Jim Pascoe [on the left hand side of the picture] and Tom Fassbender wrote Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novels for Dark Horse Comics for several years. They were scheduled to write up through issue #50, but departed suddenly after #46. X-Men writer Scott Lobdell, quickly occupied the void left behind by the UglyTown duo, writing the lackluster arc, “Hellmouth to Mouth,” which ran from #47-50. Now, the Comic Book Guide has caught up with Jim Pascoe, who in his own words has explained why he departed the series and what he’s been up to since. Tom and I worked as hard possible to keep the feel of the comics close to the show, which was especially difficult considering the long lead time that the comics had over the show. The reason for our departure isn't a graceful tale. We were on the book as long as we wanted to stay on it, but we were having trouble keeping up with the deadlines. Trying to run our publishing company, Ugly Town, at the same time was starting to take its toll... and with a monthly book, once you're behind it's very difficult to catch up. We begged Dark Horse to just pause the monthly book a couple of months to give us breathing room, but they (probably wisely) thought that a pause in the schedule would kill sales.  So, we thought if we were going to quit we should try to hit the issue 50 milestone. And yes, we planned on using that last arc to give our run its proper farewell and wrap up.  But the deadlines were too cruel, and we weren't able to make it across that final finish line.  One of the saddest things about that is that we didn't get to wrap up certain things, Coma being one of the biggest. Indeed she would have been the main focus of that last arc -- we hated that idea of introducing a new character within an arc that ends up dead by the arc's end ... better to build up a cast of Pascoe/Fassbender supplemental characters so that when there's a new mysterious suspect it isn't so obvious that it's the "new guy." As for the future of us and Buffy ... even now that Dark Horse has returned to the property, it's unlikely that we will be doing more work with Buffy. Though never give up hope! If you want to see more Jim Pascoe and Buffy, please write to Dark Horse or start a web campaign! Seriously, this works better than you can imagine! I'm actually super busy writing a bunch of other stuff. My next Dark Horse book comes out next week -- I'm doing a series of comics based on the new HELLBOY ANIMATED movies. My real labor of love comes out this summer when Tokyopop publishes the first volume in my original manga series UNDERTOWN. I couldn't be more proud of this work. You can learn more about Jim Pascoe at his personal site: JimPascoe.com, or go to his publishing company's website: UglyTown.com

Links Comic Book Guide to Buffy   Tales of the Slayers   Joss Whedon's Fray   Comic Monster Guide   Hellmouth Central