Joss Whedon - Embracing The Comics Life
GEEKMONTHLY.COM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: PART 1
Next month Dark Horse Comics is re-launching Buffy the Vampire Slayer in comics form, with Joss Whedon serving as "executive producer" and weriter, along with a sterling number of fellow scenarists, among them writers for the live-action versions of both Buffy and Angel. This is the first of a several part interview with Joss, which begins with the reason behind his becoming so involved with comics, having launched Astonishin X-Men, preparing to take over Runaways and, of course, returning to the Buffyverse that he created.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Hey, it's the 10th anniversary of Buffy. Have you given that much thought?
JOSS WHEDON: Not so much. If I do, it will suddenly make me realize my age. It's 10 years later and people still remember it, so I guess that's something.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: I thought by now we'd have some kind of Buffy movie or something.
JOSS: I thought so, too, and the ways that that did not work out were yet more lessons in the wonder that is television.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Do you think there's any chance of it, or is that concept pretty much dead for the time being?
JOSS: Never count anything out, because you just don't, but it's not something I'm spending my days trying to make happen anymore.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: You seem to have embraced comics fully. What's behind that move?
JOSS: I call it my Merry Marvel Mid-Life Crisis. You basically write a script and about a month later somebody has done all the other work for you. I miss the turnaround on TV. I've been working at movies, which has been alternately rewarding and frustrating, but you don't really see anything. I really like to do more rather than less. At the same time, I'm still kind of afraid of the TV world because of the one-two punch of Firefly and Angel. Honestly, I love that kind of serialized storytelling, and comics is the way to sort of do it on the fly. It's actually been a little too much. Eventually I'm going to have to pay that mortgage, so I'm going to have to get a "real" job.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: That's what I was going to ask - is this paying enough where you can afford to not write films or TV shows?
JOSS: Of course not. We get the check from Marvel and my wife just laughs and laughs. I do plan to jump back into another media, but I do love comics as much as I love other forums. Not in terms of finances, but in terms of my life, creatively, I'm putting my heart into this as much as I have into anything. It's a privilege to be able to work with these characters and these artists. It's a big deal to me.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: You say you'll have to do these other forms again. Is TV something you want to go back to?
JOSS: I'd love to do TV, because I just think it's the most beautiful way to explore the human condition. You can just go on with the characters and watch them grow in a way that, as much as I love them, you can't do with films. It's in my blood, figuratively and literally. I absolutely want to return to it, but I'm skittish. I'm not the kind of guy who can throw something against the wall and then go, "Oh, that didn't work. What's next?" If I invest that much in it and the network just goes, "Nah," I'm not interested. So I'm looking for a different kind of paradigm; I'm looking for a different kind of way of telling stories. The way things are changing right now, it's a very weird time. Sometimes a weird time can be useful, as it was for me when the WB was starting to find it's identity; and sometimes a weird can be not so useful.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: How do you define a weird time?
JOSS: Like when reality hit, and now there's no such thing as a fall season, everybody is putting things on Tivo, there's the Internet and everyone is asking, "What's this new media? How is it going to work?" It can either make the networks take chances, or a network can entrench. I'm just hearing all these horror stories from my friends who are in the trenches and especially since I have a family now, I'm not interested in being beaten with sticks, which is basically what getting a pilot of the ground is like.
Joss Whedon - Hearing Voices
GEEKMONTHLY.COM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: PART 2
Joss Whedon's new Buffy comics from Dark Horse arrive in March. In this second part of our interview with him Joss talks about how the project started, explains the notion of 'comic book time' and tells us what big things are in store for the Buffy characters...
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: What brought you back to Buffy and what was the genesis of the project
JOSS WHEDON: It's not that interesting. They said they wanted to do something, and I thought, "If we do something with TV movies, we could have this cool synergy." The movies didn't happen, but I sort of fell into it and I really fell. It was when I was writing some Andrew dialogue where I thought, "Oh my GOd, I'm home." It was really nice. It was like, "Oh, the things we can do, the ways we can expand," and those voices are so indelible to me. Even though the actors are not speaking them, I can still hear them perfectly and they never flub a line.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: So it was easy finding those voices even though you've been away from them for a number of years.
JOSS: You know, it really couldn't have been easier. There they were. It was never much of a struggle, because I did it for so many years, and because the actors were doing it, you don't just have an idea of how the characters speak, you have the actual voice in your head. So it really does make things easier.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: When we'd come back from a summer hiatus, usually time had passed on the show.
JOSS: Every time.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: So how much time has passed between the end of the show and the comic?
JOSS: Comic book time.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: A vague amount of time, probably more than a year. Ultimately with comics, they don't come out every week but every month. Whereas in show where every week it was something that would happen to you, a mystical version thereof, the comic book is going to be a little more sprawling with a lot of storylines going on and so you have to sort of fudge the numbers a little bit. You know, when will the rest of Reed Richards' hair go gray? We don't know. In fact, when I was talking to Marvel, I asked, "How long has Colossus been dead?" and they're like, "Never say, because time doesn't exist." You could spend ten issues on something that happens in one night. So, like I said, it is about a year later or more. I make mention that Dawn supposed to be in college, so that means it would have to be a least a year and a half.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Now in the comic Dawn is a big giant girl sitting in a basement.
JOSS: She's very large, and for some reason it's my favourite thing. I get very excited when I talk about Giant Dawn.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Now why is that?
