but are generally considered 'less real' within the Buffyverse (apocryphal). Despite this, they have been licensed as official Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel merchandise. Furthermore, many authors have said that Whedon or his office have had to approve their overall outline for their novel or comic if not the final product. This was to prevent the stories venturing too far from the original intentions of Buffy/Angel stories (see below). These works are commonly considered non-canon. Jeff Mariotte, author of Buffyverse novels and comics has said: Works by Buffyverse writers and cast Joss Whedon Work created with Joss Whedon's involvement has been described as canon by commentators, and by Whedon himself. For example, he announced in 2005: In a separate interview, Whedon spoke of the planning process for the series: Whedon has also written the comic mini-series Long Night's Journey, as well as short stories for Tales of the Slayers and Tales of the Vampires. Fray is an eight-part comic series written by Whedon, about a Vampire Slayer of the future named Melaka Fray. In the Buffyverse, a powerful scythe used by Buffy is found in centuries to come by Melaka Fray. In 2001, whilst Whedon was still producing Buffy, he spoke about his concern of implications of information established by Fray (and Buffy comics generally) affecting the canon Buffyverse: However, the Buffy series finale did not match continuity set by Fray. In Fray no mention is made of the Slayer's essence being split amongst multiple women. When asked about the apparent contradictions between Buffy and Fray, Whedon responded: In an interview with TV Guide, Whedon revealed that he considered TV tie-in comics to be "ancillary" unless written by the script-writers: Mutant Enemy Several of the comics have been written by the scriptwriters of Mutant Enemy Productions. Doug Petrie wrote comics Ring of Fire, Double Cross, and Bad Dog. Jane Espenson has written comics (Haunted, Jonathan, and Reunion), as well as two Tales of the Slayer prose shorts ("Again, Sunnydale" and "Two Teenage Girls at the Mall"). Rebecca Rand Kirshner also wrote a prose short story for Tales of the Slayer, "The War Between the States". Buffyverse cast Two actors have co-authored comics with Christopher Golden. James Marsters, who portrayed Spike, co-authored "Paint the Town Red", whilst Amber Benson co-authored Willow & Tara. Benson also wrote the comic short story "The Innocent". Works by other authors All other Buffyverse comics