This month’s “Buffy” comics have seen the return of the one of the greatest villainous duos in the entire franchise- Drusilla and Spike. The two rolled with a vampire crew that called themselves the Whirlwind before they arrived in Sunnydale early in Buffy’s second season. They stuck around throughout the show’s run, played a part in the spin-off Angel and continued to do their vampire thing in the pages of the original “Buffy” comics. Buffyversity is now in session, and we’re going to be look at the past, present, and future of this thoroughly messed up pair.
William the Bloody and Dru
Even before she became a vampire, Drusilla was gifted with The Sight- visions of the future, sent by The Powers That Be. She was a saintly human girl, so the profoundly evil Angelus tormented her and drove her crazy. Just for laughs. That was kind of how he rolled. The night Dru was going to take her vows as a nun, Angelus murdered the rest of the sisters in front of her, and just at her moment the babbling insanity took her, made her a vampire. She joined Angelus and Darla in their hedonistic vampiric reign of terror.
Once a doofus named William Pratt, Spike was the worst poet ever. Drusilla had been driven crazy though, and something about William was very appealing to her. She wanted a vampiric plaything of her own, and turned him into a creature of the night. What’s remarkable is how little William changed upon becoming Spike. He gained a new confidence and did a lot of evil crap, but you always got the impression that it was fear holding William back. As a vampire, Spike would fight, and murder, and drink, and sleep around, and drink the blood of hippies at Woodstock just to get a unique high.
On television, the two of them always had a dynamic that could be described as… heightened. Dru would vacillate wildly between ruthless mistress of evil and a simpering mess. If you’ve ever suffered from chronic migraine pain, maybe you can relate. Spike was utterly devoted to Dru… until he wasn’t. That’s kind of the crux of Spike as a character. To him, love is the most important thing, but it’s a selfish kind of love, demonstrated through grand, murderous gestures. Halfway through Buffy’s run, Spike’s love moved on from Dru to Buffy, and he became one of the show’s main characters until sacrificing himself in the final episode to save the world…
…only to come back from the dead in Angel’s final season. He joined Team Angel when they were given control of the evil (demonically evil, not regular evil) law firm Wolfram & Hart, and was temporarily trapped in Los Angeles when the city was sucked into Hell in the finale. Good news though! On what he thought was going to be his last day on Earth, Spike finished the poem he’d been trying to write for a couple of centuries.
Continued belowMy soul is wrapped in harsh repose,
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,
But soft… behold!
A sunlight beam
Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam.
My heart expands,
’tis grown a bulge in it,
Inspired by your beauty
Effulgent.
Do you like it? The bikers he recited it to thought it was beautiful. Beautiful like a railroad spike through the head.
Semi-Charmed Comic Life
The “Buffy” comics were totally absorbed with all-encompassing spectacle. Joss Whedon said early on that he was excited to bring Buffy to comics because it meant he didn’t have to deal with any effects budgets. That attitude really showed. In some cases that was fun, it just meant traveling the world. Dru led an evil plot in Las Vegas, a cult in London, and an evil cult in the Magic Town ghetto.
Spike on the other hand had what felt like hundreds of crazy adventures. In Fallen L.A., Spike became the Lord of Beverley Hills, and did the kinds of things you’d assume Spike would do in that situation. He also reunited with Buffy to fight a government sponsored anti-magic operative named Twilight, who turned out to be Angel, who was really a double-agent and… the “Buffy” comics really went off the rails at times. Spike captained an interdimensional spaceship crewed by demon roaches. It kind of felt like that at all times.
What interesting is how little the two changed as characters across the various comic book runs. Sure, Dru worked for a while to erase memories of trauma, but despite the nearly altruistic goals (for her at least), that really sounds like a classic Dru plan, the kind she might have tried in an episode of Angel. Spike fought things he thought were worth fighting, fell in love, mucked it up, ran off, came back, and repeated the cycle again and again. He eventually moved in with Xander and Dawn and made a go at trying to get back together with Buffy. Spike and Dru fought on occasion in the comics, but never really developed their relationship beyond where they ended up in Angel.
Spike and Dru IRL
It’s also interesting to look at what became of the actors who played the cult classic characters. Drusilla was played by Juliet Landau, daughter of Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau and Barbra Bain, who was one of the stars of the original Mission: Impossible TV show. Since Angel ended, Juliet Landau hasn’t been seen much on screen, but that’s because she’s become something of a prolific voice actress. You might know her best as the voice of all the Little Sisters in the Bioshock games, and honestly if you think about, the line from Dru to the Little Sisters isn’t all that long. She’s also done a ton of DC animation, and had a fairly prominent role on Ben 10.
James Marsters, who played Spike, spent years making guest appearances on what felt like every genre show you could think of. He had a celebrated (but short) run on Torchwood, an exciting (but short) run on Caprica, and a decent villain arc on Smallville. He appeared on Supernatrual (as a character married to Buffy alum Charisma Carpenter, they were witches, it ruled), Warehouse 13, Witches of East End, a bunch of Dragon Ball stuff. Recently, he’s in the main cast of Marvel’s Runaways and gives one of the best performances on the show. He also reads the audiobooks for The Dresden Files series, one of the best audiobook readings of all time.
You’d think such beloved actors from such a beloved series would be popping up everywhere, but Landau and Marsters have been making solid careers of steady work.
You don’t need The Sight to see the future
In the first season of Buffy, the Big Bad was The Master, a not particularly memorable vampire played by a very game Mark Metcalf. Later Buffy lore added a lot of significance to this character. He was the vampire who turned Darla, who then turned Angelus, who turned Drusilla, who turned Spike. He’s the patriarch of their whole lineage. And in the new comics, Drusilla has stolen his name: she’s now going as The Mistress.
On a surface level, this is pretty clever. It calls back to Buffy’s first season, but skips right to the good stuff. The Master was a great starter villain, but the heroes didn’t have a lot invested in him personally. Swapping him out with Drusilla immediately brings in a lot of the supporting cast, lore, and bad guys, giving this new “Buffy” comic a lot of room to maneuver in the future.
It also continues its tradition of turning Buffy characters on their ears. The Mistress is certainly crazy, but she’s a competent villain. She treats Spike like a beloved puppy, but she’s clearly the dominant personality in their whole Sid and Nancy dynamic. Spike is already showing signs of defecting, and his trademark weird vampire compassion is right there for all to see- he kind of digs Buffy, and he’s already getting friendly with Cordelia. That gives the comic plenty of room to explore new dynamics while remaining true to the characters. Dru inevitably always becomes a Mistress of some kind eventually. And Spike is always looking for love, only this time it seems like he’s connecting with Cordelia.
…and we have yet to see any signs of the original vampire with a soul, Angel. In the original series, the broody vampire has been a lover to Buffy, and Drusilla, AND Spike, AND Cordelia. Once we’ve established our new dynamics, Angel can show up at any point to shatter everything.
