book. The other comic book is a Continuity Reboot of the franchise, which technically just makes it an adaptation of the film.

Season Eight

• Adaptational Superpower Change: Buffy temporarily gains a host of new powers, including the ability to fly, which would've been a costly effect to shoot for a television show, but not so much for a comic books artist to draw.
• All of Them: After Xander kills the vampire that killed Renee, Buffy goes to comfort him, ordering the other slayers to kill the members of the Japanese cult. Every last one of them.
• Almost Dead Guy: Combining this with Heroic Sacrifice and Redemption Equals Death, Ethan Rayne gives his life to help Buffy.
• Arc Welding: The end of the season sets up the the background of Fray, written 10 years earlier.
• Art Shift: In "After These Messages... We'll Be Right Back!", during Buffy's dream of when life was far more simple (all the way back in Season One, with the addition of Dawn).
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: At one point, Dawn gets turned into a giant...and a doll...and a centaur... Comics Dawnie is all over the place.
  • As a giant, Dawn was apparently still growing. Right before she transforms into a Centaurette, she is obviously far taller than she was earlier as she now towers over all the trees in the forest.
  • Centaurette.
• Bathtub Bonding: Occurs between Faith and Genevieve Savidge.
  • Also between Xander and Giant Dawn as she bathes in the lake.
• Batman Grabs a Gun: Throughout the series, Buffy has had a deep seated hatred of firearms, even refusing to arm up herself when facing an army. When confronted by the psychotic Simone however Buffy does indeed grab a gun, using it to Shoot Out the Lock holding a Giant Spider to attack the crazed Slayer.
• Behemoth Battle: One issue of the Season Eight comics features a fight between Giant Dawn and Mecha-Dawn, while a delighted Xander watches.
• Betty and Veronica: Willow is torn between Kennedy and Aluwyn.
• Bittersweet Ending: The group manages to win the day and avert the apocalypse once more. But Giles is dead due to Buffy's hesitation. All magic is gone with the destruction of the Seed of Wonder, meaning Willow is de-powered. All slayers are viewed as terrorists thanks to much idiocy of a few rogue slayers, who squarely put the blame on Buffy. While vampires are accepted by society. On the upside, Faith takes Angel in to rehabilitate him and Buffy, despite everything thats happened, continues to fight the good fight.
• Bland-Name Product: Happy Cat, obviously intended to be Hello Kitty.
• Bookends: Issue one's cover is similar to the last issue's, Buffy, wearing a maroon tanktop and wielding the ax. The first issue, she's in a confident stance, while the final issue's the page image above.
• Boom, Headshot!: Happens to Ethan Rayne and The General.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: Buffy calls Twilight an ass clown.
• Brought Down to Normal: Aiko; a Slayer who squees when Buffy personally calls her after she is impressed the Japanese girl had killed a bunch of demons, is used as a test subject by vampires who want to depower the Slayers. They easily beat her to death and string her up as a warning/threat to Buffy.
• The Bus Came Back: Actress Elisabeth Röhm (Kate Lockley) left to be on Law & Order and was Put on a Bus from Angel in season 2, but makes a comeback in the comics because of course, comics aren't hindered by pesky things like acting contracts.(She appears in Angel: After The Fall as a new member of AI in Aftermath.) Similarly Oz (Seth Green), who was Put on a Bus in season 4, returns in issue 26.
• Can't Believe I Said That: In the same story where Buffy sleeps with Satsu, one of the lead vampires is about to kill her, threatening how he bets she tastes sweet. Satsu kills him, retorts "You have no idea", then gets all guilty and ashamed over her words.
• Celeb Crush: Buffy and Willow discuss theirs, specifically Buffy's being Daniel Craig becomes a Running Gag, and in a sheer bout of coincidence Faith complains that when Angel hook Spike and Harmony back up he didn't also get the actor for her.
• Comic-Book Time: While the television show had one in-series year pass for every real year because each season took a year with an episode roughly every week, Buffy Season 8 has, of course, taken longer to unfold because of the monthly comic schedule. All the characters have been stuck at the same age for the last three real-world years. Season 8 takes place a year and a half after Season 7/half a year after Angel Season 5 (with the Angel and Spike comics in the half-year between).
• Covert Pervert: Willow grills Sanshu on how Buffy was in bed.
• Crossover: Fray in Time of Your Life. Future Willow transports Buffy to the future.
• Detail-Hogging Cover: The covers are near-photorealistic renditions of the actors, and the actual comics are much less detailed and much more stylized. The resemblance of the comic art to the actors can also vary greatly depending on the panel. An example of this would be here◊. Compare the art on the left to the art on the right, for instance.
  • This is because each issue has two covers. One is the super crazy detailed (done by Jo Chen) pics like this,◊ and the other being more stylized, usually funnier or sillier.◊Compare and contrast.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Subverted with Angel who, after seeing two attractive woman kiss, just wants to get on with the fight.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In-Universe: On the run Faith first hides in a bunker waiting for the end then escapes by train. Both are in Berlin, and she is disturbed at the implications.
• Doesn't Like Guns: It's official, Buffy hates guns. The one time she allows the other Slayers to arm up when the army is gunning for them she still refuses to use one herself.
• Double Entendre: One possible trope this quote could be, the other being Accidental Innuendo. In Season 8, after Xander is forced to ride Centaurette Dawn (causing her to get soaking wet), this exchange happens (also repeated almost word-for-word in the Angel comics):
  Xander: How're you feeling?
  Centaurette!Dawn: Like I was ridden hard and put away wet.
  Xander: AGH! Dawn, that's dis — oh. No. It's just true.
• Dramatic Unmask: Subverted by Twilight in the Season Eight comics. His neck just itches.
  • He later pulls this on Buffy.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Them F#©%ing. It's Buffy and Angel...you work it out.
• Gender Flip: Done In-Universe in Angel. There was a Hollywood movie (Very Loosely Based on a True Story) about The Fall, which had Spike as a woman.◊
• Grand Theft Me: While being tortured by Amy, Willow goes on a tirade about her best friend, Buffy. She then posesses The Slayer so she can guide her to where she is imprisoned.
• Groin Attack: Buffy just can't stay away from Angel's privates can she?
• Heroic Build: While Angel from the show is known for his hunky yet not overly-lean body that gets generously shown, he has a standard bodybuilder build in most of the comic continuations. The same goes for Spike, Xander and Riley, even though each of their television incarnations have different physiques.
  • Even Connor has this in the Angel comics, despite being pretty skinny in the show.
• Heroic BSoD: Angel at the end of Season 8 after realizing he killed Giles.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Ethan.
• Horror Hunger: Dawn, when changed into a centaurette, mentions a craving for hay. Remember, she still looks human from her waist up.
• Humongous Mecha: Dawn fights a Mecha-Dawn—complete with a tail— in Tokyo while still a giant.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Buffy works out that she was woken by a True Love's Kiss from Satsu, a fellow slayer. She tells her that they can't be with each other. Then Buffy sleeps with her. Then reverting to the way she was with Spike Buffy again tries to break off the romance, then sleeps with Satsu again.
• Insistent Terminology: Centaurette, not centaur.
  • When Xander call Centaur Dawn "Black Beauty." She corrects him, "that Chestnutty Beauty."
• It Always Rains at Funerals: Giles' funeral.
• Karma Houdini: Spike points out that almost everyone has been evil at one point, and that most of them get away with it after he Becomes The Costume in a season six Angel comic.
• Kill It with Fire: Renee lures a vampire before Buffy attacks it, then flicks a lighter and gives a PsychoticSmirk as Willow douses him in petroleum. After Buffy interrogates him he pleads for his life, saying he answered her questions, she has to let him go.
  I never promised that.
• The Magic Goes Away: The end of the season has Buffy forced to destroy the Seed of Wonder, the source of all magic on Earth, causing this. Season Nine reveals that the consequences are more far reaching; the Seed of Wonder wasn't just the source of magic. It was the source of creativity. The "magic" of stories, music, and art is also gone.
• Mildly Military: Buffy treats the Slayer army as a real one, however as she was a shockingly bad instructor and Xander is the only one with any military knowledge they make do as amateurs.
• The Mole: Riley.
