Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Buffy the Vampire Slayer New Rules by Christos Gage Buffy the Vampire Slayer: New Rules by Christos Gage. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Canon Comics: Recommended Reading Order. Dark Horse Comics held the exclusive license to publish Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics from 1998 to 2018. Until 2007, most of these comics were produced with no input from Joss Whedon and are not considered canon, with a few exceptions: The 2001-03 miniseries/trade paperback Fray , written by Whedon; One-shot comics published under the Tales of the Slayers and Tales of the Vampires brands, which were produced under Whedon's supervision and later collected into two trade paperbacks and then into an omnibus hardcover, Tales ; The three-issue miniseries Buffy: The Origin , which was based on Whedon's original script for the 1992 Buffy movie. Starting with Season Eight in 2007, Dark Horse's Buffy comics consisted almost exclusively of canon continuations of the TV series (seasons 8 through 12, which concluded Buffy in the season format). Dark Horse also originally held the license to comics based on Angel , which were also non-canon. They allowed their license to lapse, and in 2005 it was picked up by IDW Comics. Most of the comics IDW published were non-canon, except for the Angel: After the Fall series (#1-17); this story was written with input from Joss Whedon and is considered the canon continuation of the TV show. At the end of 2010, Dark Horse re-acquired the rights to produce Angel comics and began producing an Angel and Faith title as a component of Buffy seasons 9 and 10, and Angel as part of Buffy season 11. In 2018 as a result of Fox's upcoming acquisition by Disney, the rights to produce Buffy comics passed to BOOM! Studios, which is partly owned by Disney. The new Buffy comics will be a "reboot" of the series and not in continuity with the "Buffy Prime" storyline. The books listed below contain all the canonical and quasi-canonical comics produced in connection with Buffy and/or Angel . In order to be followed most easily, they should be read in the order indicated. They should be read after you have completed watching the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel TV series in their entireties. Slayer Handbook. The Slayer Handbook , also known as Vampyr , was a manual given to Slayers by their Watchers to instruct them on how to operate as the Slayer. [1] The book contained the history and rules concerning magic and the supernatural world. [2] Contents. History [ edit | edit source ] Origins [ edit | edit source ] The book being originally written. The original handbook was a large leather bound tome titled Vampyr . According to Rupert Giles and Dracula's recognition, the book was the very first and most complete attempt by man to record and codify the laws of magic. Initially a study of vampires — the most pressing threat — its scope grew over time, as did the book's power. It became, by common acceptance, the definitive guide to magic on Earth. [2] Giles had presented it to Buffy Summers when she first arrived in Sunnydale, [3] but then decided she wasn't one to follow rules and put the book away. It was presumably kept at his apartment in Sunnydale. Sam Zabuto, Kendra Young's watcher, owned a copy. According to Kendra, the handbook insisted that Slayers study demonology, and had a great deal of footnotes. [1] After Giles' death, despite Faith Lehane was his main heiress, he left the book for Buffy. With this gesture, Faith said Giles meant that Buffy was the one true Slayer and he believed in her strength. [4] It was kept in the weapons chest in Buffy's bedroom in San Francisco. [5] The Slayer Handbook was sought after by Simone Doffler and Severin. [6] They believed it would help them to successfully turn Simone into a vampire instead of a zompire, after which she would be able to defeat Buffy. Among its contents, it had the secrets of the Deeper Well spring and how to access it, including the story of the Old One Maloker. [7] New rules of magic [ edit | edit source ] After the new Seed of Wonder was formed, Buffy and Willow Rosenberg discovered the Slayer Handbook's pages completely blank. [8] With the sudden return of magic to the Earth, the book was being gradually rewritten, similarly to Dawn Summers's feelings and memories that suffered a "reset" and were returning over time. [9] Some time later, Giles noticed a handful of pages that were filled again. He described that it chronicled the same Slayer history the book once did, but with new additions: "No longer is but one chosen. The power itself becomes the chosen one… and the one who chooses," which implicated that the combined spiritual force of all past Slayers had then more agency than before. Men still couldn't be Slayers outright, as Billy Lane didn't share the Slayer strength or speed, but the essence of the Slayers accepted him as an ally [10] when he had a vision of Sineya. [11] Some rules never appeared again, such as the necessity to cast spells in dead languages. [2] But newly written pages kept appearing as new laws of magic were being established, automatically reproducing common beliefs. New vampires had the same abilities as the popular Dracula mythology [2] (shapeshifting, walking in the sun, superior strength) listed in the