"This is a very upsetting story."

Willow: Tell me a story.
Tara: Okay. Once upon a time, there was, um... a kitty. She was very little, and she was all alone, and nobody wanted her.
Willow: This is a very upsetting story.
("Family" 5.6)

This is also a very upsetting story.

Only a few short months after Dark Horse Comics announced the release of a Buffy-themed Tarot deck, the comic book giant has informed its loyal clientele that "due to circumstances beyond our control" "Dark Horse will not be producing the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Tarot Deck". What?!

I have never been into the whole Tarot Card or Ouija board phenomenon-speaking of which there is a Buffy-themed Ouija board based on the episode "Conversations with Dead People" though I have little interest in that piece of licensed merchandise-but with this Tarot deck, the little art that I have seen from the collection is beautiful. The cards that I have included here represent about half of the pre-released images from the set. A quick Google search on "Buffy tarot" will garner a number of other great cards including ones featuring the First Slayer, the High Tower and Death. With the Buffy Tarot Deck there was also to be a 70-page booklet with an entire backstory as to how this deck would have been used within the Buffyverse, perhaps a long-lost relic of the Slayer line that had been passed down through the ages. Willow might even have used it somewhere along her quest to become a more powerful witch or to help out the Scooby gang in some fashion.

My memory is a little shaky in regards to this little tidbit, but it should be noted that Tara does use a Thoth Deck at one point and I believe Drusilla uses an actual Tarot Deck a couple times in Season 2-correct me if I'm wrong.

I was so excited about this deck! I had envisioned buying a deck (or two) and framing the whole set, thereby making a really cool piece of art to have in my apartment. I had already pre-ordered a deck through Things from Another World and I was all but counting the days until they were supposed to be released. I am still holding out that maybe Dark Horse just meant that they would not be able to produce them. Maybe some other company just has more legal leverage and they'll announce its resurrection sometime soon on some other website. *Crossing fingers*

The only other visual association I really have with Tarot Cards comes from a scene filled with lots of dark humour in Peter Jackson's incredible, wit-filled, pre-Lord of the Rings gore-fest, Braindead or Dead-Alive as it is more commonly known in the United States.

Needless to say, to have Dark Horse cancel the one really-nerdy-collectible-fun-type-licensed-Buffy-product that I had been looking forward to purchasing-"Hey Dark Horse, money is in my hand...your loss!"-was really a letdown this morning. At least their production of Season 8 is still going strong. What else can I buy?