Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight #20

Three figures — a man in an orange jacket, a woman in pink, and a red-haired girl clutching a bowl of popcorn — huddle together watching a vintage television that displays a determined, stake-wielding Buffy on screen. It's a quietly charming image, full of warmth and nostalgia, that perfectly mirrors the issue's title, "After These Messages... We'll Be Right Back!" Jo Chen's painted cover radiates a cozy, almost Saturday-morning-cartoon intimacy that makes this 2008 installment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight stand out from the series' typically action-driven imagery. Written by Jeph Loeb with art from Eric Wight, Ethen Beavers, Adam Van Wyk, and Georges Jeanty, this issue promises something a little different — and the cover makes that clear right from the first glance.