by Vince Brusio The time for rest and relaxation is over, as Christos Gage hops on board to co-write with Joss Whedon Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning #1 ( APR180011 ) for Dark Horse Comics. In this PREVIEWSworld Exclusive interview, Gage explains that he and Whedon are about to write some impossible stuff. Earth-shattering apocalyptic stuff. It may just give the artists migraines. So grab some Tylenol, and read on, fiends! Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning #1 ( APR180011 ) is in comic shops June 20. ********** Vince Brusio : Season 12 takes place a year after we last saw Buffy and the Scoobies battling a big bad. It sounds like they had the opportunity to take a break. What did that down time look like? Have they had a chance to reflect on what they do, and if it’s still worth doing? Christos Gage : Things have progressed in their lives, in different ways for each character. Without an apocalypse or Big Bad attacking, they've had a chance to spend more time thinking about what they want their future to look like. Some of the changes are bigger than others...for instance, SOMEONE'S got a baby! We see Buffy holding it right on the cover. Is it hers? Dawn and Xander's? Willow's? Harmony and Clem's? Okay, probably not that last one. Vince Brusio : In this first issue, we’re said to expect the return of Fray. What’s the special occasion? How is this indicative of where the story will take us in Season 12? Christos Gage : We're finally dealing head-on with something referred to as ancient history in the future-set Fray comic Joss wrote a few years back, which leads to the end of Slayers for two hundred years. It's this huge battle against the massed forces of evil...and it will affect not only our time but Fray's future time period as well. Vince Brusio : “The Reckoning” is being touted as “the culmination of all the Buffy seasons.” That is one tall order, to say the least. Can you give us a heads-up on how such a massive feat will be executed? Christos Gage : Well, Joss and I got together and talked about what we wanted to accomplish, and there was general agreement that Fray's world has been set up like this almost "Days of Future Past"/Ragnarok type future that the Buffyverse was headed towards, springing out of a huge apocalyptic battle that led to all Slayers and most supernatural creatures being banished from Earth. So we figured that to NEVER show that or address it was kind of a cop-out. Plus something that huge was a great reason to get all the characters together. As to how it will be executed, we'll write impossible stuff, and Georges Jeanty and Karl Story and the rest of our amazing team will somehow make it real. Vince Brusio : If you could geek out over a particular scene in issue #1, what would it be? Why does this scene strike you as special? Christos Gage : Gotta go with Buffy and the baby. Whose baby is it? What does it mean to Buffy and her life? And everybody else's? You'll have to wait and see. BTVS: The Reckoning #2 ( MAY180358 ) ********** Vince Brusio writes about comics, and writes comics. He is the long-serving Editor of PREVIEWSworld.com, the creator of PUSSYCATS, and encourages everyone to keep the faith...and keep reading comics.