• Moment Killer: "I'm watching those hands you two." Dammit Ken, inapprops.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Buffy destroying the seed. Willow blames Angel.
• No Bisexuals: Similar to Willow in the TV series, but reversed: after Buffy and Satsu hook up, several good reasons are given why they can't stay together, but apparently the main reason is that the former is "not a dyke." But could she be bi? The possibility isn't so much as alluded to. Later, we get Kennedy saying "You're not the only fool to ever wrinkle the sheets with a straight girl," which is arguably fair, but the possibility that she's bisexual still isn't mentioned. Her straightness is treated as just obvious.
  • An offhand comment by Faith indicates she isn't bisexual. Really into a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship perhaps, but as she says if you want her to go down on a woman you have the wrong chosen one.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Andrew complains that he's bored while the Slayers are playing strip poker, and is completely nonchalant when he sees Buffy and Satsu naked in bed together. Although that's because he's really, really gay.
• Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Given the world-shaking events of the Season 7 finale, this is to be expected. Sunnydale is destroyed, so the series can no longer take place where it was for the past seven seasons. All the potential slayers have been activated and there are now armies of slayers as well as newly-activated ones in every corner of the globe. The Masquerade is finally broken and the world at large is made aware of the supernatural, not to mention the many deaths in the final battle against The First. Oh yeah, and it's a comic.
• Pet the Dog: Out of all the villains who could get this, the rapist misogynist who murdered Tara, Warren Meers, gets one by jumping in and saving Andrew from a bunch of demons (using a repulsor gauntlet shield). Yes, it's as awesome as it sounds (note: he's still evil though, in fact, it's Amy who starts to want to help, Warren just likes Andrew).
• Precision F-Strike: Buffy to Angel on The Reveal that he's responsible for all the fucking shit, Buffy's view in as many words, put her through, Willow to Kennedy on how distraught she is over what, "Fucking Warren Meers," Kennedy herself over how royally Buffy screwed up and of course, Them F#©%ing.
• Prophecies Are Always Right: Oh so averted. Buffy and Angel really don't give a damn if the universe has been planning its death since its creation, they aren't doing it (well, they're doing it, that's what got them into this problem, but they aren't ending the universe).
• Psychotic Smirk: Buffy gives a particularly frightening one to a vampire as it's doused in fuel, threatening to Kill It with Fire.
• Redemption Equals Death: Ethan, arguably Giles.
• Red Herring: The "Black Hope"'s other alias, "The Madwoman," and her manner of dressing seem to openly imply that the Black Hope is Drusilla; it's actually Willow.
• Redshirt Army: The new generation Slayers. After the first few issues, if a Slayer you haven't met turns up, or a large number of them are gathered together? They're going to be horribly killed.
• Retcon:
  • The notion that vampires are Always Chaotic Evil was starting to be done away with possibly as early as season 5, but it doesn't really take off until the comics. The bonus/supplementary issue following 25, Tales of the Vampire, involves the aftermath of a teenage boy being transformed into a vampire, and neither he nor his vampire friends even come close to acting like any of the soulless monsters in seasons 1-3 of the television series. He briefly considers killing his mom, but quickly decides against it when she reveals that she still loves him no matter what. The idea of vampires killing people for food is even thrown out the window with Harmony's in-universe television show demonstrating that they can survive on non-lethal amount of blood from people. It goes hand in hand with the increasingly Black-and-Grey Morality of the series.
  • The first issue also retcons a detail from the Angel episode "The Girl in Question." The Buffy that was apparently living in Rome and dating Angel and Spike's old rival, the Immortal, is in fact one of two Body Doubles set in place to protect the real Buffy. Andrew had learned of Angel and Spike's history with the Immortal and orchestrated the ruse because he thought it was funny.
• Retired Monster: Dracula. Yes, Dracula. Because he's most likely madly in love... with Xander. Dracula.
• Running Gag: In Bedroom Follies: "What are you doing in my room?!"
  • Buffy's kink for Daniel Craig. It begins with her describing a fantasy of him to Willow (similar to The Dark Age) then geeking out with Andrew.
• Ship Sinking: Buffy isn't Willow's type. Damn!
• Snake People: The demon, Aluwyn is snake from the waist down and her top humanoid half is green.
• So Last Season: See Willow, probably the most powerful witch in the world, singlehandedly responsible for activating all the potential Slayers, a feat more impressive than the creation of the original Slayer to begin with. Then other magic users and monsters show up that can throw around equally impressive and powerful magic right back at her, including the formerly much-less talented witch, rat Amy. Even Buffy's Slayer abilities become pretty obsolete in the face of a giant army of full Slayers and Willow's magic.
• Speech Bubbles: Warren speaks with irregular and somewhat-squiggly bubbles and Twilight talks in a different font.
• Stealth Pun: The next universe is started by Buffy and Angel having sex all over the planet and in space. Brings a new meaning to Big Bang, doesn't it?
• Summon Bigger Fish: Powerless Slayers vs. US Military? Summon 3 Tibetan Goddesses.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: Good lord, by this point someone should have slapped Sunnydale with the label "Death Trap" with all the times this trope is invoked.
• Symbol Swearing
  • Taken to the next level when one issue ends with "I think they're F#@%ing" and the next issue being called "Them F#©%ing (Plus the True History of the Universe)".
• Take That!: The Season 8 comic series started over a year before the success of another franchise that featured a human girl in love with a vampire, so no-one thought much about the Big Bad of the season being named Twilight, with Buffy's only interaction with the villain coming before the other series became well known. But when they come face to face for the first time since then, Buffy points out the she did the whole Human-Girl-In-Love-With-a-Vampire thing first, and her vampire was so much better than the other one.
• Tempting Fate: Played for Laughs when Buffy doesn't think a road trip with Andrew would be all that bad. To her credit she puts up with hours of the most obsessive Proud to Be a Geek discussion and only stops him when he brings up Daniel Craig.
• Time Travel: To Fray.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: Future Dark Willow exploits the time travel confusion for all it's worth to manipulate people to her advantage.
• Toy Transmutation: Dawn is transformed into a porcelain doll by a curse from her ex-boyfriend.
• True Love's Kiss: With Buffy down for the count it's determined that one of these is the order of the day. At the time it was hinted that Xander gives it, but Buffy later figures out that it was fellow Slayer Satsu. Her reaction is that it was sweet, but they can't be together. Then they sleep together. Twice.
• Uncle Sam Wants You: The Chain.◊
• The Unmasqued World: In issue 21, Harmony is photographed biting Andy Dick, exposing vampires and the supernatural to the entire world.
• Unrequited Love Switcheroo: Buffy and Xander. Ultimately subverted in that Buffy tells him and he immediately calls bullshit. "You went through gay before you got to me." Buffy acknowledges that she's just lonely. Then, of course, The F#c%ing happens.
• You Can't Go Home Again Because You Turned It Into A Huge-Ass Crater
• Villain with Good Publicity: Harmony Kendall becomes a reality star and raises the public's opinion of vampires considerably. Likewise, she turns the Slayer Organization into a Hero with Bad Publicity.
• Zero-G Spot: Buffy and Angel during the "Twilight" arc in the comics.
  • This is, of course, in the issue "Them F#©%ing (Plus the True History of the Universe)"

Season Nine (Including Spike and Willow)

• Actually a Buffybot: Issue #7 reveals that for some time now (possibly foreshadowed from the beginning of the season) that the Buffy we see is a robot. It has her traits enough, remembering Buffy's reaction to a robot version of her, to completely flip.
  Spike...I'm a f*&^ing robot!
  • Becomes Comically Missing the Point when she finds out she's a robot after her arm is ripped off and goes to confront Andrew about it. Instead of explaining why she's a robot he seems to be only concerned about getting her a new arm. Later when Buffy and Spike are angry at him because what she's been through because of it, he still thinks they're referring to her having lost the arm.
  • Issue #8 reveals that it was an advanced Buffybot made by Andrew and loaded with Buffy's mind to act as a decoy for a new Big Bad, and the season starts with it waking up after the upload.
• Actually Pretty Funny: In Family Reunion, Angel insists that rather than leave everyone to die during the Twilight incident, he was actually going to bring everyone over to the new world. Willow remarks that Buffy never mentioned him saying that.
