Future Shock

Publication

July 18, 2018

Length

22 pages

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve #2

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One Year Later	The Reckoning

Future Shock is the second issue of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve comic book miniseries. It was written by Christos Gage with Joss Whedon and illustrated by Georges Jeanty. It was originally published on July 18, 2018 by Dark Horse Comics.

Synopsis[]

With his ownership of Slayer memories, Harth has come from the future to destroy Buffy and all the Slayers, stealing their power for his own. At his side are demons and evil-kind, a massive army that Buffy and the Scoobies weren't expecting. To even the playing field, the gang travels to the future to recruit Fray and learn of their dismal fate — should they fail in this battle against Harth…

The return of Fray!
The Reckoning will be the culmination of all the Buffy seasons!^[1]

Continuity[]

Buffy complains about being always attacked when she arrives in the future, as it's happened before in Time of Your Life, Part One.
Melaka recalls Buffy breaking her mʔ weapon in Time of Your Life, Part Four.
Erin is curious about vampires' ability to have sexual intercourse, and Mel refers to this behavior as deviant; Buffy had confirmed the ability with Angel ("Surprise") and Spike ("Smashed").
Giles refers to the First Evil exploding the Watchers Council headquarters ("Never Leave Me").
Giles discovers the later members of the Watchers Council had been mad and paranoid, as Urkonn has described to Melaka in Ready, Steady....
A flashback shows Willow being killed by Buffy, as happened in Time of Your Life, Part Four. Faith learns about the event for the first time.
Buffy refers to Gunther as a pervert, in reference to his interest on her underwear in Time of Your Life, Part Two.
Spike mentions he's glad for Illyria's return from death (United, Part Two); they had't seen each other since the fall of Los Angeles.
Harmony suggests a polyamorous relationship between Buffy, Angel, and Spike, as she had mentioned in Day Off (or Harmony in My Head).
Harmony confirms Willow's plan to bring Buffy to the future had been so the witch would be killed by the Slayer (Time of Your Life, Part Four).
Angel mentions he had already been in hell, in reference to Acathla's dimension ("Becoming, Part Two").
Angel repeats his quote "if nothing we do matters, then all that matters is what we do," from the episode "Epiphany."

Appearances[]

Individuals[]

Organizations and titles[]

Species[]

Demon
Dog (Only image)
Human
- Radie
Old One
- Olvikan
Unicorn (Only image)
Vampire

Events[]

Reckoning (Only in flashbacks)

Locations[]

Boston (Only mentioned)
Haddyn
- Fray's library
- Gunther's home
- Harmony Kendall's mansion
Silicon Valley
- Wolfram & Hart Silicon Valley branch

Objects[]

Death count[]

Willow, stabbed by Buffy (in flashbacks).
Xander and Dawn, died of old age (in flashbacks).

Behind the scenes[]

Production[]

With similar pose and clothes, Phil Noto's cover is a reference to Georges Jeanty's cover with the two Slayers for Time of Your Life, Part Four — which was in turn a reference to a promotional picture of Buffy with Kendra in "What's My Line? Part Two."
Harmony's throne adornment of an unicorn is a direct reference to Dark Horse Comics logo.

Distribution[]

Future Shock was the 169th best selling comic issue in its publishing month, with 10,720 sales in July 2018 at comic specialty stores.^[2]

Collections[]

Pop culture references[]

Buffy associates Melaka with The Fifth Element (1997) science-fiction action film, and Barbie fashion doll.
Buffy compares Melaka's world with young adult fiction common genre of dystopia.