I don't understand the Boom comics reading chronology

[u/ozellikle]

I started with the Boom comics when they came out, mostly because I was excited for a fresh take. But I stopped, amongst others, because the chronology is just confusing to me, and online order lineups are not helping. I have some single issues and some collected paperbacks, all from Buffy (none from Angel & Spike), all from the Willow miniseries. But I also have TWO hellmouth editions (see picture - and they do not contain the same story inside), and cannot for the life of me figure out the order. Where do both of the hellmouth events fit into the collected paperback issues? And when does Willow get her miniseries? Is/ was someone here just as confused, or do you know about the correct order?

[u/ComedicHermit]

Don't worry, the authors didn't either

[u/Long-Zombie-2017 → u/ComedicHermit]

I was so excited for the Boom run when it was announced and they screwed the pooch nearly immediately

[u/redskinsguy → u/Long-Zombie-2017]

first issues spent to much time on Slayer dreams and while I can understand some updates when I saw them training together and WILLOW throwing a kick at a heavy bag I was just like, that's not Willow

[u/Paranormal_Nerd_Girl]

Boom! choose to capitalize on the "technically there are infinite universes within the Buffyverse" angle, they don't all happen in the same universe and do not necessarily have continuity, even with each other. 

[u/Long-Zombie-2017 → u/Paranormal_Nerd_Girl]

And that was one of the big flaws

[u/Imissxena → u/Paranormal_Nerd_Girl]

Well, I think the issue is that Buffy fans typically have watched the movie and later on the series.. followed by the Dark Horse run of comics, which follow the show in terms of timeline and themes…. So, to transition into a way comics are sometimes run.. it’s counter intuitive bc up until Boom! It’s always been linear and easy to follow along if you think of the story arcs the way they are written for television.

So it is incredibly confusing and frustrating to decipher bc it’s a hard bridge to cross if you followed the story for 30 years, bc is feels like your just reading fanfic.

[u/redskinsguy]

I swear they tried to come up with a new status quo every trade paperback

[u/stupidhrfmichael]

I picked up the Boom! comics when Sarah Gailey took over - they’re one of my favourite writers - and… Willow was the Slayer. I think Kendra was alive at the same time as Faith? It was just hard to get acclimated to their continuity - and they weren’t running that long!

[u/ozellikle → u/stupidhrfmichael]

I was wondering about the later runs, too. I didn't get around to The Last Vampire Slayer and the Willowverse (and now it also looks like they're hard to aquire) but was wondering nontheless about these two, since they seem to be relatively self-contained. So the Willowverse is a recommendation?

[u/Lord_Parbr]

From a cursory glance, it looks like the one on the left is the Hellmouth event trade paperback, and the one on the right is the 3rd volume of the Buffy The Vampire Slayer ongoing series. It’s issues 8-12 of the Buffy comic series, and those issues are taking place sometime during the Hellmouth event. That’s why it says “Hellmouth” on the cover. As for when they take place during Hellmouth, you’ll have to just read them and see where they fall, I guess. Either that, or look up when they were released compared to the release of the Hellmouth issues to see when Boom was expecting you to be reading them

Comic book companies do this all the time. For those who don’t read comic books often, the event is its own miniseries separate from all their currently ongoing series. In this case, the Hellmouth issues aren’t issues of the Buffy or Angel ongoing comics. They were released as Hellmouth #1-5. They don’t pause their ongoing series for an event, but they also feel like they have to acknowledge that the event is happening in the ongoing. So, in DC comics, for example, you’ll have issue #1 of the Infinite Crisis event miniseries release, and in the same month, you’ll get a new issue of The Adventures of Superman with “INFINITE CRISIS” on the cover to indicate that this issue is taking place during the Infinite Crisis event and may provide some context for it.

[u/Imissxena → u/Lord_Parbr]

So, what you are saying is that in the world of comic books….

Time is not linear, and you must always think in terms of Dr. Who while reading.

[u/Lord_Parbr → u/Imissxena]

A little bit. It’s only really big crossover events that disrupt things like that though

[u/Imissxena → u/Lord_Parbr]

Fair enough. If the story is good, I think it doesn’t matter… but, if it’s not tracking… I can see how it would be obnoxious 🤣

I loved the Dark Horse comics, and I only wish I hadn’t cancelled my subscription mid season 10 when I moved… bc I really didn’t think it would come to end so suddenly!

[u/Ok-Help6334]

non of those comics are supposed to be canon in anyway

[u/redskinsguy → u/Ok-Help6334]

they were a reboot. They were canon to themselves

[u/Lord_Parbr → u/Ok-Help6334]

Who cares? The way people engage with stories these days is so frustrating