  Angel: You ever try finishing a sentence when Buffy's all worked up?
  Willow: Oh, that is sexist. And funny. And so very, very true.
• Alice Allusion: The title of Willow: Wonderland. Willow also makes a few Shout Outs. There is even a demon that claims that the green caterpillar was based on him.
• All Amazons Want Hercules: Dawn says Buffy wouldn't go for a guy like Detective Dowling - alive.
• Amazon Brigade: Kennedy sets up Deepscan, Slayers acting as bodyguards, and she gives Buffy a job.
• Back from the Dead: Angel succeeds in resurrecting Giles, albeit in a twelve years old body.
• Bait-and-Switch Comment:
  Willow: "If you think that sweet talk will make me feel better, you're completely and unabashedly right."
• Big Bad: Simone in Buffy and Whistler in Angel & Faith
• Bigger Is Better in Bed: I prefer lovers with big, thick dorsal fins.
• Bittersweet Ending: Err somewhat, least better when season eight left off. Buffy manages to kill Simone in the final battle, a new magic seed is created meaning magic is back in the world and Dawn is restored to life. However this has an odd effect on vampires who can now walk in the sunlight and shapeshift. What's more the book they used to create the seed has a blank page, meaning there's no new information to what's going on. A complete blank slate.
• Blatant Lies: "I've been over Buffy since the first time we brought down a house." Yeah Spike, sure you were.
• Body Horror: Mohra Demon blood has regenerative powers, ^note (it's what brought Angel back to life in "I Will Remember You") which was being sold to injured humans. As a result of magic being gone, the blood has a nasty side effect of causing unstoppable cell regeneration. Those exposed to it started to grow giant tumors all over their bodies that wouldn't stop growing.
  • Happens to some Londoners when Whistler tries to unleash a magic virus on the world to restore magic.
• Body Snatcher/Came Back Wrong: Eyghon, the demon summoned by Giles and Ethan in their youth, returned and possessed Ethan's body to literally snatch Giles' corpse at his funeral. Eyghon now possesses Giles and has resurrected a recently deceased slayer as well as other people, though not with their own souls as the bodies are possessed by demons.
• Bourgeois Bohemian: Billy's grandmother, Sky.
• Brought Down to Normal: Buffy, in particular, but it can be jarring to see everybody else being so...so normal. Simone by proxy attempts to have her depowered and slain. Especially Willow, who has no powers at all.
  Willow: "Without magic, I'm back to being part hacker, part hostage, while my superpeeps kick evil's butt."
• Call-Back:
  • To the Anywhere But Here game played in season two in...Anywhere But Here. Buffy starts with fantasies of having suntan lotion applied by Daniel Craig, then a Twin Threesome Fantasy with Christian Bale, where Willow's is taking shelter from a snowstorm with Tina Fey.
• Character Development: Kennedy's considerably more mature. Faith had gone from being an Anti-Hero to pretty damn heroic. In universe even Willow treats her as The Hero of both series, since she's still mad at Buffy.
• Co-Dragons: Pearl and Nash serve as this to Whistler
• Combat Tentacles: The Plagiarus demon.
• Continuity Nod: When the cops show up, Buffy recalls her career aptitude test results recommending that she become a police officer.
  • When Buffy meets Illyria, she reveals some of the stuff she knows about her from Angel and Spike. She also sees D'Hoffryn again and guesses that he either wants to turn her into a vengeance demon or burn her to death.
  • Flashbacks show the time Giles spent as Ripper alongside Ethan Rayne, Diedre Page, Phillip Henry, Thomas Sutcliffe and Randall.
• Cool Car: Since Kennedy spearheaded the idea of Slayers becoming bodyguards she cruises around in a red Audi that rivals Giles' Mid-Life Crisis Car for style.
• Creepy Twins: Pearl and Nash
• Cruelty Is the Only Option: Living in Quor'toth, where any show of love or mercy is punishable by imprisonment and death, if Connor's followers are an indication. Quor'toth, the Old One that the hell dimension is named after, feeds on hatred and death.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The half-demon twins Nash and Pearl vs a Slayer squad in a flashback. The Slayers don't win.
• Deadpan Snarker: The caterpillar guy from the Wonderland comics seems to be in perpetual Sarcasm Mode.
• Debate and Switch: The comic initially suggested that a major plot point of the season would be Buffy being unintentionally pregnant and deciding to have an abortion. Then it turned out that the apparent pregnancy was a bizarre side effect of her being a robot.
• Despair Event Horizon: Willow after the magic is gone.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Buffy looks like she's slowly turning bonkers after everything she lost.
  • Andrew reveals to Buffy at the party that he's set up a disaster relief fund with some other slayers, much to her dismay as he has made something of his life and she, as yet, has not without being The Slayer.
• Disappeared Dad: Angel is this for Connor for a while, refusing to see him or even answer his phone calls. Angel, being Angel, does this because he thinks Connor will be better off without him. Angel gets the appropriate What the Hell, Hero? from Faith. It gets even sadder when Connor reveals that his surrogate family doesn't remember him anymore since the magic went away.
  • Faith's father also shows up in London, looking for Faith.
• Disney Death: Anya appears to burn Xander to ash at the end of issue #29. In issue #30, it's revealed that she turned him into a ghost as revenge for him abandoning her, but she then resurrected him.
• Doesn't Like Guns: Still played straight with Buffy, averted with Simone, a slayer gone bad who accuses Buffy of not letting other slayers use guns to keep them weak and inferior to her. Simone and her followers love guns.
  • Buffy is shot at with blanks during a failed bodyguard exercise. She's upset that her boss (Kennedy, who offered her the job) did that, even though Deepscan use guns as a matter of course.
• Double Entendre:
  Centaurette Demon: "Please mount me, great one."
  Willow: "There's just no way out of the double entendre with this one."
• Easily Forgiven: Subverted. After their team-up in Quor'toth, Willow tells Angel that she still hasn't forgiven him for his actions during the Twilight crisis, and probably never well... but she doesn't hate him.
• Evil Me Scares Me: In Quor'toth, Willow begins going dark again and starts freaking out, forcing Angel to comfort her and calm her down.
  Willow: Angel, I can't! Please, I can't fight! Not now...
  Angel: It's going to be okay.
  Willow: No! You don't know me like this! It's never okay!
  Angel: Willow, it will be. I promise you. I need you to trust me. I know that's hard, after Twilight, after everything, but please, Willow. Can you trust me?
  Willow: I... I... yes. But I don't trust me.
• Fantastic Racism: Riley gets called out in the season finale for offhandedly implying nonhumans aren't "normal" with one such nonhuman specifically calling him a bigot.
  • Old Breed and New Breed vampires have this towards each other and can only engage in Teeth-Clenched Teamwork.
• Final Boss: Maloker, the Old One who created the first vampires, serves as this in Buffy.
• Fisticuff-Provoking Comment: During the Guarded arc, Buffy bickers with Kennedy over her choice to leave Theo behind despite him urging them to do it so they could regroup. Kennedy strikes a hell of a nerve when she throws Giles' death in Buffy's face as an example that Buffy gets so caught up in saving the world that she forgets about the "little guy" and lets other people die, which earns her a punch in the face.
• Foregone Conclusion:
  • Willow is trying to bring magic back to her world. In the Season 8 crossover with Fray, Time Of Your Life, it is revealed that in the future there is only one slayer left and that Willow has regained her power and become the Big Bad after going dark again. And she gets killed by Buffy.
  • That is, unless Whistler actually succeeds in changing the future, as is implied to be possible.
• Foreshadowing: "Where's Willow?" on the cover of "Apart (Of Me)" part III. Later, she shows up at Giles' house.
• Freudian Excuse: Pearl and Nash.
• From Bad to Worse: If you thought Buffy's life was bad before... vampires are beloved, Slayers are seen as the enemy, Buffy herself has a dead end job in a cafe, she just wants to be normal despite slaying being the only thing she feels she can do, and her friends have largely shunned her.
  • There's also the Zompires, which are stronger and more dangerous than regular vampires. Though nowhere as smart as the regular vampires.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!
