Haunted (Buffy comic)

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Haunted

Cover
Publisher Dark Horse Comics
Format Softcover, 96 pages, full color
Publication date Sept 11, 2002
Number of issues BtVS: Haunted #1-4
Creative team
Writer(s) Jane Espenson
Penciller(s) Cliff Richards
Inker(s) Julio Ferreira

Haunted is a trade paperback collecting comic stories based on the Buffy television series. The story features the first appearance of Faith in Buffy comics (she later appears in Note from the Underground and No Future for You.)

Not to be confused with the Angel novel, Haunted

Contents

[edit] Story description

[edit] General synopsis

Faith tells Angel a story that takes place immediately after she was put into a coma. It seems the ghost of Sunnydale's former Mayor, Richard Wilkins, wants revenge against Buffy. Buffy must now cope with guilt over stabbing Faith and a poltergeist following her every movement.

[edit] Haunted #1

Takes place a few days after Graduation Day, Part Two and Double Cross. Angel has already left, and now two more of the gang are preparing to leave. Cordelia is going to become an actress while Xander intends to travel far and wide.

[edit] Haunted #2

Despite her comatose status, Faith once again becomes involved in Buffy's life. Meanwhile, vampires are surprising Buffy and almost causing the loss of Rupert Giles. Giles is put out of action.

[edit] Haunted #3

The recently-killed Mayor of Sunnydale plans his strike against Buffy. Wilkins formalizes his plans to hit back at Buffy while tormenting her with dreams. There is also something weird happening beneath the University campus in Sunnydale, something Wilkins will not like.

[edit] Haunted #4

Wilkins takes possession of a powerful body and tries to destroy Buffy. He discovers this body in the Initiative basement. Xander leaves while Willow thinks about college life. Buffy must face Wilkins without knowing what or who he is, and must try to figure out Faith's message: "You're already dead."

[edit] Continuity

  • This comic takes place in the summer of 1999 (between Buffy Seasons 3 and 4). The prologue, which appeared on the internet and in the TPB collection but not in the pages of the comics themselves, is supposed to be set concurrent with early Angel Season 2.
  • It also shows the origins of season four's villain Adam and how he came to be.

[edit] Canonical issues

Main article: Buffyverse canon
Buffy comics such as this one are not usually considered by fans as canonical. Some fans consider them stories from the imaginations of authors and artists, while other fans consider them as taking place in an alternative fictional reality. However unlike fan fiction, overviews summarising their story, written early in the writing process, were 'approved' by both Fox and Joss Whedon (or his office), and the books were therefore later published as officially Buffy merchandise. Some fans would argue that this comic is canon, because it was written by Jane Espenson, one of the main writers of the Buffy television series for five of its seven seasons (including the ones covered by this story), as well as a run on the canonical Buffy "Season 8" comic.

[edit] Timing

  • Stories that take place around the same time in the Buffyverse:
Location, time
(if known)
Buffyverse chronology: Fall 2000 - December 2000
(non-canon = italic)
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.01 Buffy vs. Dracula
L.A., 2000 A2.01 Judgment
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy graphic novel: Haunted (by Jane Espenson)
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.02 Real Me
L.A., 2000 A2.02 Are You Now or Have You Ever Been
L.A., 2000 Angel novel: Image
L.A., 2000 Angel novel: Stranger to the Sun
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.03 The Replacement
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy graphic novel: False Memories
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy Graphic novel story: Willow & Tara: Wannablessedbe
L.A., 2000 A2.03 First Impressions
L.A., 2000 Angel graphic novel: Long Night's Journey
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.04 Out of My Mind
L.A., 2000 A2.04 Untouched
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.05 No Place Like Home
L.A., 2000 A2.05 Dear Boy
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.06 Family
Sunnydale, 2000 Buffy graphic novel: Autumnal
L.A., 2000 Angel graphic novel: Autumnal
L.A., 2000 A2.06 Guise Will Be Guise
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.07 Fool for Love
L.A., 2000 A2.07 Darla
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.08 Shadow
L.A., 2000 A2.08 The Shroud of Rahmon
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.09 Listening to Fear
L.A., 2000 A2.09 The Trial
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.10 Into the Woods
L.A., 2000 A2.10 Reunion
Sunnydale, 2000 B5.11 Triangle
L.A., 2000 A2.11 Redefinition