Sunday, April 20, 2008
Tools Of The Trade
Here is our first look at 4 cards from the just announced Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tarot Deck which will be released by Dark Horse Comics this August. Drawing on elements from all 8 seasons of BtVS (seasons 1-7 which aired on TV, season 8 which continues in comic book form), the Buffy Tarot Deck seeks to offer fans of the show a collectible tarot set that is meant to exist as a tool for slayers and their allies in their constant battle with vampires, demons, etc. Uh huh. Anyways, here are pics of the Magician, Death, Temperance and Devil cards from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tarot Deck:
Magic and divination have always been cornerstones of the world of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and thanks to Dark Horse Comics, Buffy fans will soon have access to the tricks of the magic trade. In addition to the previously announced "Buffy the Vampire Slayer 'Conversations With Dead People' Board," Dark Horse is producing an official Buffy tarot set. CBR News caught up with the set's designer, Rachel Pollack, and longtime "Buffy" cover artist Paul Lee to talk about the Slayer's Tarot. A former school teacher, Pollack was introduced to the art of tarot nearly 40 years ago by a colleague at the State University of New York. "One of the teachers asked me if I'd give her a ride home, and she said she'd read my tarot cards in exchange," Pollack said. "And I was immediately taken with it, I'd never seen tarot cards before, and I thought it was wonderful. So I ran around looking for a deck, and a little book, and that got me started." Pollack has long been a fan of "Buffy," and the Slayer's Tarot has been a long time coming. "Actually, I put together some ideas for a possible Buffy tarot deck ten/some years ago," Pollack said. "Never really got anywhere, I don't know if it even got to the eyes of the people in charge of things. But when I heard through a friend that Dark Horse was looking to do a Buffy tarot, and wanted someone to write the text for it, I wrote them immediately and said, 'I'd love to do this.'" ... "The idea is it's a tarot deck created for (use by) slayers in their task and for their allies in struggling against the vampires and the demons," Pollack said. "So we've constructed a whole kind of world for this in which it's not simply characters from the story, it's actually cards that those characters actually use. There are characters, and some of the cards represent particular moments in the story." The Lovers card, for instance, is Buffy and Angel. In addition to choosing the characters and situations pictured on the cards, Pollack is also writing the accompanying tarot book explaining how the tarot matches up to the "Buffy" storyline. "We have this whole back story on the tarot deck that places it within the Buffy universe, as opposed to collection of trading cards with characters on them," Lee said. "So it's been really fun figuring out how each card relates to the world of Buffy" ... "Some representations of Buffy are very, very powerful, they really capture the quality of that character," Pollack said. "Willow comes through very strongly in certain cards. They're all great, really, but the card of Justice is extremely striking. I own hundreds of tarot decks, and I've seen many more, and all of the pictures are certainly among the best tarot art I've ever seen" ... "I've been involved in quite a few tarot decks," Pollack said. "I was one of the people who designed the Vertigo tarot for DC/Vertigo, and I did the text for the Salvador Dali tarot, and this is really one of the most thrilling tarot projects I've ever been involved in. I think people in the comics work and fans of the show and tarot fans will be delighted with it."
This is prolly the coolest thing ever. Even tho this tarot deck isn't be presented as a "real" deck, I'm sure fans of the series will be able to see how the iconic representation of the tarot's avatars in Buffyverse form might have a power of their own. I was previously unaware of the Conversations with Dead People Ouija board that is mentioned in this article but I'm really intrigued now that I do:
I must admit that I am a huge sucker for these kinds of Buffy memorabilia type prop things (I may even own a full-size replica of Buffy's Slayer Scythe which either sounds really cool or really dorky depending on your level of Buffy fandom) and I'm sure there are many other folks who are as well. I'm very much looking forward to my first BtVS-themed séance now that the tools have been made available to us ... and I won't even need an Orb of Thesula either! [Source]
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Magic and divination have always been cornerstones of the world of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," and thanks to Dark Horse Comics, Buffy fans will soon have access to the tricks of the magic trade. In addition to the previously announced "Buffy the Vampire Slayer 'Conversations With Dead People' Board," Dark Horse is producing an official Buffy tarot set. CBR News caught up with the set's designer, Rachel Pollack, and longtime "Buffy" cover artist Paul Lee to talk about the Slayer's Tarot. A former school teacher, Pollack was introduced to the art of tarot nearly 40 years ago by a colleague at the State University of New York. "One of the teachers asked me if I'd give her a ride home, and she said she'd read my tarot cards in exchange," Pollack said. "And I was immediately taken with it, I'd never seen tarot cards before, and I thought it was wonderful. So I ran around looking for a deck, and a little book, and that got me started." Pollack has long been a fan of "Buffy," and the Slayer's Tarot has been a long time coming. "Actually, I put together some ideas for a possible Buffy tarot deck ten/some years ago," Pollack said. "Never really got anywhere, I don't know if it even got to the eyes of the people in charge of things. But when I heard through a friend that Dark Horse was looking to do a Buffy tarot, and wanted someone to write the text for it, I wrote them immediately and said, 'I'd love to do this.'" ... "The idea is it's a tarot deck created for (use by) slayers in their task and for their allies in struggling against the vampires and the demons," Pollack said. "So we've constructed a whole kind of world for this in which it's not simply characters from the story, it's actually cards that those characters actually use. There are characters, and some of the cards represent particular moments in the story." The Lovers card, for instance, is Buffy and Angel. In addition to choosing the characters and situations pictured on the cards, Pollack is also writing the accompanying tarot book explaining how the tarot matches up to the "Buffy" storyline. "We have this whole back story on the tarot deck that places it within the Buffy universe, as opposed to collection of trading cards with characters on them," Lee said. "So it's been really fun figuring out how each card relates to the world of Buffy" ... "Some representations of Buffy are very, very powerful, they really capture the quality of that character," Pollack said. "Willow comes through very strongly in certain cards. They're all great, really, but the card of Justice is extremely striking. I own hundreds of tarot decks, and I've seen many more, and all of the pictures are certainly among the best tarot art I've ever seen" ... "I've been involved in quite a few tarot decks," Pollack said. "I was one of the people who designed the Vertigo tarot for DC/Vertigo, and I did the text for the Salvador Dali tarot, and this is really one of the most thrilling tarot projects I've ever been involved in. I think people in the comics work and fans of the show and tarot fans will be delighted with it."
This is prolly the coolest thing ever. Even tho this tarot deck isn't be presented as a "real" deck, I'm sure fans of the series will be able to see how the iconic representation of the tarot's avatars in Buffyverse form might have a power of their own. I was previously unaware of the Conversations with Dead People Ouija board that is mentioned in this article but I'm really intrigued now that I do:
I must admit that I am a huge sucker for these kinds of Buffy memorabilia type prop things (I may even own a full-size replica of Buffy's Slayer Scythe which either sounds really cool or really dorky depending on your level of Buffy fandom) and I'm sure there are many other folks who are as well. I'm very much looking forward to my first BtVS-themed séance now that the tools have been made available to us ... and I won't even need an Orb of Thesula either! [Source]
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