  Willow: "What the Hello Kitty were those?"
  • Buffy says "What the hell dimension?" after randomly teleporting somewhere.
• Hidden Depths: Sophie and Vin tend to be vapid but they do love their grandnephew Rupert, and Sophie is still haunted by the death of a lover during The Home Front.
• History Repeats: Remember how Kennedy was the Jerkass and Buffy was the Drill Sergeant Nasty training the Slayer army? Now she's the Reasonable Authority Figure turning Slayers into Task Force 141 style Bodyguard Babes and Buffy is now the slack and clueless trainee.
• If I Do Not Return / Other Stock Phrases in Spike:
  "Tell my wife and larvae I love them."
• It's All About Me: The attitude of Sophie and Vin.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Spike encourages Buffy to get with Occult Detective Dowling, citing that he's a nice, normal man that he believes Buffy needs.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Kennedy might be seen as The Scrappy but when she offers Buffy a job she's pretty on the ball about bodyguard work, a vampire loving world, even tapping into Buffy's fears.
  • She brings up not destroying Tincan might help restore magic, and in turn Willow. Even though they split up it doesn't mean Kennedy doesn't still care for her, and it might get some people off Buffy's case for what she'd done.
• Just Eat Gilligan: Andrew had set up a Deus ex Machina to deal with Simone: it involved creating another Buffybot, getting the real Buffy stoned, putting Buffy's mind in the bot (and make her think she's pregnant,) then set up the real Buffy with the bot's brain to think it lives a different life and lives in a suburban home Andrew had set up so when the assassin strikes bot!Buffy might be read for it, maybe, possibly. Andrew being Andrew he was being far too clever for his own good, a much simpler solution would have been to use the bot to lure out Simone.
• Kick the Dog: In the Guarded arc, Kennedy criticizes Buffy for leaving Theo behind despite Theo urging her to do it so they could regroup, ranting that Buffy gets so caught up in saving the world that she forgets about the "little guy" and lets other people die, using Giles' death at the end of Season 8 as an example. This earns her a punch in the face from Buffy, and Kennedy later admits at the end of the issue that she was out of line.
• Loophole Abuse: How Willow was able to open an entrance to Quor'toth, despite there no longer being magic on Earth. While the portals to other dimensions are closed, she can still access Quor'toth because it was accessed by tearing a hole in reality itself, not through an actual portal.
• Lotus-Eater Machine: The witch coven in "Wonderland".
• Mama Bear: A demon goes after Willow and Marrack after Willow kills her child.
• Manipulative Bitch: Simone was behind the attack on Buffy.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Even though he keeps all his memories the resurrected Giles is prone to typical behavior of pubescent boy, like emotional outbursts, being distracted by Faith's cleavage or getting a boner when hugging the buxom hot Slayer
• Morton's Fork: "For magic to open a direct pathway there, there has to be magic on the other end - what you call a Catch-22".
• Not Quite Dead: Nadira survives having half her body burned by Nash.
  • Turns out Rack had survived being sucked dry of magic by Willow.
  • And Eyghon had survived the fight with Angel's inner demon by possessing a dead rat.
• Oh, Crap!: In the first Spike comic, Spike is knocked out and up by a group of demons who want to steal his spaceship. Said demons walk onto the ship, asking the last three remaining cockroach aliens (who have become Spike's lackeys),
  "Okay, which one of you cockroaches is in charge of this heap?"
  • The other two aliens point at the one in the middle, who also happens to have a broken leg, who gets an Oh, Crap! look and just reponds with
  "$#%&!"
• Older and Wiser: Kennedy has gone from the selfish and somewhat mean but well intended brat in the series to thinking she's in Rainbow Six to going full Reasonable Authority Figure leading a Amazon Brigade hybrid of Blackwater.
• Older Than They Look: Giles greataunts Sophronia and Lavinia Fairweather. They look in their early twenties but re over a hundred years old.
• Our Vampires Are Different / Our Zombies Are Different: Without the Magic Seed allowing demons to posses a sired body. Vampires are now much more mindless and feral. The Scoobies call them Zompires (Zombie/Vampires) so as not to confuse them.
• Pac Man Fever: Buffy's roommates are seen playing Mass Effect, specifically Liara fighting Collectors, which doesn't occur in game. Doubles as a Shout-Out since Dark Horse comics are behind both adaptations.
• Plot Parallel: Buffy destroying the seed^note  in Season 8 is compared to Theo destroying Tincan.
  Theo: "No one's going to understand why I destroyed what I worked so hard to build."
  Buffy: "You're right. They won't. You're going to get blamed for being selfish. For doing this to save your own life. To fix the mistakes you made. You're going to lose friends. But at the end of the day, you're doing it for the right reasons."
• Portmanteau: Zombie vampires. Zompires.
• Precision F-Strike: And Buffy is Leaning on the Fourth Wall to drop this one about demons hunting her for her student loan, as if to say, "yeah, this is dumb. She'd drop it again when freaking that she had been turned into a robot.
• Puppeteer Parasite: The Plagiarus demon again.
• Reset Button: Buffy hits it hard at the end of Guarded. Beforehand she wanted out of being the Slayer; never mind by rights Faith is really The Chosen One and by everyone's account is doing a fantastic job of it, she wants a proper job and she needs money. At the end of the story Kennedy offers her enough money to pay back that student loan with the promise of more if she stays on. Buffy turns it all down, because she felt it was all for herself rather than helping others, remember their occupation was bodyguard and thus it would be helping and protecting others, and chooses to remain the same broke girl stuck doing something she hates.
• Relationship Upgrade: Billy and Devon.
• Rescue Romance: Devon saving Billy from a Zompire.
• Revision/Continuity Nod: Willow met Giles' aunts while she was training on his estate in Bath after the events of season 6.
• Ridiculously Cute Critter: The cute little orange octopi Willow comes across in the ocean. She names one Mr. Octopus Fantasticus and expresses a desire to have one as a bathtub toy.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Kennedy's Slayer bodyguards are not allowed to engage in corporate warfare against Wolfram & Hart. She takes Buffy to do so anyway.
• Screw Yourself in the first Spike issue:
  Elizabeth: "I have never seen his majesty like this before."
  Sebastian: "He has told us to sod off before Elizabeth. Just last week, he told Scotty and me to engage in an activity so anatomically impossible that-"
• Secretly Selfish: Willow becomes obsessed with finding a way to restore magic to Earth, convinced that the world is dying without magic and needs it to survive. Over the course of the Willow: Wonderland miniseries, she eventually realizes and confesses that she actually just wanted magic back so she could feel powerful again.
  Willow: ...Maybe just a couple of sads. My friends need me. At least, I keep telling myself they need me. The truth is... when I think about now, they seemed to be doing fine. I'm the one who was falling apart. Without magic, I'm back to being part hacker, part hostage, while my superpeeps kick evil's butt. I was so convinced the world needed magic. That life on Earth is fundamentally missing something. But maybe... maybe it was just me.
• Shout-Out:
  • The Jan/Feb 2012 Buffy comic has the cover in the style of Batman. For those who saw Faith wearing Batman pajamas in her series they should have seen it coming.
  • The last issue with Simone and the Bot has someone wearing a skull t shirt. It certainly wasn't The Punisher, but it likely refers to the last Punisher comic where he dies which was published at around the same time.
  • Willow: "Oh the places I'll go", and later "You'd be a fine minion ... and your little dogs, too." Also, in the same issue,
  Connor: "Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. And, uh ... the force will be with you."
  • "Why isn't the nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever, so-Xander-can-rest medicine working?!"
  • "What would The Hardy Boys do when they got stuck on a case?"
  • Buffy calling Illyria "Smurfette."
  • Willow nicknames a giant octopus (which has the power to split itself into smaller, cuter octopi) Hello Cthulhu.
• Stupid Sexy Flanders: Willow engenders this reaction in Buffy's roommate Anaheed.
• Succubi and Incubi: Spike's new Love Interest is a succubus and has shown her true demon form.
• The Bus Came Back: Simone; last seen executing the General at war with the Slayers, is driving around San Francisco, armed to her back teeth, promising that she won't let the world forget about the Slayers. This... this can't be good.
