Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019) 5

The subject of this article is of alternative canonicity.
While created as part of licensed material, it is not part of the original Buffyverse, but its own developed story.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5

Publication

June 5, 2019

Length

22 pages

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019) #5

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Welcome Back to the Hellmouth, Part Four	Buffy the Vampire Slayer #6

Cover artist(s)

Marc Aspinall (main)
Kevin Wada (spotlight)
Morgan Beem (chosen one)
Becca Carey (episodes)
Yasmine Putri (incentives)
Kaiti Infante (sides)
Simone di Meo (showcase)

Colorist(s)

Raúl Angulo

Letterer(s)

Ed Dukeshire

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5 is the fifth issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2019) comic book series. Written by Jordie Bellaire and illustrated by David López, it was originally published on June 5, 2019 by Boom! Studios.

Synopsis

The reimagining of Joss Whedon's groundbreaking hit series kicks off a brand new story arc as Team Slayer deals with the devastating consequences of Xander becoming a vampire. Buffy and the Scooby Gang have lost one of their own to Team Vamp… but what if there's a way to get their friend back? The Slayer will walk the line between responsibility and rampage as she searches for anything that'll bring back her friend, balancing her quest with her duties as the Slayer while trying not to lose anyone else in the process. What do you do when your entire purpose is killing vampires and your friend just turned into one?

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Summary

We open to Buffy fighting a nest of vampires. She is visibly upset and crying; she is looking for a vampire to be willing to go shopping with her and is willing to go to any lengths, including ripping an arm off, to get her message across.

We cut to a few hours earlier, before Buffy's attack on the vampire nest; we see Buffy dreaming about sitting in class; she is awakened by a ticking noise from her window. She looks outside and sees a frantic Willow, telling her Giles has called and it’s an emergency they need to get to his place immediately. Its right before sunrise and the girls are walking to Giles’ apartment, discussing the movies from the night before. Buffy indicates she was too sweaty and nervous to allow Robin to make a move, leaving Willow to make more jokes about them liking each other. They arrive at Giles’ front door to a worried, solemn Giles.

Inside, he prepares the girls for what they are about to come face to face with- upstairs in Giles’ bedroom, we see Ms. Calendar performing a ritual over an unconscious and bleeding Xander. Willow is horrified at the sight and tries to rush to him, Ms. Calendar stops her and warns her if she gets too close she will interrupt the spell. Giles tells the girls that he fears Drusilla lured Xander to her to turn him, but didn’t finish and left him on Giles’ doorstep with a note pinned to him that said “Tasteless” Willow wants to know if they can fix Xander being a vampire, to which Giles states he is caught in a space between death and demon as Drusilla didn’t completely sire him. Giles tells the girls they need a Soul Stone, which is a magical artifact that can tether the soul to a being. In order to find a Soul Stone, they need to get the instructions from Anya’s magic shop. Giles informs Buffy she needs to go but to be successful at gaining access to the shop, she will need an escort-a vampire.

At the mausoleum, Drusilla is pouring over books and berating Spike for saving Xander with his blood, indicating her goal is to have an army of men to serve her. As she is looking through books, she excitedly shows Spike an ancient knife, which she feels will help them reign over the Hellmouth and turn the men of Sunnydale into her personal army.

Buffy obtains the instructions for getting the Soul Stone and brings it back to Giles to translate. Willow is heartbroken and doesn’t know what she will do if they cannot save Xander. It is decided Willow and Buffy will skip school and remain at Giles’ apartment while he translates the maps to the Soul Stone. Giles and Ms. Calendar leave to make some coffee and Xander wakes up. First the girls are relieved and believe it to be the same old Xander; soon Xander turns into a vampire and begins taunting Buffy and Willow that the Mistress-Drusilla, soon will reign over the Hellmouth and they will watch everyone they love die a fiery death.

Meanwhile, at the gallery, Joyce is setting up an Ancient Egyptian exhibit and she is interrupted with a call from Buffy’s school—indicating she didn’t show up for school today. An angry Joyce makes a note to confront and then ground Buffy forever. She passes a wall that holds the very ancient knife Drusilla is looking for.

Continuity

This story takes place in the morning following the previous issue.
Giles has called Willow, having her number since Welcome Back to the Hellmouth, Part Three.
Buffy's cellphone is still under Spike and Drusilla's possession, taken from her in Welcome Back to the Hellmouth, Part Three.
It's revealed that, despite Drusilla's promise to sire Xander and being the one who drank his blood (Welcome Back to the Hellmouth, Part Four), it was Spike who ultimately sired him, feeding him his vampire blood.
Buffy visits the magic shop and gets the map to Anima Colligationem in Frenemies.

Appearances

Individuals

Organizations and titles

Species

Locations

Sunnydale
- 1630 Revello Drive
- The Bronze (Only in flashbacks)
- The Gallery
- Hellmouth (Only mentioned)
- Magic shop (Only mentioned)
- Rupert Giles's apartment
- Spike's crypt (Only mentioned)
- Sunnydale High School (Only in visions)

Weapons and objects

Anima Colligationem (Only mentioned)
Cross (Only mentioned)
Soul (Only mentioned)
Stake

Death count

Two vampires, staked by Buffy Summers.

Behind the scenes

Production

Marc Aspinall's cover has Xander wearing a shirt of the Vampire Weekend band.
Morgan Beem's "Chosen One" variant cover introduces an unidentified Slayer, active in the Philippines in 1910.
Becca Carey's variant cover homages Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Doppelgangland".
Kaiti Infante's variant covers connect with her own for Angel #1.
The "Daily School Bulletin" subsection of the "Sunnydale High Sentinel" mentions Vice Principal Snyder, former president of the Chess Club Andrew Wells, as well as Officer Winslow.

Distribution

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #5 was the 85th best selling comic issue in its publishing month, with 22,221 sales in June 2019 at comic specialty stores.^[2]