As explained in the Buffyverse Comic Book Reboot Reading Order by Boom Studios, Dark Horse Comics’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer license expired at the end of 2018, and the license is now in the hands of BOOM! Studios who relaunched the series in 2019 and followed 3 months later with an Angel title. The publisher didn’t lose time and offered the first cross-over event, Hellmouth.
What is the Hellmouth event about? Written by Jordie Bellaire and Jeremy Lambert and illustrated by Eleonora Carlini and Marco Renna, Hellmouth is a miniseries of the crossover event tying into the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel comic book series.
As Boom Studios explain to us, Buffy and her Scooby Gang will have to muster all their strength as they deal with an open Hellmouth that threatens the lives of everyone they love in Sunnydale. Meanwhile, Angel, the vampire cursed with a soul, arrives in town to find his redemption by doing whatever it takes to close the Hellmouth… and no human, demon, or Slayer will stand in his way.
What to read Before the Hellmouth Event
As Boom Studios reboot the Buffyverse few months before the event, you can read the issues published before to have a better understanding of this reboot :
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 1: High School Is Hell
Collects Buffy (2019) #1–4 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 2: Once Bitten
Collects Buffy (2019) #5–8 - Angel Vol. 1: Being Human (exist also in hardcover)
Collects Angel (2019) #0–4 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Chosen Ones.
Collected stories about chosen ones before Buffy, including the story « Mission » that takes place in the year 1808, in Sunnydale and reveal the hidden origins of the Sunnydale Hellmouth.
Hellmouth Reading Order:
Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth Event Collected editions
The main story Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth has been collected in a TPB, but if you want the complete story – with the tie-in from Buffy and Angel – each series also has a collected edition. This event was also at some point collected as a Gift Set, but this edition is not available anymore.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vol. 3: From Beneath You
Collects Buffy (2019) #9–12. - Angel Vol. 2: City of Demons
Collects Angel (2019) #5-8. - Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth
Collects Hellmouth#1-5.
Or as a Deluxe Edition:
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Hellmouth Deluxe Edition (hardcover)
Collects the entire event: Hellmouth #1-5, Buffy the Vampire Slayer #9-12, and Angel #5-8.
Hellmouth Event, The Reading Order By Issue
As the story unfolds, the events are related from different perspectives and issues happen parallel to each other. Here is the reading order :
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer #8
- Angel #5 (The Road to Hellmouth)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #1 (of 5)
- Angel #6 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer #9 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #2 (of 5)
- Angel #7 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #3 (of 5)
- Angel #8 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer #11 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #4 (of 5)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer #12 (Tie-in)
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel: Hellmouth #5 (of 5)
What to read After the Hellmouth Event?
The rebooted Buffy universe continues to expand with a new spin-off Willow and still more Buffy and Angel issues. For more, go to see our reading Order.