An exclusive preview page for Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning #1 places everyone’s favorite slayer in unfamiliar territory, but the scenario in question has nothing to do with vampires, witches or demons -- the preview page casts Buffy as a mother. On top of that, she looks to be a mom with some very questionable childrearing habits.

Fans of the comic series that was spawned out of the original television show might be doing a doubletake right now. While the events of Buffy: Season 11 were world-altering in their scope, there was nothing in the season’s conclusion that hinted at the slayer settling down and starting a family. The reality of the situation might be a darker affair.

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The synopsis for the upcoming comic book season hinted at alternate futures and a rewritten timeline for the Scooby Gang. It’s possible that the baby in Buffy’s arms isn’t from the comic’s current continuity, but rather a reality that could have been. Which timeline that might be is anyone’s guess right now, but there’s one big, glaring possibility.

Buffy: Season 12 will see the return of Joss Whedon, who will co-write the season alongside Christos Gage. The last time Whedon wrote for Buffy was in the comic’s ninth season -- a season that included arguably one of the heaviest arcs in all of Buffy history. Buffy: Season 9 was the arc in which the vampire slayer decided to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

If Buffy is, in fact, trapped in an alternate history, this would be a particularly cruel one to force upon her, as the Season 9 decision was not an easy one for the slayer to make. There are some pretty obvious holes that could be poked in this theory, though, chief among them being that Buffy was never actually pregnant, but rather a Buffybot who had been made to believe she was pregnant.

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It’s completely possible that the child seen in this preview page has nothing to do with the Season 9 arc, but is actually a manifestation of another timeline. Or, it could be that the slayer decided to settle down in the quiet period between vampire adventures and the child is chronologically legitimate, has a father and is also not a robot, but no guarantees on that last one.

The first issue of Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 12: The Reckoning will be able to pre-order from comic book shops this month.