Actor James Marsters grateful for connection to Spike in 'Buffy'

Actor James Marsters has long enjoyed attending comic conventions.

At 13, he even went dressed as a Vulcan, “gutting it out,” he joked, when such a get-up wasn’t even close to cool.

“What I found was a place where everyone was beautiful and safe and you could be whoever you wanted to be,” said the man who was Spike, the vampire on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” who fell in love with the hero he was trying to kill.

“I felt love. There’s a high amount of tolerance for diversity. People at a con are not protecting themselves with cellphones. It’s kind of nice to be where there are hundreds of people just being together.”

These days, Marsters, 54, sees conventions from the other side as a guest at comic conventions around the country.

The good-natured, thoughtful actor — who also appeared in the “Buffy” sequel “Angel,” as well as “Hawaii Five-0,” “Torchwood” and “Smallville” — said he answers any questions fans throw his way about the groundbreaking “Buffy,” which ended in 2004 after seven seasons but endures through a popular comic-book series.

Marsters has also racked up credits on audiobooks, animated features, video games, films and stage plays.

Despite such a varied resume, though, he’ll seemingly always be remembered as Spike.

For him, the connection isn’t a problem.

“It’s a complete blessing,” Marsters said, minus Spike’s British accent. “I have friends who are very talented on the stage but never got a chance to make the crossover. I think what everyone hopes for is that one hit, that thing that puts you on a map. I think of ‘Buffy’ as my hit.”

The show, conceived by Joss Whedon, followed the story of teenager Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who lived on the Hellmouth, fought demons with her friends and saved the world.

In her path stood the iconic Spike, black leather duster, Billy Idol curls and cheekbones to die for. He ended up being in love with her.

Marsters loves to talk about the show (although, he’ll also happily discuss “Star Trek” and “ Star Wars”).

The question Marsters is asked most often at comic cons is who’s a better kisser: Gellar or John Barrowman of “Torchwood”?

“The truth is, I don’t really know,” he said. “Kissing on camera is not a sensual experience. The closer you get to the other actor, the easier it is to ruin the shot.

“When I first kissed Sarah, I was being very passionate because I was playing a character who had been looking forward to this so much. Sarah had to say: ‘James, this is just like stunts. You can’t be passionate with stunts, you’ve got to do it by the numbers, or we’re going to be here all day.’”

Marsters thinks that Buffyverse endures because of the show’s strong writing and its theme, “ which is how do you get through adolescence without giving up. We all go through that. ... ‘Hamlet’ is about this, too, actually. Joss just tackled it with humor and werewolves and vampires.”

Comic writer Georges Jeanty, a Miami resident, has written more than 40 “Buffy” comic books for Dark Horse Comics, picking up the story where the series finale ended and carrying it through its most recent release, season 11.

He thinks the show’s universality bolsters its continuing longevity.

“‘Buffy’ hit at a perfect time where strong female characters weren’t as visible,” Jeanty said, “ and the idea of a strong female flawed character was even more rare.”