book directly as facts. [10] But the reverse process of creating rules would also work: writing into the book would cause the information to become true. Following Harmony Kendall's plan, Clem wrote that "unicorns are totally real," which successfully became a reality. [12] However, similarly to vengeance demons' wishes, the book could interpret a writing into something undesirable, such as Dracula transforming into the most powerful vampire Maloker, instead of himself gaining the most power among vampires. Additions to the book could also be rejected, with the ink squirting from the page; it acted as such with retcons, clichés, and crossings. [9] With the Slayer Handbook under Dracula's power, he made Alexander Harris transcribe that "Dracula's body was restored to its bloom of youth, vigor, and comeliness." Another transcription was "All beings alive and undead, natural and supernatural, recognized Dracula as lord of all vampires," which backfired as vampires attempted to kill in order to replace him as king. With the drastic consequences of then writing "Dracula become the most powerful vampire of all" (turning into Maloker), the book rejected Andrew Wells writing "suddenly Dracula's transformation was undone" and "then Dracula woke up. It had all been a dream." [9] Xander found the solution writing that "Dracula's awesome willpower gave him strength to fight off Maloker, and give up the new powers he'd acquired," and added: "Everyone Dracula had power over also found themselves free." [13] In reunion with D'Hoffryn and Buffy, Giles wrote that the barriers between Earth and magical dimensions would be naturally strong, and lesser demons, like the Hamelin demon that inhabited their building, would be no longer able to break through with the same ease. [14] Despite this, there was the exception of the fae queen Monarch, able to use her scepter to create portals between her domain and the Earth. [15] [16] Andrew attempted to use the Vampyr to resurrect Tara Maclay, but Willow Rosenberg was able to stop him before anything was written. He intended to write: "The resurrection of Tara Maclay was completed successfully, without any negative consequences. Henceforth resurrection spells succeeded without the undesired side effects previously associated with them. The subject returned as they were before dying, but healthy if they'd been sick. They resumed a natural life, with no zombification, monkey's-paw-type unpleasantness, or anything bad whatsoever." [17] As the book's owner and responsible, Buffy received lobbyists to discuss their interests in the rules of magic. Among them, Vicki and Harmony negotiated for the new vampires to maintain their new powers, allowing Buffy to limit it by removing their ability to shapeshift by the sunlight. [12] Such frequent diplomatic encounters in her apartment made Xander and Spike's the main location to safeguard the book. [12] Buffy and Giles used the Slayer Handbook to give the Magic Council members different powers to help with the battles against the Mistress, the Soul Glutton, and the Sculptor. D'Hoffryn was granted the power to detect and pinpoint the usage of concentrated mystic energy; Monarch was given the ability to drain the magic power of any being not native to Earth; Keiko became able to absorb and redirect kinetic energy of purely physical assaults; the Quiet Man gained the power to return any being to its native dimension; the Brahma was given the ability to sense any opponent's greatest weakness; while Matango was granted invulnerability to magical attacks. [15] Its subjection theta-seven said: "Should a Council member be rendered unable to discharge their duties, the rights and responsibilities of their office shall be equally divided among the remaining member of the council until a replacement be named." [18] D'Hoffryn claimed from the very beginning that the Council had "the requisite power, experience, and wisdom to shape the laws of the new era," [13] interested in taking away the Vampyr book away from Buffy. He then took advantage of the subjection of dividing new abilities, assassinating all other Council members to gain their immense power, then being able to rob the book from the Slayer. He attempted to use the Slayer Handbook to eliminate vengeance demons being restricted to acting only under humans' wishes; however, Buffy had contacted her allies to build the consensus that he wasn't able to make any change in the book, successfully preventing him from doing so. [19] The vampire Spike added to the book a sonnet about Dawn, as the Key, retaining her power to open portals even on Earth. [20] New Rules, Part Two. The Scoobies are back — including li’l Giles! Revelations about a new kind of vampire menace and the blank “Vampyr” book have only just begun. Everyone has a job to do, and for Buffy, it’s treading the road of past relationships! Lucky girl… [1] Summary [ edit | edit source ] The Scoobies are fighting Vicki and her gang of new vampires, when Vicki suddenly pushes a car and calls a retreat. The Scoobies are happy that Giles has returned once more to the Scoobies, even as a child. Faith and the rest of Deepscan are leaving, but Giles asks Faith if this is what she wants, but she says she’s ok with it. Eldre Koh retreats as well. Anaheed and Billy Lane returned prepared for the vampires, while Andrew believes that there are new