These questions are for anyone that reads the comic books. I've finally decided to start reading these since I heard that they fill in some missing info from some of the plot lines of the tv show.

Should I read them in the order they were released or by the Buffy universe timeline as shown on the DarK Horse website? What order were the TPB's released? Thanks in advance.

I think you can pretty much read the comic arcs in any order.

The way I think Dark Horse does them is they have an ongoing "Buffy" comic book that's broken down into arcs of about four issues, each arc telling a complete standalone story.

The timeline skips around, I believe. The comic is currently in the 50s (number, not decade) but a current storyline deals with the time before Buffy came to Sunnydale, but after the events of the movie.

They've also done the occasional one-shot and miniseries.

Thanks for the info. I think I'll buy some today.

I have avoided most of the comics, but I have to offer a strong recommendation for a book called Tales of the Slayers.

It shows about 8 different slayers throughout history, and even into the future (Fray, from the comic that Joss writes), and features some really cool talents.

Check it out.

And DEFINITELY check out Fray... though Joss has been stalled at 6 out of 8 for about a year now. D'oh!

The next issue of "Fray" is scheduled to come out in April. It'll be listed in next week's Diamond Previews.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll check it out.

I bought The Dust Waltz last week and enjoyed it. Just too short. I'm used to buying trade paperbacks with at least 8 issues in it. Will probably buy some more this week.