• Was It Really Worth It?: In the final issue of Angel & Faith, Nadira finally gets her revenge on Nash for killing her Slayer squad... after he's fried her with Eye Beams. When Faith tries to comfort her by assuring her of her revenge, Nadira just remarks it wasn't worth it.
• What Did I Do Last Night?: Issue #1 opens with Buffy waking up in a trashed room thinking:
  "God... What have I done? Also, why did I do whatever it was I've done? Also, where am I?"
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Buffy and Spike give Andrew complete and total hell after he swaps Buffy's mind into a robot after roofieing her at a party, in order to protect her from an unknown Big Bad that is after her. He did this without telling anyone else what he did. This leads to Buffy thinking she is pregnant due to limitations of the robot body, but discovers that she is a robot when her arm gets chopped off. Spike even threatens to kill Andrew if he doesn't fix the situation.
  • Willow and Angel both get one on each other when she shows up in Family Reunion. She chews him out for trying to resurrect Giles, convinced it'll end in disaster, and he's furious that she's willing to involve Connor in her plans.
  Angel: You want me to find the son I've never been there for and ruin the life he's built. Ask him to go back to the hell he grew up in because of me. For some wild goose chase. Something that's not even possible. Here I was ashamed to see you.
  Willow: [slaps him] Don't you dare. Don't you dare try to say I'm like you! This is all your fault! Thinking you can fix things! Running blindly down any road that might lead to redemption! And you're doing it again! Never worrying about the consequences until it's too late! You've ruined everything, Angel!!
  • Later, when it's revealed that Dawn is fading away due to the end of magic, Xander chews Buffy out over it, stating that had she not destroyed the Seed of Wonder, this wouldn't be happening. When Buffy reminds him that she had no choice but to do so to save the world, Xander simply retorts that it's still her fault because she slept with Angel and caused Twilight in the first place. Of course, Xander himself gets it right back when it transpires that he made a deal with Severin and Simone to feed them information on Buffy's intentions in exchange for them going back to reverse Twilight; Buffy in particular is furious that Xander had so little trust in her that he was willing to conspire with Simone. It reaches a whole new level when it turns out that if Severin did reverse Twilight, his doing so would tear reality itself apart.
• What Would X Do?: "What would The Hardy Boys do when they got stuck on a case?"
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The basic view of the world, with Slayers being seen as terrorists persecuting vampires who are now beloved. Simone does not help, her appearance in the first issue even invoking that she is a domestic terrorist. Of course, public opinion begins to shift against vampires with the emergence of zompires, leading to the San Francisco Police Department to create an anti-vampire task force.

Season Ten

• Aborted Declaration of Love: Upon finding out that the source of Spike's nightmare about murdering two innocents follows all the way down his vampiric line to the demon Archeus, Buffy (believing that vampires of the same line are somehow the same person) exclaims her shock that she'd fallen in love with the same guy twice. When Spike tries to clarify if the implication of her words were what they sounded like, she refuses to answer.
• Aliens Steal Cable: Trapped in a remote hell dimension, Xander teaches the local demons to use their ability to scry on Earth so they can tempt humans to sin to pirate subscription television instead. They greatly enjoy Game of Thrones, Joffrey in particular.
• All Therapists Are Muggles: Xander averts There Are No Therapists by seeing a Dr. Mike for his issues, which greatly helps him personally with things like his temper. However Dr. Mike's advice on what to do about the not-spirit-of-Anya falls hard into this trope as despite knowing ghosts exist and therefore the chance that it is equally likely she is a confused ghost as she is a figment of Xander's guilt, his advice is for Xander to simply ignore the ghost which Xander weakly justifies as letting her be her own person when Xander is her only point of contact. Buffy later calls Xander on simply doing this instead of asking any of his friends for ideas, given they have experience with ghosts.
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Xander doesn't tell anyone else about Anya's ghost for fear of being seen as crazy even after a medium confirms for him that it's real and not Anya, instead of, you know, being haunted. Buffy calls him on it when it bites them in the ass.
• The Atoner: Ends up being the reason Andrew steals the Vampyr book and heads to Sunnydale. He wants to resurrect Jonathan and Tara, the former to make up for killing him under The First's influence, the latter to make up for having a part in her death.
  • The "Love Dares You" arc turns Spike into this specifically in regards to his Slayer of Slayers days. Buffy traveling through his memories to help him means he now sees her reactions to his actions when he recalls those moments, tainting the triumph and bloodlust with shame. This turns out to be a good thing as it helps him shake Archeus' control over him.
  • Angel still has some lingering guilt over the Twilight incident, admitting that he agreed he deserved Xander punching him.
• Bad Date: Buffy attempts to do some speed dating, resulting in a long line of dud dates and finishing with a vampire who's thrilled to have found the one slayer with a history of dating vampires.
• Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Invoked, albeit by accident. Buffy complains about the Mistress, the Sculptor and the Glutton and wishes something else would take them out. The fake ghost of Anya heard her and transmitted the wish to D'Hoffyrn, a vengeance demon, empowering him to be strong enough to dispatch them in order to fulfill the wish.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The Vampyr book, which governs the laws of magic, can be used to make just about anything true by writing new laws of magic into it. However, vague descriptions that can be interpreted in several ways have a tendency to work out negatively. Dracula finds this out the hard way.
  • Vengeance Demons, natch. It turns out when granting a wish they taste omnipotence, and D'Hoffryn has grown to like that power. When Buffy inadvertently wishes the current Big Bad trio taken out, he pulls the fake Anya ghost into his plan and makes her a real vengeance demon.
  • Averted in the finale where Buffy wishing she'd never trusted D'Hoffryn is how they win, since the Anya ghost is actually on their side and can also grant wishes, helping them bring him down.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Initially Archeus before he moves to being the Big Bad of Angel and Faith instead, then it's the Glutton, the Sculptor, and the Mistress, and finally D'Hoffryn takes over as the True Final Boss.
• Big Book Of Everything: The Vampyr book is revealed to have been one of these, being the first major chronicle of magic and its rules centuries ago. It's now slowly filing in with the new rules and can have new rules written in.
• Big Damn Heroes: Kennedy, some of her slayers, Faith and Giles show up just in time to save Buffy and co. from some new rules vampires in issue 1.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Buffy and Spike at the end of Issue 11.
• Big "NO!": How everyone shut down D'Hoffryn's last attempt at bargaining with them.
• Booze Flamethrower: Spike uses one in issue 2 to take out a vampire who changed into a swarm of bees.
• Brain Uploading: The Trio made digital backups of their brains. Andrew plans on using Jonathan's to resurrect him and destroys Warren's so he can't come back. However Andrew later comes to terms with the fact that even helping this copy of Jonathan won't undo the fact that he killed Jonathan
• "The Breakfast Club" Poster Homage: The variant for issue 16 poses the characters this way.
• The Bus Came Back: Several recurring characters show up after the climax of the finale to serve on the new Magic Council including Dracula and Riley Finn.
• Call-Back: The first time Buffy and Spike sleep together, Spike wakes up in the middle of the night to nightmares of killing innocents, calling back to "Innocence". Buffy even outright lampshades this by jokingly asking the next morning if he is evil now.
• Crush Filter: When Buffy enters Spike's mind to find the source of his nightmares, she sees herself the way he sees her—Beautiful, etherial and practically glowing. Buffy states she doesn't think she looks that good even on her best days.
• Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Discussed. Xander asks Andrew why the trio never sold any of their obvious high tech inventions to get rich. Andrew reveals that they stole most of the base plans for such things by hacking government files and thus couldn't legally sell them, thus retroactively explaining why the Trio never tried that.
• Daywalking Vampire: Thanks to the new rules of magic, all newly sired vampires can walk unharmed in the sunlight.
• Disability Immunity: Exploited in issue 7; Xander, in a moment of clarity, takes two plastic drink swords and shoves them in Spike's ears, poking out his ear drums. The deaf Spike is thus immune to the sirens, and manages to kill them before his ear drums grow back.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Subverted. Spike mentions to Xander that he'd related to guys that whine about being in the "friend zone" when he was soulless. However, though he's still in love with her, he notes that he now feels pretty content and satisfied being Just Friends with Buffy.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: The finale for the season is quite possibly the least depressing Buffy season finale ever none of the main cast has died, the tone is hopeful if a bit unsure with the new magic council, Buffy and Spike stuck together, and D'Hoffryn was defeated despite trying to turn the heroes' insecurities against them.