rules for the new Seed of Wonder, Giles explains he thinks its ridiculous. Buffy opens the van to get the Slayer Handbook to show Giles how it is completely blank. However, when he suddenly opens it, it has newly written pages. The Scooby Gang takes off on a plane, while Giles observes the newly written pages, when he seemingly tells Buffy that the tome was originally written to create the rules of magic. When they return home, Giles is annoyed buy everyone’s questions, when Buffy suddenly realizes Dowling is in the hospital and that they must find the being giving these shapeshifting power to these New Vampires, when she believes it is Dracula. Buffy asks Xander if he can visit him; when Xander says yes, he also asks Buffy for Dawn to come with him. Buffy and Spike are walking to Dowling’s home, when he answers, he talks alone with Buffy; he explains they must just stay friends and not see each other for now. While Buffy is telling Spike about what he said, he enlightens her to feel good. Meanwhile, Xander and Dawn are flying to Transylvania. Xander enters the bathroom, telling himself that Dawn will break up with him soon as she finds out he betrayed Buffy. Anya appears, reminding him of his situations and their marriage ending. When she says she is sorry, she asks Xander to talk to her. Dawn and Xander arrive at the doors of Dracula’s castle, and he stops her to explain he do love her, until Dracula suddenly opens the door. When Xander rushes in acting as Bad Cop, Dracula smiles knowingly, and Xander calls him: “Master”. New Rules, Part One. New season. New rules. The age-old battle of Slayer vs. vampire is the focus of Buffy’s life once again — it’s downright nostalgic! But with all the toying with magic she’s done lately, this girl should know it’s time for another game change… Shouldn’t she? [1] Summary [ edit | edit source ] The immediate aftermath of accelerating the maturation of the new Seed of Wonder and restoring magic back to the world finds Buffy and the Scoobies in Santa Rosita, California slaying zompires. A new vampire named Vicki shows up to help Buffy with the zompire problem, and it’s clear to both parts that Vicki and her crew of new vampires plan to turn on Buffy once all zompires are slain. Spike shows up to assist in the midst of a heated battle, while Buffy and Vicki provoke each other. Willow then magically teleports two civilians, named Abby and Zoey Miller, to Dawn and Andrew, who have been driving a van together rescuing people to outside the town. Willow states that the new magic is different, and she can’t not perform another spell while maintaining the force field around Santa Rosita keeping the remaining zompires in. Buffy then leads the others to Xander’s trap, consisting of a trail of tanning beds. While he puts the finishing touches on his trap, he mentions to Anya how strained his relationship with Dawn has been, and guesses she’s haunting him as a spirit. Buffy and others then arrive and Xander’s trap is a success. Anaheed, Billy Lane, and Dave congratulate the Scoobies. With no more zompires, Buffy and Vicki turn their attentions on each other, and the sunrise reveals the new vampires’ immunity to sunlight. Both sides begin to battle each other, and Buffy and the Scoobies are overwhelmed by Vicki’s forces, who are tougher to stake, and capable to turn into mist, panther, and giant bat. Buffy blames herself for a imminent defeat, until the timely arrival of Faith, Giles, Kennedy, Holly, and Leah. She is happily reunited with Giles, recently resurrected as a boy. When she turns back to the battle, she now believes they’re going to win. New Rules, Part Three. Actor Nicholas Brendon joins the creative team as his character Xander acquires help from his old friend — um, master — Dracula. The new vampires are still a mystery, and unquestionably similar to Drac… Meanwhile, Buffy and Willow track down one of those new vampires as a study specimen! [1] Summary [ edit | edit source ] Xander and Dawn arrive at Dracula's castle in Transylvania, where Dracula and his manservant Butterfield are making up all kinds of stories about having a wonderful time in Xander's absence. Xander warns Dawn about the thrall that he is prone to, which she acknowledges. The three discuss the shapeshifting power the vampires sired since the formation of the new Seed of Wonder have, and Xander asks if Dracula has been gambling away his powers again, which is not the case. Learning that the new vampires' powers might outshine his own, Dracula agrees to come to San Francisco to investigate. In San Francisco, a group of new vampires are about to sire two young men when Dracula intervenes, appalled that they are granting his powers to mere mortals. The group attacks Dracula until Buffy and Spike arrive, and they quickly dispose of the vampires. The group arrives at Xander and Dawn's apartment, where Willow and Giles invoke a spell to get Dracula to talk. Dracula suggests Buffy and Willow to capture one of the new vampires so they can investigate their powers. Buffy and Willow head out to capture a vampire, while discussing Xander and Dawn's relationship problems and the fact that their family is together again. While they are away, Dracula awakens from his sleep to steal the Slayer Handbook, attacking Giles, Dawn, and Spike, and putting Xander back under his control before fleeing the apartment.