I just got home from a week of touring with my band, and let me tell you, St. John’s, Newfoundland is a totally rad place.

While we were there, my guitar player mentioned on stage that it was Slayer Day, a day to celebrate the metal band. But several audience members immediately thought of that other Slayer, and called out “Buffy!!!” I love that Buffy has permeated people’s consciousness so much. Buffy was the slippery slope of nerdiness that lead me into comics. And now there’s a regular Buffy comic series, which acts as a gateway comic, luring girls in and getting them hooked on other comics.

For those who maybe don’t know - and think of Satan, not vampires, when they hear “Slayer” - Buffy Season Eight is a monthly comic series that tells what happens to Buffy and her pals after the series ended. It’s scripted by series creator Joss Whedon and, like the show, some issues are written by him, some by other writers. But our boy oversees the whole plot, so this is canon Buffy. I’ve been really enjoying the comics, and could blog all over the internet about it. But I want to point out one of my favourite parts of the series: Jo Chen’s covers.

Check this out:

Amazing.

Chen does a really great job of representing the actors from the Buffy the show, without that weird, photoshop-y thing that can happen when other artists do that.

Chen also does covers for my beloved Runaways, and she did the covers the first Serenity series.

There’s other even nerdier work that she’s done that lots of people are bananas for, like Racer X comics, Playstation Magazine and packaging for the Fable game.

Chen is a visual artist originally from Taiwan, who has been living in the States for a decade. Her increasing popularity in the mainstream Western comics biz, means that a bunch of her work that was not available in Canada is now all over the place.

The Other Side of the Mirror is Chen’s full length manga. It’s an unconventional, gritty love story told with her amazing visuals.

I recommend checking out Chen’s website, which she updates regularly with new pretty pictures.