Dark Horse Comics is published the first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 to much fanfare on 14 March 2007. The next day, they announced they were going back to press for more copies, because initial orders exceeded the 100,000-copy first printing.
“Admittedly, our expectations were already gigantic, but this has surpassed even those,” said Dark Horse Director of Marketing Dirk Wood. Managing Editor Scott Allie added, “We’ve done something unique here. We’ve taken something really popular from the most mainstream of media, television, and we’ve transplanted it with total authority into comics. This is Buffy, by Joss, as much as the show ever was. And the sales seem to suggest that people are getting the message.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer was created by Joss Whedon as a television series, although the movie starring Kristy Swanson and Donald Sutherland first appeared in 1992. The character made the jump to the small screen in 1997, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, and ran for seven seasons. The comic book is a continuation of the tv series.
The upcoming second printing will feature a full bleed version of the Jo Chen cover, with some of the design elements removed for a cleaner, and more stripped down look. The new version is expected to arrive in stores with an on-sale date of 28 March, which will be one week before the release of issue #2.