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Douglas Petrie - Author of Ring of Fire

A dream come true
  How did you get involved in writing Buffy comics?

I'm a huge comic books fan. I always have been and comics, particularly Marvel comics of the 70s were an essential part of my stunted adolescence!

It's a dream come true to be writing them. What's fun with the Buffy comics is that we live in reality and we're a television show with a budget. Buffy lends itself to large. large stories, so with a comic like The Ring of Fire you just have this absolutely unlimited motion picture budget.

You get to make your 100 million dollar motion picture without spending much money. The ink costs the same whether its inside a house or a battlefield with a thousand demons on horseback.

Big bird
  Were any things you couldn't do on TV used in Ring of Fire?

Only one idea made it from the TV budget-busting pile to become a comic. The giant bird that was supposed to be hailed by the Glove of Myhnegon (from season three's Revelations).

Originally it was supposed to be a falconer's glove. The giant demonic bird that shot fire out of its mouth and all these things that we just loved and no way could we afford all found their way into The Ring of Fire.

Special effects
  Would the show benefit from the 'unlimited budget' a comic strip offers?

In a way I hope that we never really have all the keys to the candy store because what we are forced to do is concentrate on character, emotion and storytelling and the very basics - and to bring out special effects as a garnish.

I know that if I was given all the special effects in the world, there would be a temptation - that I would have to fight every day - to do very big splashy visual things that get away from the heart of the series.

Even if we did have Industrial Light and Magic at our beck and call we would probably not use it.

Novel ideas
  Would your love of Buffy in print extend to writing a novel one day?

The fact is, I'm not that bright and I like pictures with the words! I'm just not that intelligent.

I was an English major in college (William and Mary College in Virginia) and I'm sure my professors would be gnashing their teeth if any of them see this but it's not for lack of trying.

I love reading novels, I'm a voracious reader but a Buffy novelisation? I'd rather write an episode.

Tales of the Slayer
  Creating the Shaft of slayers

Tales of the Slayer is one of the most exciting things I've ever been a part of. Going back to Fool for Love, when they said Tales of the Slayer I immediately said, "Let me do Nikki, the Vampire Slayer!

"Let's see a story of cool seventies Nikki in her long black coat just being in the Shaft of slayers." No one put up a fight, so I got to do Nikki.

The best news for me personally is that there is a great, great comic book artist named Gene Colan, and to fans of Marvel comics of the seventies, they'll know his name. He's legitimately one of the giants of the industry. He's one of the greats of comic book illustration and he's about 70 years old now and still doing his thing.

Calling Colan
  Working with a legend

On a whim I called Scott Allie [Buffy editor at Dark Horse Comics] and said, "Do you think we can get Gene Colan out of wherever he's at and have him illustrate this story?"

Scott Allie pulled it off, so Gene Colan illustrated the story I wrote called Nikki Goes Down.

It's some of the best work I've ever seen Gene Colan produce, it was thrilling to see. It's very, very exciting and I'm proud of the story I wrote but really give it up for Gene Colan. I just wrote a story but Gene - they used to call him Gene the Dean Colan - produced some gorgeous, gorgeous art.

I'm very excited to see that Gene the Dean Colan in is fine form and as good as he ever was, if not better. I can't wait to work with him again, so for me personally Tales of the Slayer is all about the triumphant and long overdue return of Gene Colan to comic books.