Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight is a comic book series published by Dark Horse Comics. The series serves as a canonical continuation of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and follows the events of that show's final televised season. It is produced by Joss Whedon, who wrote the first arc, "The Long Way Home". The first issue was released on March 14, 2007.

The series was originally supposed to consist of about 25 issues, but series editor Scott Allie has confirmed they are already "up to about 50, could go a little higher". The comic series was initially called “Season Eight”, but from issue #6 onward the subtitle "Joss Whedon's Season Eight" was added. At present, some plans for spin-off miniseries are in discussion where side-stories too far outside of Season Eight's narrative would be played out. The success of the series has prompted IDW Publishing and Joss Whedon to announce a concurring continuation of the Angel television series, entitled Angel: After the Fall.

Plot
The story takes place "at least a year and a half" after the events of "Chosen", placing it at its earliest in the latter half of 2004 and after the events of "Not Fade Away".

Buffy and Xander now lead command-central, which is situated at a citadel in Scotland. At their disposal are a wide array of psychics, seers, witches, and Slayers, along with a vast amount of technology. There are 1,800 Slayers worldwide according to Buffy, almost 500 of whom are working with the Scoobies, separated into 10 squads, with Andrew in charge of several in Southern Italy, and Giles in charge of a contingent of Slayers in England. For Buffy's protection and because her name is feared worldwide, two decoys are put in place: one partying in Rome and one on a mission in demonic underground caverns.

In the wake of Sunnydale's destruction, elements within the United States government view them as an army akin to terrorist cells and characterize Buffy as a "charismatic, uncompromising and completely destructive" leader. General Voll, a member of a mystically aware Initiative-like government project, describes fear of their resources, power and ideology. The government has teamed with Sunnydale survivor/powerful witch Amy Madison and Season 6 villain Warren Mears, both of whom seek revenge in a Big Bad role, which is new for Amy. An evil British socialite Slayer called Lady Genevieve Savidge simultaneously plots to usurp Buffy's place in the Slayer hierarchy. The appearances of these villains so far appear connected by a mysterious symbol and the word "Twilight".

A subplot involves the repercussions of Dawn first growing to giant proportions and then being turned into a centaur, with at least one more change anticipated. This appears to have been the result of losing her virginity to a boy named Kenny, described as a "thricewise".

Story arcs

 * The Long Way Home
 * The Chain (one-shot)
 * No Future for You
 * Anywhere But Here (one-shot)
 * A Beautiful Sunset (one-shot)
 * Wolves at the Gate
 * Time of Your Life
 * After These Messages ... We'll Be Right Back! (one-shot)
 * Harmonic Divergence (one shot)
 * Swell (one-shot)
 * Predators and Prey (one-shot)
 * Safe (one-shot) (Name released by Scott Allie)
 * Living Doll (one-shot)(name released by Scott Allie)

Writers

 * 1-5 Joss Whedon
 * 6-9 Brian K. Vaughan
 * 10-11 Joss Whedon
 * 12-15 Drew Goddard
 * 16-19 Joss Whedon
 * 20 Jeph Loeb
 * 21-25 A combination of Jane Espenson, Doug Petrie, Drew Greenberg, Steve DeKnight, and Jim Krueger
 * 26-30 Unassigned
 * 31-35 Brad Meltzer
 * 36-40 Joss Whedon