Hello there readers, I’m Jayunderscorezero (aka Michael, so feel free to call me that if you like) and thanks to the kind people here at Buffyfest, it looks like I’m going to be your guest blogger for the next week.When discussing Buffy/Angel, I can get a bit heavy (due largely to the influence of Buffy-based academic works; thank you, Roz Kaveney et al!) or just a bit bitchy (blame the stereotypical geek in me, I suppose), but today I’m going to go for something a bit lighter and just ask you guys to look in on a fun little thought experiment I’ve been having. I recently got around to reading “Time of Your Life”, the “Buffy vs Fray” storyline (I moved away from my local comic store last year and so have had to follow things like “Season 8” in the trades for now at least, hence the slight delay before reading it). To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the storyline, but that’s neither here nor there. One thing it did get me thinking about, though, was what other Buffy crossovers I’d like to see Dark Horse put out in the future. Now, these range from the slightly-ever-so-possibly-feasible to the never-gonna-happen-but-wouldn’t-it-be-cool-if they did, but still, I invite you to join me on this little stream of consciousness and see what you think.
Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Aliens/Predator
Inspiration: These guys are Dark Horse’s classic crossover pair. Their original crossover seems to have been inspired by a simple “hey, these are both Fox/Dark Horse properties, so why not...?” and the same criteria is also true of Buffy now. Also, it’d be kind of nice to see Buffy return to her roots of taking on and subverting classic slasher/horror film clichés, and hey, Alien is one of the prototypical slasher films, you know, so it’d be a great place to start. Ooh, plus there’s that whole Whedon-connection to Alien Resurrection and the fact that Alien’s Ripley was part of the inspiration for Buffy.
Other than that though, it’d no doubt just be an excellent excuse to see these guys fighting, no?
Premise: Hmm, I don’t know, since the Buffy comics have already introduced time travel, it’s always possible that they could just jump further into the future and happen to encounter the aliens/Predators and perhaps even Ellen Ripley (unlikely perhaps, but with good potential for awesomeness). If one wanted to get truly silly, one could even have someone create some kind of Alien/vampire hybrid, just so we get to see Buffy take one of those things out with a crossbow. I mean come on, am I the first person to connect the vampire/H.R. Giger’s alien dots here? They’re both predators with alarming psychosexual undertones...Ok, I’m officially reading too much into this now. Still, think about it: Buffy, alien, crossbow...Cool, no?
Potential quality: Meh. There’s potentially a lot of good ideas here to be exploited, especially if Whedon himself got on board and brought some of his ideas from Alien Resurrection along with him. Otherwise though, this’d likely just be a silly fight comic.
Likelihood: There’ve been Alien/Predator crossovers with every comic property from Green Lantern to Magnus: Robot Fighter. Surely it’s only a matter of time...? Nah, I’m probably just being wildly optimistic there.
Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Star Trek
Inspiration: There have already been a couple of X-Men/Star Trek crossovers, you know, so there’s clearly a market for crossovers that feature two completely different but similarly popular franchises.
Premise: Ever see Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, where Kirk, Spock et al travel back in time to 1980s Earth...and hilarity ensues? Imagine if they’d gone back to 1990s/2000s Sunnydale instead. Plus, what with the recent Star Trek reboot, you could even have the younger, sexier versions of the Enterprise crew meet up with the Buffy cast. Although that’d no doubt lead the way for some fans coming up with the craziest ship, the ship to end all ships and no doubt the ultimate expression of bizarre online fan love: Buffy/Kirk ("Birk"?).
Potential quality: Probably not good. Still, if you got a good artist involved, I really would like to see Chris Pine’s likeness making typical Kirk-like advances on SMG’s likeness.
Likelihood: Almost nil, sorry.
Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Wizard of Oz
Inspiration: Likely inspired by me just being a massive fairytale/oz geek. This one doesn’t make a lick of sense, but just hear me out, ok? Plus, Wizard of Oz crossovers aren’t so crazy, didn’t Marvel do that thing a while back where they did Wizard of Oz but with the She-Hulk as Dorothy (who falls asleep and dreams the whole thing after being attacked by the villain Whirlwind, natch)?
Premise: Remember that one issue where Buffy falls asleep and dreams that she’s in an episode of the Buffy animated series? That’s not so far removed from the opening of the classic Judy Garland film, you know, and I’d be more than happy to read the further adventures of Buffy’s crazy psyche. So yeah, Buffy falls asleep (perhaps, in a little nod to continuity, after having just tried to watch Apocalypse Now again) and dreams that she’s in Oz (ok, maybe it’d make more sense if she were actually watching The Wizard of Oz). The good witch Willow instructs her to go and see the great wizard and on her travels she meets someone in need of a brain (Giles?), someone in need of a heart (Spike?) and someone in need of “the nerve” (Xander?). In the classic Wizard of Oz reveal, it’ll turn out that Giles always was the cleverest of the group, he just felt like an ineffectual “stuffed shirt” (get it? ‘Cause he’s a scarecrow, right?), Spike always had the biggest and most emotive heart (one could almost say “effulgent,” if one wanted to get really continuity-geeky about it) and Xander has always been the brave person he wished he could be.
Potential quality: This is too odd to really judge, honestly.
Likelihood: Almost nil. The more I write about it, the more I seem to convince myself that it’s an amazing idea and that it not seeing the light of day would be unfair to all of the fans who could potentially experience it, but then I just remember that I’m completely crazy and thatWicked warped my mind.
Crossover idea: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Firefly
Inspiration: This one just suggests itself, doesn’t it? I mean, picture the venn diagram of Buffy/Serenity fans; I can imagine a lot of people that’d buy this one. Plus, did you know that from the very moment Firefly started, I always pictured it taking place in the same universe asBtVS, just in the far, far future. Yeah, I know there are no vampires, but still, isn’t the whole point of them that most people are unaware of their existence anyway? It’s not so impossible, you know.
Premise: The crew of the Serenity encounter some vampires, they somehow find a way to bring some experienced vampire slayers from the past forward in time to help them out...This one just writes itself, really. Plus, imagine all of the cute little character moments that you could extract from this: Jayne being all dismissive of Buffy because she appears to be just a diminutive little girl, which promptly leads to a swift joint beat-down from Buffy & River; Willow and Kaylee having a massive geek-out together (shades of the Willow/Fred meet-up inAngel); Xander having lusty-wrong feelings for Inara...
Potential quality: Non-fans would find it inscrutable, fans would “squee” over the whole thing regardless.
Likelihood: I think they may have ruined this one by already making Firefly a property that exists within the Buffy universe. Didn’t Buffy wear a Serenity t-shirt in one issue? Still, I’m alsoconvinced that they had one of the slayers reading Fray at some point, and that little artistic Easter egg didn’t prevent that crossover, did it?
I could likely come out with dozens more, but I think I’ve had enough of my own strange thoughts on the matter for now. Still, as crazy as these may seem, do try to remember that we live in a world in which Archie/The Punisher exists.
Anyway, that’s all for now. Thoughts? Suggestions? What reality-shattering crossovers wouldyou like to see take place? I’ve only really covered the incredibly geeky side of things, but if you’re really desperate to see a Buffy/Gossip Girl crossover or something, let me know.