WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer #24 by Jeremy Lambert, Ramon Bahs, Raul Angulo, and Ed Dukeshire, on sale now
One of the most interesting elements of the modern Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been the incorporation of a veritable Slayer Multiverse, with other realities full of their own versions of Buffy and her allies. Now, it appears that the current Scoobies have been thrown headlong into other possible worlds, which could have major implications on BOOM! Studios’ Buffy the Vampire series.
In Buffy #24, the fallout of Xander’s unexpected death sends multiple characters from the series across dimensions, and it seemingly drops Wes and the spirit of Ethan Rayne right into the heart of a classic episode of the original series.
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Recent months have seen the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer circling each other and their potential dark destinies, only for everything to hit a breaking point when Anya gave Willow an amulet that helped usher Dark Willow into the world. Willow’s desire to see Xander again allows her to briefly control the more mystical and unpredictable side of herself long enough to find Xander in the school courtyard fighting against Faith and Kendra. In the chaos, Xander is distracted by the seemingly restored Willow, turning his back on a wounded Faith long enough for her to drive a stake into his back. Xander barely has time to reach out for Willow before he collapses into a pile of dust, seemingly destroyed once and for all.
But Willow lashes out with her magics, claiming she can find him and ripping open a portal. Wes and the ghost of Ethan Rayne are dragged into the portal, while Willow voluntarily ventures into it. After a moment, she’s followed by the group of Buffy, Giles, Kendra and Rose, leaving a stunned Robin and a bleeding Faith behind in the present day. It looks like the portal has actually transported them in separate groups, as Wes and Ethan land in a town street, fully removed from the others who ventured through the portal. Looking up, the pair are shocked to find themselves staring at versions of Rupert Giles and Joyce Summers, albeit in the more punkish forms they appeared as in a memorable episode from the original canon.
In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 3 episode “Band Candy,” Ethan Rayne was hired to bring chaos to Sunnydale via a brand of chocolate that could force adults to revert to their teenage mindsets. This included Giles and Joyce, Buffy’s mother: Giles turned back into his rogueish Ripper persona, while Joyce became a more flighty and bad boy-adoring tagalong for Ripper’s run through Sunnydale. The effort was meant so that Mister Trick — at the behest of the Mayor appeasing the demon Lurconis — could collect a number of infants from around town to serve as a sacrifice.
There are two distinct possibilities about Wes and Ethan landing in this setting, and discovering these versions of Giles and Joyce as they are: it’s highly likely — especially considering the reality-bending events of Angel & Spike — that the pair have landed in another dimension, where things play out differently than in their home universe. Perhaps Wes and Ethan have arrived in a world where the events of “Band Candy” weren’t reversed so readily, and they now have a more aggressive version of Giles to handle. This would make the possibility that they’re separated from their allies all the more worrisome, as it implies they could have all been sent to different worlds.
Alternatively, this reality could in fact be the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe, during the events of that original episode. The implications of either being the case are massive, as it fully throws Wes and Ethan into the growing Slayerverse. It’ll be especially interesting not just to see how Ripper not only handles the more heroic version of Ethan — who in the original canon was one of Giles’ ultimate foes and the possibility of running into the fully restrained Giles of the BOOM! Buffy canon. Whatever universe they’re in, it’s imperative that Wes and Ethan figure out a way home, or at least to find their allies.