Buffy #19 Covers

[Weredog]

Verrrrrrry interesting....




Is Dark Willow back????!!?!?

[Wolfie Gilmore]

Golly! I'm guessing she isn't back in a straightforward sense... or why would they give it away on the cover? Perhaps it's one of those metaphory things?

[dinamo]

I wonder if Buffy needs Willow's help and the only way to help is to use her more darker powers as opposed to the more earthly light powers? Or maybe Kennedy finds out about Snake Lady and all hell breaks loose. Although i doubt that as in Willow's eye, its Buffy so its probably connected to that. She did go dark and veiny Willow against Amy didn't she? But was in control not like at the end of season 6 kind of Dark Willow, so it could just be a ruse. Kind of like Dark Willow will be there but not the Dark Willow we automatically assume, just the Willow who is using the darker magics, but full on badass Dark Willow. (although I'd love to see her back at some point in the future if its believeable she'd go back there)

[DigitalLeonardo]

That is the damnest coolest cover EVER! Jo Chen really hit it outta the park this time. Damn, it is so bone chilling!

I don't think has gone dark dark evil, but maybe she is just using her full power to try and get Buffy back from the future (we saw before for her to open a portal shes gotta get a little black eyed!)

The variant cover is the usual blah...

[sueworld]

OMG Chen's cover is simply superb! What a stunning piece of work from her yet again!

[Koos]

Wow, that's a extremely good cover from Jo. I'm blown away from it!

Very interesting to see DarkWillow back. Maybe she is the mysteriours foe.

[tangent]

You know it looksa a little like Willow is kind of split in two in that picture The partial view of the right side of her face is clearly lighter than the left (Especially clear on the lower lip.) Could be a lighting effect but perhaps its an inner struggle between Willows dark and not so dark sides, a la the Hulk.

The face in the eye looks like Buffy. Could we be getting a rerun of Two to Go?

[redrevo]

Buffy's face is reflected in Willow's eye, and she doesn't look overly calm... in fact it looks as though Willow (or someone else) is strangling her. Which, you know, seems to be happening a lot to Buffy this season. If that were the betrayal, though, I think it would be too straightforward.

[Charles]

Yeah I'd say its the return of PO'd Willow from Get It Done more then anything else.

[Thomas]

What if Harth's new pal isn't Drusilla, but Dark!Willow? I mean, looking at the dress on the #16 variant cover, it's kind of Willow-y. What if Willow is the betrayer and the scene with Buffy bruised and hurt takes place in the future? Though, how would she have survived?

[dinamo]

What if Dark Willow being alive in the future is what the Snake Lady told Willow that scared her? Or that she'd keep herself alive with magic etc, and that the betrayal is Willow lying to Buffy and everyone about what she knows about her future/their future? I doubt it but its not impossible, Snake Lady seems to have told her something that she didn't like, or else why did she run from her?

[Sacred Knight]

This would be a huge twist if it was Dark Willow. I mean, they could still take a Heroes-like route and make it so that the future can be changed, but with the Fray future seemingly being the backbone of the entire season, it doesn't look like that's the case, rather Fray's futue is THE future.

I don't know how I'd like dealing with the knowledge that Willow is, no matter what, going to turn out to be a villain.

[ThePoet's<3]

What an awesome cover!! (Have I said how HAPPY I am Jo Chen is back?!?)

See - this is something I've been thinking about ever since they started talking about betrayal and end of magics! I wouldn't think Willow would want all magic to end - she wouldn't be the powerful witch she is now or in the future - and that's something she's not willing to part with!! Never has been!

I know she swore she wouldn't betray Buffy - but I think that's why the betrayal is going to hurt even more - she will LIE to keep her powers.

I think Snake Goddess Lady has seduced Willow into higher powers. And once Willow takes the plunge she's not coming back - ever.

[Sacred Knight]

Its so depressing but at the same time, described the way you have I think it would make an awesome story. I don't want a Scooby to have a permanent fall from grace....but it would be ballsy. Ballsy just for the sake of it sucks, but if its done for the sake of a good story to go with it...this could be awesome.

Don't want to count the eggs before they're hatched here, but it makes you wonder too if this is why Joss spent so much time in the early issues displaying such a closeness between Buffy and Xander. If Willow is to go perma-big bad, its going to hit them both extremely hard and they'll need each other to lean on more than ever.

[vampmogs]

OMG, my favourite cover, ever! It's just amazing, a wonderful, wonderful cover. And bloody frightening to, seeing Buffy in the eye's reflection is quite scary. Jo Chen has really out done herself with this one.

And yup, it sets up some really interesting questions here. What if Willow is the girl in the future? And why does she do this to Buffy? Oh god.

[Sacred Knight]

I wonder if this leads into the vision of Buffy we saw in Anywhere But Here.

[vampmogs]

Wolfie's got a point though, it's a bit of a give away if they were trying to keep this a secret? Perhaps it's metaphory?

Perhaps Willow learns that Buffy is the slayer responsible for ending all magic and decides to stop this from happening?

Perhaps Willow with the help of Savuki manages to keep herself alive for this long just so she could stop Buffy in the future?

Who knows, but god now I can't wait for this arc.

[alexa]

This would be so much cooler if it was Dark Willow, rather then Dru.. and it's not like it can't be undone if Willow discovers what her path could be. Much braver then having it be Dru.. but could be nothing I guess.
Nice cover too

[Matt]

Holy crap!

I think I just found my favourite cover of the season, that is bloody amazing, it's so beautiful in a evil-looking way.

As for why she looks evil I'd say that she had to perform a reasonably powerful spell to get Buffy back from Manhattan in the future, so it may cause her to go dark, either that or she has to battle the person responsible for sending Buffy to Manhattan in the first place, either way I can't wait.

[KingofCretins]

In the reflection, Buffy may actually be laying in nearly the same position she was in in 8.10 when she saw herself betrayed. I think that it's FDW (FutureDarkWillow) that will do that damage, that will be her "traitor", and that when she gets back, she and PGW (PresentGoodWillow) will have to face the fall-out.

Right off the bat in 8.10, Willow latches on to the idea that Buffy is responsible for Twilight -- her behavior (robberies, etc) created the fear of the Slayer "master race". Now, as a result, who knows how many Slayers have been killed. Until we see otherwise, Willow might even think they lost Xander and Dawn. And something FDW may have seen that Buffy hasn't... is Buffy having lost this war, and magic ended. All of which both PGW and especially FDW would put on Buffy.

I think FDW will lay out all that exposition while pounding the hell out of Buffy. And when she gets back, we'll begin to see PGW pulling away from her as well. Buffy can't heal that breach without rescuing the prince, Xander, and then has to win the war this time, rather than the defeat FDW saw.

That's a lot of theory, but it all just came together.

Vampmogs, you are brutal with the spoiler-laden banners, you know this? Heh.