"Buffy" Introduces First Gay Male Slayer

The Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics, which picks up where the TV series left off, will introduce Billy, the first openly gay male Slayer.

In an exclusive interview with Out, Jane Espenson, writer and producer of the Buffy series and co-creator of Husbands, says that his character is meant to empower young gay men:

I thought, Gee, all the work we’ve done with Buffy is about being female, and how that doesn’t mean that you are lesser. It suddenly struck me: If being feminine doesn’t mean that your’e lesser, then liking guys also doesn’t mean you’re lesser. For very good reason, we’ve focused on the female empowerment part of Buffy, but I wondered, Did we leave something out? What if someone in high school is looking up to Buffy as a role model, and we’re saying: You can’t be a Slayer.

Additionally, she explains how despite the mythology dictating that only women can be Slayers, Billy’s character will go the Batman route:

Batman doesn’t have super powers. He wasn’t gifted with an exotic foreign birth. So we take the Batman route; Billy is earning the Slayer mantle.

Source: out.com

Billy will make his debut in Season 9, Issue 14. Below is Out’s exclusive preview of the comic:

Source: out.com

Source: out.com

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For more information, check out Out's interview with Jane Espenson

out.com