Over the past decade writer Kelly Thompson has steadily become one of the most popular and successful talents in the comic book industry. One of her trademarks is chronicling strong women characters and as a result, has written some of the most iconic female characters including Jem & The Holograms, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Nancy Drew, The Powerpuff Girls, Captain Marvel, Jessica Jones, Scarlett (G.I. Joe), The Birds of Prey, and her runaway hit, Absolute Wonder Woman, which reimagines Wonder Woman as a warrior raised in Hell by Circe instead of on Themyscira, making her a darker, more mythic figure focused on justice rather than peace.
Now, Kelly is taking on yet another iconic character, Buffy Summers in Dynamite Entertainment’s new series, Buffy The Vampire Slayer with artist Stephen Byrne and it’s companion series, Angel, with artist Giulia Giacomino.
Kelly took some time from her busy schedule to discuss her plans for the books and her longtime love for the characters.
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FOG!: Hi, Kelly! Congratulations on your new gig writing both Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Angel. Were you a fan of these shows growing up at all?
KELLY THOMPSON: Absolutely. I was (and am!) a die-hard fan of both. I’d go so far as to say that Buffy, in particular, is pretty foundational to me becoming a writer.
How did you wind up writing both titles for Dynamite?
Nate Cosby, my editor, reached out to me when he saw that Dynamite got the licenses for Buffy and Angel. He thought I might be interested in one or both books. And I told him I had good news and bad news, because I was really only interested if I COULD have both books, and I had only one idea that I wanted to do – THE idea.
Fortunately everyone involved liked said idea and here we are.
Buffy has been released by several different publishers over the years, did you take that continuity into account when you developed the book, or is this a fresh starting point for any reader?
This new series ignores all previous Buffy and Angel comics. No disrespect intended to any of the very good comics that have been made over the years, but that’s just too much to ask of any reader for a new series – and those old comic series run the gamut – one is a continuation of the TV show, others spins offs of that, some are all-new reboots, some are set in the future, etc. So we needed as clean a start for readers as possible — we’re already asking a lot by hoping readers are familiar with the show – though we have done our best in Buffy #1 especially to help bring any brand new readers into the Buffyverse fold.
I know a lot of details regarding both titles are being held pretty close to the vest until their release. Can you discuss approximately when these stories take place?
That’s one of the only questions I can’t really answer cleanly – although I think anyone familiar with Buffy can put some of the mystery together just by looking at some of the art, covers, and sketches that have been released already.
You’re known for writing some very strong female characters, including Jessica Jones, Captain Marvel, and currently Absolute Wonder Woman. How has your work on these titles been influenced by Buffy?
Buffy was an inspirational heroine to me in early days of becoming a writer and she’s never really left me – she remains one of my favorite heroines – and when you’re a comic book/sci-fi/fantasy geek – there’s a lot of competition in the “favorite heroine” category. But I think she’s a shining example of getting a heroine right – strong but vulnerable, powerful but still human, brilliant and but flawed – and I always try to infuse those elements into any hero I’m writing.
Is the Dynamite series being released as “seasons”, or is it essentially just a regular comic told through story arcs?
I admit I haven’t thought of it as “seasons” but we did start by planning 12 issues for each book – which in theory is a year of issues and thus “a season” I suppose. The first story arc is the first five issues of Buffy and the first five issues of Angel – sort of a “crossover event” to launch our new status quo for the book. After issue five of both series they will become a bit more distinct as books and have less crossover – though still more than the shows I hope.
Can you talk about what your collaborators, Stephen Byrne and Giulia Giacomino uniquely bring each title?
Stephen has a real love for the Buffyverse and you can feel it in his work – and we’re particularly lucky he’s such a fan because the first issue has a lot of referencing of the show – which could be tedious to get right – but you can really feel how well Stephen knows the world and characters.
Working on a licensed property that has very specific guidelines about likenesses can be really exhausting and Stephen and Giulia have both been champs and done terrific work. Giulia’s Angel #1 has less tedious referencing work to do, but does require a huge emotional lift on the character work – so they both had really big challenges. They’ve done wonderful work we’re very lucky to have them.
Working on both Buffyverse titles, was there a particular character that unexpectedly became a favorite to write?
Well, I love writing truth-teller characters like Cordelia, Spike, and Anya – but I expected to like writing them – so I think I was most surprised by how much I enjoyed writing Dawn.
Dynamite Entertainment’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 releases on July 22, 2026
Dynamite Entertainment’s Angel #1 releases on August 19, 2026
