The Monster Book

Christopher Golden is the award-winning L.A. Times bestselling author of such novels as Strangewood, Straight on 'til Morning, and the Body of Evidence series of teen thrillers, which is currently being developed for television by Viacom. In comic books, he has worked with such characters as Batman, Spider-Man, Wolverine, The Punisher, Blade, Daredevil, The Crow, and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Golden has also written or co-written a great many novels, nonfiction books, and comics based on the popular TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spin-off, Angel. There are more than three million copies of his books in print in the United States alone. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. Visit him at www.christophergolden.com. Stephen R. Bissette is a writer, artist, and pop-culture journalist. As an artist, he is best known for his multiple award-winning 1980s run on Swamp Thing with Alan Moore and John Totleben, and for his 1990s creator-owned dinosaur epic S.R. Bissette's Tyrant. He was also the publisher and editor of the groundbreaking horror anthology comics series Taboo. As a writer, Bissette won the Bram Stoker Award for his novella Aliens: Tribes and has written a number of short stories, most recently for the anthology Hellboy: Odd Jobs. As a journalist, his articles have appeared in Video Watchdog, Ecco, Gorezone, Fangoria, Deep Red, and elsewhere, and he writes a weekly video-review column that appears in various New England newspapers. He is the co-author of the book Comic Book Rebels. As a lecturer, he has presented his history of horror comics, Journeys Into Fear, in many university and convention venues worldwide. Thomas E. Sniegoski is best known as a comic-book writer, but has recently expanded into other areas that showcase his interest and talents. He has worked for every major company in the comics industry, including DC, Marvel, Image, and Dark Horse. Some of his more recent works include a new Batman project for DC, and a Star Trek prestige format special for Wildstorm. Sniegoski is also the only outside writer ever invited to work within the universe that award-winning artist/writer Jeff Smith has created for his strip, Bone. Sniegoski was the writer on Stupid-Stupid Rat-Tails: The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone, which was published in late 1999. He is currently working on his first novel, a supernatural mystery, as well as on several book projects for children and young adults. With Christopher Golden, he is currently writing the Angel monthly comic for Dark Horse Comics and several other Buffy special projects. He lives in Stoughton, Massachusetts, with his wife, LeeAnne, and their three-year-old Labrador retriever, Mulder.

Introduction The MythologyBuffy the Vampire Slayerdebuted on the WB television network on March 10, 1997. As captivatingly played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy Summers is a young woman who is not at all thrilled that she has been chosen by "The Powers That Be" to receive special abilities and become a warrior against the forces of darkness.With its balance of humor and drama -- and perhaps most important, the way it used monsters as metaphor for the real social and emotional problems faced by teens -- the series struck a nerve and became an instant hit for the burgeoning network. By the beginning of its fourth season in the fall of 1999, it had spun off a second series revolving around Angel, the charismatic "good" vampire who had become Buffy's one true love.Monsters are not merely metaphor, however.Buffy the Vampire Slayerhas brought horror, the supernatural, and all their trappings back into popular culture with an enthusiasm unmatched in recent memory. Vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches, ghosts, demons, and so many more...they're all onBuffy.Consequently, they're all inhere.The Monster Bookcatalogs every major supernatural creature to have crawled across the TV screen in the series' first four seasons. It explores theBuffymythology, revealing heretofore unknown information about the nature of vampires, demons, and other monsters on the series. In these pages, you'll find interviews with the writers and producers of the show, as well as its creator,Joss Whedon,in which they discuss the monsters on the series, the mythology, and the influences and inspirations that are always with them when working on the show.ButThe Monster Bookis more than that. In addition to all the material on the universe ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer,this volume includes an exhaustively researched history of monsters in folklore and popular culture, providing an enormous reference text, a tale of the way frightening myths have developed into entertainment, and the evolution of monsters in the consciousness of Western civilization that contributed to the creation ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer.So, what do you need to know?At Hemery High School in Los Angeles, popular sixteen-year-oldBuffy Summersdiscovered that she had been mystically chosen to fight the forces of darkness. TheCouncil of Watchers-- an international group based in London that has trained and guided Slayers for centuries -- sent a Watcher namedMerrickto aid her. After training her, he was killed. During a battle against vampires at Hemery, she was forced to burn down the gymnasium, and was subsequently expelled.Her parents,HankandJoyce Summers,then divorced, and the Slayer moved with her mother toSunnydale,California, about two hours away on the southern California seacoast. Though she had hoped to abandon the responsibilities of theChosen One,Buffy soon discovered that her relocation to Sunnydale had been no accident of fate. Rather, the Powers That Be had somehow influenced her life and that of her mother so that they would settle there.Sunnydale is located on aHellmouth,a place where the barrier that separates Earth from the multitude of demon dimensions is worn thin. Another Watcher,Rupert Giles,was sent to continue her training and guidance. Along with Giles and her closest friends --Willow RosenbergandXander Harris-- Buffy has continued the battle against vampires, demons, and other monsters through high school and into college. She wishes for a normal life, but Buffy takes her duties as the Slayer very seriously.Shortly after her arrival in Sunnydale, Buffy met a vampire namedAngel,unique in that he was -- as far as we know -- the only vampire in the world to also have a human soul (see Vampires: Angel). After he had made a name for himself as Angelus, the cruele