hanks to its enduring popularity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year with much fanfare. The teen hunter and the cast of eclectic characters sank their fangs into the public imagination and never let go. So what better way to celebrate the beloved franchise than with an anthology collection of stories from the Buffy-verse, bringing some much-needed-feel-good nostalgia to readers and also promising more from BOOM! Studios excellent adaptations of the series.

This month Buffy the Vampire Slayer celebrates its 25th anniversary. Throughout its run from 1997 to 2003, the series saw incredible critical acclaim, with multiple accolades. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who plays vampire slayer Buffy Summers, is credited with changing the way female protagonists were viewed on television and was nominated for a Golden Globe for her work on the show.

The show’s case and crew constantly broke barriers in an otherwise formulaic space. Body swaps, musicals, and an episode solely revolving around the shock and grief experienced the day someone dies: no background music, no sharp one-liners, and no monsters. And it worked.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The 25th Anniversary #1 is an anthology one-shot published by BOOM! Studios. True to its name, the anthology contains a number of stories centred on the titular Slayer and her friends, with a number of creators delivering the same mix of humor and horror which made the television series a staple of pop culture. It also teases a number of future series, which contains BOOM!’s expansion of the Buffy franchise following series like Buffy: the Last Vampire Slayer.

There are a lot of memorable parts of the Season 3 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Graduation Day, Part 2”. From beginning to end, the episode represents some of the show’s best writing and character development. But Buffy’s graduation scene, featuring the climactic battle between the Scoobys and the Mayor and his minions as they try to prevent his ascension is one of the most iconic of the whole series.

Until now, the Scooby Gang never thought that the greatest force they’d have to face came from their own ranks. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24, the Gang takes on a darkness out of their control. This issue is written and illustrated by long-time contributes Jeremy Lambert and Ramon Bachs, respectively. Also returning are colorist Raul Angulo and letterer Ed Dukeshire.

There’s one Angel character who stands out from the rest – both literally and figuratively – and he wasn’t even intended to exist in the first place. Though demons tend to get the pointy end of the stick in the Buffyverse, Andy Hallet’s fast-taking, aura-reading, green-skinned demon Lorne has stood the test of time and emerged as one of Angel’s most unlikely standouts with his infectious energy and quick wit.

The Ring of Fire arc has turned multiple friends into foes. Anya, the former Watcher, continues her secret plot against the Watcher Council. Meanwhile, Xander’s a vampire hell-bent on trapping Willow with him. Now, through the magic of a mysterious gift from issue #20, Willow has been taken over by an eerie sort of doppelganger.

Dark Willow was one of the biggest twists in the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Willow spent seasons of the original series learning about magic and perfecting spell-crafting in her own right. But by Season 6, her ambitions and appetite for magic had grown to a dangerous level.

I want to be honest here. Although I do enjoy Boom! Studios Buffy-verse which has excelled with titles such as Angel & Spike. Willow and even the recent Faith revival, the titular book continues to fall short of what it tries to offer us.

I can’t mention the Buffy series without talking about the ability of the artists. Spanning several different books across the studio line, each entry manages to deliver the characters consistently. Faith is drawn with the same look and appeal as when she was introduced in Buffy a few issues back.