• Everyone Can See It: Pretty much everyone can see that Buffy and Spike make a good couple. Played with in that both Buffy and Spike can see it themselves but don't want to take the risk...at least until "Love Dares You, Part 2".
• Fanservice Faux Fight: The sirens who kidnap Spike and Xander have them strip down to their boxers and pillow fight with each other for the amusement of The Mistress. Lampshaded by Spike, who claims he's beginning to feel objectified. Xander admits he finds it empowering.
• Fatal Attractor: Discussed with regards to both Buffy and Spike.
  • Spike points out to Buffy that post Riley, she seems to only go after what she knows she can't have; him, while soulless, Angel, after going all 'mad god', a woman, despite not identifying as gay, and Xander, when she knew he was with Dawn.
  • Xander later states the same to Spike, pointing out that he only goes after women he's incapable of being in healthy relationships with; Drusilla, Harmony and Buffy when she hated herself.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Wholly embraced by Andrew, who comes up with multiple weapons and other gear for the Scoobies including UV emitting guns and goggles that can see layers of magical warding.
• Game-Breaker: In-Universe, the New Breed vampires are viewed as being simply too powerful since they can walk in sunlight, shapeshift, and are harder to stake than older vamps. It's eventually agreed that they get a weakness added to make them less overpowered: no shapeshifting during the day.
  • Also D'Hoffryn in the final arc, who takes out all of the Magic Council and assumes the powers of each of their positions. By the time only one is left, it is outright stated he has no weaknesses and is only taken down when a vengeance wish removes his extra powers.
• Genre Shift: Kennedy and her Slayers have gone from medieval warriors to almost a Call of Duty clan, replete with special forces outfits, guns that kill vampires with silver bullets and jungle warfare.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Spike backhands Angel while taunting him about his daddy issues to snap him out of Archaeus' control.
• The Ghost: Xander's therapist, Dr. Mike.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Angel has shades of this when he finds out that Buffy and Spike are in a relationship.
  • Subverted with Dowling, who despite having an interest in Buffy in season 9, earnestly supports her and Spike getting together.
• Heel–Face Turn: The ghost Anya turns on D'Hoffryn when he goes back on his promise not to hurt the Scoobies, and grants Buffy's wish of vengeance against him, which allows them to defeat him.
• Horrible Judge of Character: The Scoobies trust D'Hoffryn to help them with the Vampyr book and new rules of magic, while he plots to seize power using the book himself. When he makes his move, he takes the time to gloat that they really should have known better.
  Buffy: You played us. All that time you pretended to be our Obi-Wan Kenobi, giving us advice like some wise sensei, you were tricking us into doing what you wanted.
  D'Hoffryn: Of course. And you complied like dull-minded sheep. If only you'd known I was a soulless demon whose reason for being is revenge... oh, wait. You did.
• Hypocrite: Buffy complaining about Dawn being unable to see how good she is with Xander and somewhat scolding her for not giving him a proper chance to rebuild their relationship. Dawn directly calls her on this, pointing out that Buffy is pointedly ignoring her own very obvious chemistry with Spike and that she never truly gave him a real chance now that a relationship between them could actually work.
• I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Buffy and Spike discuss this towards the end of Issue 12 after she impulsively kisses him at the beginning:
  Buffy: We've worked so hard for so long to get where we are. To something important. Something real. Friendship... What I'm trying to say is, I love what we have. It's taken a lot to get here. And it would've been stupid and thoughtless to risk that by rushing into something.
  • Subverted when Spike admits to still being in love with her, which leads to Buffy immediately backtracking on this trope and them falling into bed together.
  Spike: There's just one problem with that. I'm in love with you.
  (smash cut to them roughly making out on their way to the bedroom)
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Angel does this to Spike under Archaeus' control. Archaeus notes it only happened because Angel honestly does "desperately want" to stab Spike. Since it's with a sword instead of a stake, Spike just pulls the sword out and starts dual wielding against a now-unarmed Angel.
• Insistent Terminology: Xander insists on calling his action figures "maquettes".
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Angel at least tries to do this for Buffy's sake, but it's hinted that he's still carrying a torch for her and is maybe even hoping that Buffy and Spike break up.
  • Both Spike and Xander acknowledge a slight temptation to use the book to make their respective romances come to fruition. Spike admits that a future within which he was The Chosen One for the Shanshu prophesy, became human, and lived happily ever after with Buffy would have been nice, but he refuses to steal her choice in the matter and ruin the happiness she's built for herself. Xander worries that writing in that Dawn's feelings are restored could cause complications and potentially permanently screw up her feelings forever, and that it'd be too selfish to risk that over trying to fix his relationship. They both agree that love is doing what's best for the person they love, even if it isn't what's best for themselves.
  • Spike also tries this initially before he realizes he's what makes Buffy happy. Then he does it again later on, wondering if they should break up before he screws up. Buffy calls him out on it, and they decide to stay together.
• Just Friends: What Buffy and Spike are trying to be until Issue 12 when they sleep together.
  • Olivia and Giles come to the conclusion that this is all they can be anymore, as Olivia justifiably doesn't feel comfortable being romantic with someone in a child's body.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: As a show of how far he's grown since season 6, Spike rescues six kittens from some demons he caught gambling for them. He and Xander keep three of them (the other three going to Buffy, Willow and Dawn), and he's often seen petting or caring for them throughout the season.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: As a result of the new magic, Dawn remembers everything from her past life but her emotions have been reset to when she was created. As a result she's going though Joyce's death as if it just happened and doesn't love Xander anymore.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again: In issue 7, Spike and Xander are seduced by sirens, but Spike, having been temporarily deafened, manages to fight them off and kill them just as the Brainwashed and Crazy Xander jumps on his back. The end result: they're both in their underwear, and Xander is piggy-backing Spike. They both agree never to speak of it again.
• Living Emotional Crutch: Subverted. The Team tries to lean on Giles again, only for him to quickly point out his return as a 12 year old is more than physical, and that he can't be relied on for everything.
• The Lost Lenore: Willow talks to Andrew about how she frequently considers finding a way to bring Tara back to life, but can't bring herself to do it, as she now knows how badly it can destroy a person to be pulled out of heaven.
• Love Confession: While not exactly a confession of love, at the beginning of Issue 12, Buffy admits to Spike that she wants to give their relationship another shot. Spike at first (and rightfully) rejects her due to worry that she doesn't really mean it, though he changes his mind when he realizes that she does and they sleep together at the end of the issue after he admits he's still in love with her too.
• The Magic Comes Back: A new Seed of Wonder has been created, and magic has returned to Earth... but with different rules than before. For example, all vampires sired from this point onward are Daywalkers and Voluntary Shapeshifters, and the Language of Magic is no longer required to cast spells; at one point, Willow just utters "boom shaka laka" to do so.
• Married to the Job: Spike tries to be this in order to help him get over Buffy. He even says the exact words to Dowling, who sees right through it.
• The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: Giles now has the hormones and short temper to go with his twelve year old body and despises it.
• More than Mind Control: Archaeus seizes control of Angel and gets him to fight Spike. According to Archaeus, Angel already desperately wanted to stab Spike, so it was easy to control him.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Scoobies give the Magic Council emergency powers because Buffy is unwilling to bear responsibility for the book herself, and D'Hoffryn uses this to his advantage by inserting a loophole that another member would inherit the powers of a Council member if they were killed until a 'replacement' could be appointed, after which he kills the rest of the Council and steals their powers for himself. When Willow approaches the military in an effort to gain their support, they decide her judgement can't be trusted for this reason and throw her off the base.
• The Nose Knows: Harmony is able to tell Buffy and Spike are a couple despite them no exhibiting any couple-y behaviour in front of her because she can smell them on each other.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Angel's visit leads to the gang discussing whether or not he and Spike have ended up as being similar. Spike's best comeback is that he's British and Angel's Irish which are "completely different."
