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Buffy the Vampire Slayer's eight season is unfolding at iTunes.com. You'll find the first episode there now. New episodes will be available every week from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

A continuation of Joss Whedon's hallowed shows and based on the award-winning comic book series by Dark Horse Comics, the gripping saga of the vampire-killing legend picks up where the television series ended: thousands of slayers around the world have been activated, Sunnydale has been blown up and Buffy has relocated to Scotland.

The iTunes episodes are available for $.99/$1.99 HD each, or with a season pass for $14.99/$29.99 HD.

All 19 episodes will make their official debut on DVD January 4, 2011 which will include limited edition Jo Chen packaging and a collectible reprint of Dark Horse Comic’s first book in the series.

Comic-Con attendees visiting the Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment booth (#4313) today will witness the debut of the exclusive trailer for Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight.

The Dark Horse booth (#2615) will also screen the trailer along with hosting a signing with creator Joss Whedon.

While at Comic Con 2010, FlickDirect had a chance to sit down with the Buffy Action Comics Director, Jeff Shuter. The Action Comics are based on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season Eight comic series, which was considered groundbreaking, and award winning as it continued the "Buffyverse" in comic book form.

FlickDirect: "What exactly is an 'action comic?'"


Jeff Shuter: "An action comic is a video translation of the comic book [in this case Joss Whedon's Buffy comics] where the action in each panel is animated and brought to life with voices and dialog instead of printed text."

FlickDirect: "You're essentially 'shooting' the Buffy The Vampire comic? What did you do with the voices?"

Jeff Shuter: "We worked very hard to get people who sounded correct to the parts. In the comic, Buffy is going through a transition in her life and we worked to get a voice actress that would both sound like Sarah Michelle Gellar, and sound appropriate to what she's experiencing."

FlickDirect: "An action comic is, in terms of video, very, very faithful to the comic (it's panel-for-panel). How did you add your own vision to this production?"

Jeff Shuter: "For an action comic, part of what you have to do is transition between the panels in a way that keeps the sense of motion but also illustrates the emotions that the scene is portraying. We've done some amazing things with the transitions from panel to panel like having them break apart when we need to illustrate the way that emotions are surfacing."

FlickDirect: "What can you tell us about the process of making these action comics?"

Jeff Shuter: "Well, the first few episodes had us learning a lot. I'm very pleased with how we hit our stride around episode five. That was where I think we really understood our process, and it gave us deeper insights into the story itself. I have no insight into Joss's thinking but it wouldn't surprise me if that issue was his turning point as well. I'm very proud of how we handled that and what we've done."

FlickDirect: "Has Joss Whedon seen these?"

Jeff Shuter: "We sent him a disc. I expect that if he wasn't happy with them we would have heard something. I haven't spoken with him on this project, but I think we're true to his vision. Perhaps we'll get to!"

FlickDirect: "When will fans be able to get this?"

Jeff Shuter: "You can get the first episodes right now through iTunes, and more come out on about a weekly schedule."

Ils vont faire des transitions de chaque image... ça va faire brouillon nan ?

Il me semble qu'un épisode dure 10 minutes. Effectivement, plus long, je ne suis pas sûre que ça me dirait de regarder.

Pour ceux qui ont Facebook le premier épisode est sur ~lien~

même si les voix ne sont pas ressemblantes du tout et même si c'est un peu spécial, surtout par moments (par exemple la "scène" entre Dawn et Buffy...).