WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10 by Jordie Bellaire, David López and Raúl Angulo, on sale now.
No hero can defeat the forces of evil all on their own. Almost everyone needs backup at some point. Buffy has always had her best friends, known as the Scooby Gang, by her side through thick and thin. But with Buffy missing and the Scoobies dealing with their own problems, a new Slayer is in town -- and may have just gained her own allies for the coming battles.
After helping rescue Rose and Cordelia, Kendra may have found her own version of the Scooby Gang.
KENDRA THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
Buffy the Vampire Slayer #10 focuses both on the increasingly fractured Scooby Gang as well as a handful of other young people in the town of Sunnydale. The young woman who approached Robin Wood was indeed Kendra, there to work with Robin in preparation for her role as the Slayer. Although he is younger than her and is reluctant to accept the position, he travels around town with her and tries to help when he can.
The comic also centers on Cordelia and Willow's ex-girlfriend Rose, who find themselves in a difficult situation. It's revealed that the cracks in the ground of Sunnydale lead into the house of a previously unseen student named Luke. Noticing a distracted Cordelia, he attacks her and brings her into his house. He throws her into the basemen, ties her up and gags her.
Luckily for Cordy, Rose swings by the house so she can drop off Luke's homework. She's shocked to find Cordelia in the basement, and is even more shocked when Luke attacks them. Rose is forced to use a pair of garden shears to stab him in the back when he attacks Cordelia with a hammer. But even this doesn't stop him. It takes Kendra hitting him in the head with a brick to finally end his attack.
THE NEW SCOOBY GANG
The issue ends with Kendra revealing her intentions to protect Sunnydale. She's upfront and honest with Rose and Cordelia, telling them that "we need to get to work on this Hellmouth problem." This suggests that Kendra will be open to working with the pair as well as Robin, no matter how annoyed she may momentarily get with him.
This could be the beginning of Kendra's very own Scooby Gang. Rose and Cordelia could easily work with Kendra in much the same way as Buffy's friends do with her. Meanwhile, Robin serves as her Watcher. While he hasn't trained for the role like Buffy's Watcher, Giles, he's also younger and more physically capable. Rose has been established as smart and quick on her feet, making her a good stand-in for Willow. And this new version of Cordelia is one of the most openly friendly and sweet characters in this latest incarnation of the Buffyverse, which means she would be the heart of the group in much the same way Xander is in Buffy's Scooby Gang.
Although the group lacks the specific advantages the other Scoobies possess, they also lack the problems that come with them, such as Willow's magic corrupting her and Xander's status as a half-vampire. Kendra forming her own team also goes a long way towards establishing her as an fixture in Sunnydale, in contrast to her role in the TV series where she was largely removed from the rest of the town. If the original Scooby Gang isn't up to the task of protecting Sunnydale, at least it appears that there's an alternative group waiting in the wings to take up the fight.