• Not So Similar: On the other hand, Willow notes that Spike is far more open to change than Angel is, doing things like going out and earning his soul.
• Not Staying for Breakfast: Spike fears falling asleep after he and Buffy are intimate for the first time since their Destructive Romance for this reason, as Buffy had a habit of ditching him after sex back then. Subverted finally, as she does stay the night, greets him fondly in the morning, and he ends up being the one who has to leave early for work.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Buffy still hasn't forgiven Andrew for the Buffybot fiasco last season.
• The One That Got Away: "I Wish, Part 2" reintroduces Dylan from Spike: Into the Light, who has come looking for Spike, describing him as the one who got away. Downplayed in that she's not looking for a relationship with him now, noting they only knew each other for a few days.
• Out-of-Context Eavesdropping: Buffy drops by Xander and Spike's Apartment to take back the Vampyr book and catches Spike talking about how he's finally moving on from her. She leaves immediately afterward, looking notably dejected by what she'd overheard. This of course, was missing the context not only the beginning of the conversation in which he admits his ideal future would have been with her, but several other conversations with Xander and Dowling in which he admits to still being very much in love with her.
  • Vengeance Demon Jonathan shows Andrew scenes of the Scoobies and a guy he's interested in, Clive, talking badly about him, having cut out the context in order to make them seem as hurtful as possible so that Andrew would betray Buffy. It doesn't work.
• Poor Communication Kills: Generally averted, showing the Scoobies are growing up. Spike and Buffy in particular manage to work through a lot of their issues with talking. However, Xander keeping Anya's ghost a secret ends up biting them in the ass and earns him a call-out.
• Polyamory: When Harmony gets her hands on the book and tries to get Clem to write her "ideal world" into existence, she makes sure to tell Clem to write in that Angel, Buffy and Spike finally decided to "cut the crap" and get into a polygamous polyamorous marriage together. Clem never actually writes it down, leaving it as purely Threesome Subtext. ^note  It's distinctly Polyamory and not Marry Them All, as Harmony's fantasy of the situation suggests Spike and Angel would be... involved with each other too.
• Relationship Upgrade: As of Issue 12, Buffy and Spike are back together. Or rather, they're trying their hand at a real relationship finally.
• Replacement Goldfish: Andrew with the AI copy of Jonathon's memories. Andrew eventually realizes he's doing this as a way to cope with his guilt of what he did to Jonathon and that even getting the AI its own body won't bring the old Jonathon back.
• Retcon: Discussed in-universe when dealing with what gets written in the book. Simply declaring something undone does not work, as the book does not accept blatant retcons. It also does not accept cliches like "it was all a dream." More creative methods must be used, such as utilizing Chekhov's Gun like with Xander remembering Dracula's discussion on his own willpower to help him resist Maloker's power later on and or going all-out on creativity like Spike (seemingly) writing an alteration in sonnet form to go against the already-written strengthening of dimensional barriers to let Dawn use her Key powers and find the Big Bad.
  • However, the book can be used to write in new rules that don't contradict its contents. Thus the New Breed vampires re given the restriction that their shapeshifting does not work in daylight anymore when it worked just fine in the first arc.
• Sigh of Love: Andrew recounts Spike's journey of earning his soul for unrequited love to a couple of girls the Scoobies have rescued from the Zompires, leading to all three of them sighing dreamily.
• Shipper on Deck: Buffy to Dawn and Xander. Dawn, Willow, Dowling, Andrew, and even Xander are also this for Buffy and Spike.
• Spirit Advisor: Anya is this to Xander. Though she's real it is revealed she's not actually Anya.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Giles meets his old flame, Olivia, and hopes to renew their old relationship. Olivia refuses; since Giles was brought back in the body of a 12-year-old boy, she doesn't really feel physically attracted to him anymore nor wants to be Mistaken for Pedophile.
• Take That!: Once again to Anne Rice (and then Twilight) when Dowling tries to set Spike up with a female colleague into vampire literature.
  "But you're not sparkling." Well excuse me. I'll shove some pop rocks up me arse.
  • After one fight, Spike notes he has more holes in him "than the plot of a Michael Bay film."
• Troubled, but Cute: Buffy's affinity for this type of guy (particularly of the vampiric variety) is riffed on, with a vampire she meets while speed-dating trying to convince her into giving him a chance by stating he's "extremely self-hating".
• Undead Tax Exemption: Discussed in issue 7; Spike remarks to Xander that it would be a challenge for him to get a job, pointing out that he has no social security number, can't work daytime shifts, and has a hundred year gap in his resume; he explains that most vampires support themselves by robbing their kills, which his soul prevents him from doing. Xander suggests he get a job as a consultant for the S.F.P.D.'s supernatural crimes unit, which Spike confesses isn't a bad idea.
• Villains Want Mercy: In the final issue, Buffy and the Scooby Gang corner D'Hoffryn and are about to kill him for his actions throughout the series, including killing the Magic Council, stealing their powers, and nearly killing Xander using the spirit of Anya as a slave. He begs them for mercy, offering to grant them all one wish if they let him live, but the Scoobies refuse, knowing that there will always be a catch; Buffy proceeds to chop his head off.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Xander and Spike become this, often exchanging Snark-to-Snark Combat but also frequently offering each other advice and comfort.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Spike weaponizes the trope against Angel in order to break him free of Archaeus' control by accusing "Liam" of just listening to another jerkass father figure.
• Wham Line: Nadira when she declares she never stopped being a Slayer and opens a can of whoop-ass on Archeus and Drusilla.
  • The Reveal that the ghost with Xander is not really Anya.
• Wham Shot: Willow discovers that Andrew had destroyed any means of being able to revive Warren like she feared, and wonders what he's planning. Cut to him at Tara's headstone, the implication that he feels he Must Make Amends by bringing her Back from the Dead. Done a second time when Spike realizes the Soul Glutton is trying to get a soul from somewhere heavenly, and we get Tara in a panel.
  • The end of Issue 11, when Buffy kisses Spike.
  • When Anya's ghost meets her benefactor: D'Hoffryn.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?:
  • Andrew admits he doesn't see the copy of Jonathan's memories as Jonathan, realizing he can't just undo killing his friend. However, the copy points out it is perfectly self aware and swears revenge for Andrew's betrayal.
  • Xander's treatment of the fake ghost of Anya after he comes to terms with it not being Anya. He simply elects to ignore her as if she was a figment of his imagination, despite a medium confirming she's a spirit in a previous issue and more importantly, the fact that Xander is the only person she can interact with at all. Like anyone, this leads to her going mad from the isolation.
  • Riley gets called out by the Magic Council when he calls himself a representative of "normal people."
    Councilman: "Normal"? Then what, dare I ask, are the rest of us? Your bigotry is intolerable, sir!

Season Eleven

• Amicable Exes: Buffy and Riley remain on good terms to the point where Riley is sympathetic to Buffy's worries over Spike still being trapped in the safe zone, even despite the fact that the two men have never cared much for each other. He, alongside his wife, also aids in sneaking Buffy and Willow back into the safe zone, at considerable risk to their positions in the army.
• Anger Born of Worry: Buffy scolds Spike for not telling her that the blood rations provided in the safe zone were not nearly enough and that he was starving. She later scolds him for trying to be self-sufficient with both hands injured.
• Battle Couple: Buffy and Spike. They even engage in some Flirting Under Fire in issue 1.
• Big Damn Heroes: Buffy, Willow, Spike and Faith bringing down the safe zone with a huge magical explosion and releasing all the supernaturals trapped there.
• Big Damn Kiss: Buffy and Spike, upon being reunited after breaking into the safe zone.
• Brought Down to Badass: Buffy and Willow are forced to drain their powers so they can leave the safe zone. However, even without her Slayer strength, Buffy manages to fight off a guy harassing a former witch in the park. With the help of Faith, Riley and Sam, they also manage to break into the safe zone again and regain their powers.
• Continuity Nod: Jordan brings up Buffy's rumoured "vampire fetish" as the reason she's weak to supernaturals, a Running Gag that stretches back to season 6 and that has been referenced in most seasons since due to her on-again-off-again relationships and general UST with two different vampires.