JOSS: I don't know. I'm really not positive, but I'm not alone. Drew Goddard also has affection for Giant Dawn.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Will she be Giant Dawn for a while?
JOSS: It's going to be a long journey for her to find a cure for her giantness.
Joss Whedon - Season Eight
GEEKMONTHLY.COM EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: PART 3
Joss Whedon may no longer be bringing us Wonder Woman but he is bringing back another kick ass woman. In this third part of our interview with Joss he talks about how he is treating the new Buffy comics from Dark Horse like a real eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: What was your mission statement when you sat down to write the comic?
JOSS WHEDON: I basically wrote a mission statement that I gave to other writers which was what the arc was about, where it was heading and what the signposts were so that when anyone came on staff we could look at someone like Brian Vaughan and say, 'Okay, we've established that what the basic conflict and mystery is, how far do you want to push that? How can you take that a little further within the confines of the story you want to tell about Faith?" Sometimes the arc will be very on the nose, complete mission statement pushing the story forward; sometimes it will be completely tangential because like the later seasons of any show you're fascinated with all of the characters and you want to say, "What happens if I look in this room?", and that makes for exciting comic book writing. So I'm encouraging it.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Are you committed to a certain number of issues?
JOSS: It's supposed to be about 25, but now I'm thinking it's going to be a lot more than that. We've got [as writers] Jane Espenson, Steven S. DeKnight, Doug Petrie, Drew Goddard, Drew Greenberg, Brian K. Vaughan, Brad Meltzer and Jeph Loeb, and those are only the people who have said yes so far. They might write a one-off or an arc. There can be different amounts for different people, all depending on when they're available. I've just had so much interest from so many different people. And I'll be writing a few. I plan on finishing the season off, but I know there's at least one arc that I'm already working on to pop in after a couple of writers.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: It sounds like the TV show in that sense, with you weaving in and out as writer.
JOSS: Exactly. And I'll be executive producing everything, making sure everything lines up and feels true.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: I didn't realize how extensive it was.
JOSS: Yeah, it's a big commitment, but I'm surrounded by really talented people and that makes things easier.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: That's got to say something about the power of Buffy.
JOSS: You know, it does. We're all very nostalgic about the way it was to work together and to come up with stuff and to hear the characters speak. To show you how into this I am, I'm actually so far ahead on scripts that people can't even keep up, because another one just comes out of me. I can't stop. But that's me, I guess.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: When people hear that list of names involved, that's astounding for a comic.
JOSS: It's huge. Definately. We're starting off with Brian, because he's somebody I wanted involved in this project back when it was still possibly TV movies. He's taking over Buffy at the same time I'm taking over Runaways. He's coming in on number six, because I unexpectedly ended up writing a fifth one. It's kind of a standalone and people will know why when they read it.
Joss Whedon - The Power of Buffy
GEEKMONTHLY.COM EXCLUSIVE INTERBIEW: PART 4
Buffy the Vampire Slayer turned the tables on the 'teen girl as victim' notion and set a new standard for strong female characters. In the last part of our interview with Joss Whedon he talks about why that was important to him and how the themes of female power play out in the new Buffy comics from Dark Horse. Oh, and he talks about Angel too...
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Years ago you told me that when you created Buffy it was your answer to the blonde bimbo being killed in the alley by the monster, instead kicking the monster's ass. Is this new Buffy, in 2007, a response to something else? Does she have a different message?
JOSS WHEDON: In a way, it's a larger answer to the same question. And the question is, why are people afraid of powerful women? Why is misogyny streaking through every single culture? Why is the world like that? The world is not as it should be, and Buffy has now created a bunch of people with enourmous power who kind of realize that. And the people who realize they realize that are not pleased about it. She's answering the question that I answered with Buffy; she's confronting it directly and on a global scale. Not that it starts with her picketing and that she's become activist girl. She's still fighting demons, but she's starting to realize that there is more wrong with the world than just a bunch of monsters.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Is that a message you think you'll be able to get through to people within the trappings of the comic?
JOSS: You know, I found that pretty much everything I tried to get through on the show way more than I thought it was going to. I was trying to hide all that metaphor stuff, and then everyone was like, "Love the metahphor stuff." Ultimately if she is strong, flawed and decent, then people will relate to her and that in itself is the only statement that I really need to make. Luckily there's more than that to play with when you have a world filled with Slayers. What would that be like for them and other people, too?
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Have the characters evolved from the last time we've seen them?
JOSS: Some of them and some of them not so much. Such is life.
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: I read your comments about how you're going to use Spike and Angel sparingly for the big moments, but does the Angel deal with IDW interfere at all with the use of those characters or any of the characters from Angel?
JOSS: It's very simply that I feel that IDW is doing a good job, working hard and we shouldn't confuse readers or take business away from them. They took the license and ran with it. Legally I could use anybody I want to, but I feel like, in the way the shows became thier own universes, it makes sense for the comics to do the same. I won't be using the ancillary characters from Angel unless I absolutely think that nobody else can fit this bill. Spike and Angel I will definately use, but sparingly. But I would do that anyway. You don't want to use it up by having Spike standing around in the background of every frame. He means so much to Buffy, so did Angel, that you want to save them for the big hits. It's like Galactus. If he showed up every week, you'd be like, "I don't think you're going to eat the world. I think the Silver Surfer is going to betray you or Reed is going to come up with a device. So why don't you take your big pointy hat and get the f*** out of here?"
GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Maybe you could do a crossover with IDW like you used to do with the shows.
JOSS: You know what? Stranger things have happened.
