Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight (2007)

The rare licensed comic that is the official continuation rather than a side story. Joss Whedon picked up after the TV show ended in 2003 and used the page to do what a network budget never allowed, starting with Buffy leading an army of Slayers. It won the 2008 Eisner for Best New Series, credited to Whedon and artist Georges Jeanty. Be honest with yourself about this one. It is the entry here that most needs the source, because it leans on seven seasons of relationships and assumes you know them. For a fan who drifted away, though, it is a genuine eighth season over 40 issues, with Whedon's ear for banter intact. Later arcs get sprawling; the opening arc is the strongest way in.