  • Buffy remarks, upon having been cornered for an attack and poisoned, that it would take more than that to kill her, as she'd gotten the same thing as her 18th birthday present.
  • The kittens Spike had rescued in season 10 still live with the scoobies and are now grown into cats.
  • Buffy suggests Dawn using her new key powers established in season 10 for her and Spike to hide in a hell dimension when the Magic Eater satellites are launched.
• Demoted to Extra: Giles, who features very little in the season despite still being around.
• Despotism Justifies the Means: The Big Bad of the season, Joanna Wise, ends up causing a lot of damage, including setting a storm dragon loose on San Francisco and untold destruction, solely so she could have the power of a ruler in a world that no one would have access to magic but her.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: The "safe zone" is pretty clearly reminiscent to concentration camps, and the tension between humans and supernaturals draws overt parallels to racial tension. The possibility of deportation is even brought up with regards to Spike.
  • Spike is directed to sit on the back of the bus for the trip to the safe zone. Subverted in that it's only because that's where the windows are tinted so vampires don't fry in the sun.
  • Shortly after the attack on San Francisco, a demon (who states himself to be a refugee of his home realm) is attacked by what amounts to a human lynch mob until Buffy and Spike break it up.
• Engineered Public Confession: How Wise is brought down; Xander and Dawn filmed her fight with Buffy and her bragging about the true purpose of the Pandora Project.
• Fantastic Racism: At the forefront of the season. At one point, human-supernatural tensions are running so high that a demon is attacked by a mob of humans for seemingly no reason beyond what he is.
  • Jordan conflates Buffy's insistence that she can't paint all supernaturals with the same brush as weakness and a sexual fixation on vampires.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Wise is ultimately killed by being eaten by the very same storm dragon she'd used to kick off her Evil Plan.
• I Am Very British: When the Slayers that were working for the government return to Buffy's apartment to beg for their powers back, Spike starts rattling off insults in English parlance and Buffy warns him to cool it, as he's getting "extra British".
• Interrupted Declaration of Love: Before parting ways so that Buffy can get her slayer powers removed and released back into normal society, she tries to tell Spike she loves him. He interrupts her and asks her to wait until they're together again to say it.
• Love Confession: Buffy tells Spike she loves him in the final issue of the season.
• Love Hurts: For Willow, mostly. After hitting it off with a member of her coven, Calliope, Willow makes it clear that though she's interested, she doesn't want to start anything until Calliope breaks up with her girlfriend. Calliope agrees, but eventually once they're both out of the Safe Zone, Willow finds that Calliope has returned to her girlfriend and renounced magic.
  • Averted for Buffy and Xander, surprisingly. Both of their relationships (with Spike and Dawn respectively) remain solid and stable for the entire season, as well as the season ending off with them still together.
• Magic Eater: The machine in the safe zone, as well as the machine used by Wise to drain the magic from supernaturals, which she in turn absorbs into herself and wields. It becomes a real pressing problem when it's discovered the government plans to attach the machines to satellites, and Willow confirms that any being alive because of magic (like Dawn and Spike) would just plain die if it was used on them.
• Magitek: The Pandora Project centers around this, draining magical energy from supernatural beings and infusing it into battle suits, drones, and cybernetics.
• The Man Behind the Man: The Big Bad turns out to be the Secretary of Press rather than the Vice President, as the season suggests early on.
• Monster Protection Racket: Early on, a storm dragon attacks San Francisco, causing a tsunami and untold amounts of damage, leading to the government beginning a Supernatural Crisis Act. As it turns out, Joanna Wise summoned the dragon and set it loose to provoke just that reaction, giving her test subjects for her Pandora Project.
• Reverse Psychology: Sam uses this to invigorate a defeated Willow and Buffy, claiming they're useless without their powers and provoking the two of them to give each other much-needed pep-talks.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Lampshaded directly by Buffy.
  Buffy: ...But for now, pan over to the fireplace.
  Spike: We don't have a fireplace.
  Buffy: Do you want to get lucky or not?
• Unstoppable Rage: Spike ends up attacking and feeding on a few supernaturals who had been attacking Buffy, partly because he's protective, but also because he's starving.
• Window Love: Buffy and Spike hold hands through a chain-link fence while at the safe zone. Willow and her short-term Love Interest Calliope also touch hands through the Safe Zone's forcefield.

Season Twelve

• Amicable Exes: Buffy and Spike have broken up in between Seasons 11 and 12. Nonetheless, they share nothing but warm exchanges and are extremely supportive of each other.
• Babies Ever After: Xander and Dawn have a baby girl named Joyce. They later have another son and daughter.
• Better as Friends: Buffy and Spike came to this conclusion during the one-year Time Skip between Seasons 11 and 12. As Buffy explains to Willow, they ultimately realized during the quiet year that passed that they didn't work as a couple when there was no crisis; nonetheless, they remain close Amicable Exes.
• Crossover: One with Fray. In fact, the Big Bad is Mel's vampirized brother, Harth.
• Cut Short: Was meant to last longer, but due to Dark Horse losing the license, it only had four issues to hastily wrap up the story.
• Dead Guy Junior: Xander and Dawn have a baby daughter, named after Buffy and Dawn's mother Joyce.
• Did Not Get The Guy: Buffy doesn't end up with either Angel or Spike, though she maintains close friendships with both of them.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After years of pain and suffering caused by monster hunting, the Scoobies finally get a happy ending. Buffy and Faith have joined the police academy, Giles is rebuilding the Watchers Council, Willow is running a woman's empowerment center that changes Fray's time period for the better, Xander and Dawn are settled down with a baby daughter, and Angel and Spike maintain a friendly relationship with Buffy, plus she's hinted to Spike that they might be able to resume their relationship at any point in the future — for now, all they need is to be present and happy with each other.
• Grand Finale: For not just the comics, but the entire original Buffyverse series. The Boom Studios version is a complete Continuity Reboot.
• Let's You and Him Fight: The Scoobies go to the 23rd century to get help from Melaka Fray. As soon as they arrive, Mel and Erin attack them, believing them to be there to cause trouble, especially after Buffy and Mel's first meeting Back in Season Eight. However, Mel backs down when Buffy tells her about Harth's plan. When they get back to Erin and the Scoobies, it turns out Erin has already heard them out.
• Maybe Ever After:
  • Buffy and Spike don't officially get back together at the end of the comic, but she admits that seeing the way he fought alongside her filled her heart and that things could start back up between them at any point. The two conclude that, in the meantime, the important thing is that they're present for each other.
  • Illyria performs a Heroic Sacrifice to save the heroes, but it's made clear in a subsequent conversation that they could go back to retrieve her at any point. Angel says that Illyria told him to wait on that so she could kill as many demons as possible, but he's worried that this will lead to her liking the other dimension too much to want to leave. That said, Angel recognizes that both of them are immortal beings, so he's willing to wait, leaving the door open for them to continue their relationship.
• Rousing Speech: Angel gives one, which encourages the Scoobies to fight against Harth to change history.
  Angel: Nothing’s final! Not fate, not prophecies, not what's in history books. I've spent two hundred years chasing prophecy and accepting destiny. Believing nothing we do really matters. But if nothing we do matters, all that matters is what we do. I'm going to find a way to save the world. Then and now.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After traveling to Fray's time and seeing the sorry state of the world, Willow and Giles dedicate their efforts after stopping Harth to making sure that dystopian timeline doesn't come to pass.
• Time Skip: Implied. Buffy states she's recently turned 30, however, season 11 should have taken place when she was 27, meaning there's been a 3-year gap since the previous season.

The High School Years

• Cut Short: Three books were published. Artist Scott Fischer posted an unused cover for a fourth entry, but the transfer of the Buffy license to Boom! meant that it went unpublished.
• Development Gag: In the Free Comic Book Day Special, Xander tells Buffy that she'd like Kitty Pryde of the X-Men. In real life, Whedon cited Kitty as a major influence on the character of Buffy.
• Interquel: The series is set after the first two episodes of the TV show, but before the gang discovered Angel is a vampire.
• Shout-Out: The Free Comic Book Day special features Buffy meeting a pink-haired little girl named Rini who is obsessed with Sailor Moon.