Joss Whedon is in the unique stead of being both a cult picture and a huge mainstream Divine , thanks to project like Firefly and The Avengers . But both halves of his succeeder spring from his ability to create habit-forming write up , that leave behind you desperate to have intercourse what happens next .
We were lucky enough to drop some time jaw with Whedon at Comic Con , so we asked him some geeky questions about storytelling . Here ’s what he told us .
This interview was very kindly sic up by Dark Horse Comics , so we tried to keep the consultation pretty focused on the comics that Whedon is doing with them — including Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 , Angel and Faith , and some upcoming Firefly cartoon strip . But we also take aim this opportunity to geek out about comics versus other medium , and the nature of serialized storytelling .
You ’ve said in the past that idiot box show are a question , and picture show are an answer . What are comics ?
I will put comics in the telly cantonment , because of the serialized storytelling , the growth over the age … but at the end of the twenty-four hours , you do sort of come to them needing a matter that is both cinematic and has that kind of resolution . So … both . I palpate like when Spider - Man defeats the Tarantula , you get your answer . But then you need to know where he ’s going from there . And could I have made more of a Seventies extension than that ? In my mind , it ’s all Ross Andru . But I recall it ’s definitely both . Because you do n’t just want to move forward . You want something that enounce , “ I ’m here for this hero to win the day . ” The fashion you go see a motion-picture show and say , “ I want that resolve . ”
That kind of feeds into our next question . Historically , both television receiver and comics depended on the illusion of change . You were part of a propagation that challenged that , append more arc - based storytelling and actual change . Like , Buffy graduates high school , put down out of college , moves to San Francisco , and so on . Do you think that was a unspoiled move , in retrospect ?
It was good for us . It was good for the kinds of storytelling that I want to do . Is it good for all comics ? I do n’t opine so . Some thing really should appease the same . Reed Richards should always have exactly this much gray . [ gesture at the sides of his fountainhead . ] But um … You do it , the problem is , when something goes on for as long as most things have , then they ’re just looking for any change . Either they bring up it , or they do something drastic , because they ca n’t write the same affair over and over . I have in mind , idiot box appearance do n’t endure since the Sixties . Whereas some of these comics have .
But with the newer stuff , the more vivid novel - y material , when you get a report that ’s just about the progression of the story , for me it ’s harder to dive in than when I know , “ This hombre is going to have this power and that ’s the affair . ” It ’s a unlike experience . And for me , I feel like cartoon strip — that kind of comfort food that I refer to a lot of recent TV as — I seem to want that from cartoon strip .
You desire the solace food .
A little bit . I want to see the costume . I want to see the power . I desire to sleep with what the sitch is . And from there , I wish the puff food … but there ’s a mountain of elision . Like with the Luna Brothers ’ girl , which was a Scripture that I never knew from outcome to issue what was going to happen . I just adore it . But when I think about creating comedian , I think more in terms of , “ Why are we come back ? What do I get laid ? ” Not , “ What can I transfer ? ” .
When a character makes the transition from film to idiot box to comedian , like Buffy , or comics to film like the Avengers , what is gained and what ’s lose in those modulation between medium ?
Well , you get laid … A net ton of stuff gets gained and lose , obviously . Every sensitive is different , you have to observe that . Let ’s apply the Avengers as an case . The wardrobe — on the one hand , you utterly have to respect what multitude empathise as iconically that character . On the other hired man , some of that stuff looks idiotic . You ca n’t give Captain America the big swashbuckler boots that he has in the comic , because they appear mute . And so you ’re always looking for what you’re able to deplumate . And one of the thing I give Marvel a lot of credit for is , they ’re good at knowing , “ This is hallowed . This is something we can approximate . And this , we do n’t need . ”
And , you hump , with Buffy go to comics , what you lose are histrion who actually are change . They are growing . They are mature . They are investigate their characters in new ways . You screw , you ’re just drawing old pictures of a person from reference . fortunately , Georges [ Jeanty ] is a professional at doing reference that feel new . That does n’t finger like an honest-to-goodness reference . But you experience , you ’re always go to find there ’s a huge amount [ that gets lose ] . The trick is knowing what things are sacred .
In Season 8 of Buffy , I lost one of the sacred thing , which is “ This is about us . ” But I kept … I mean , I love Season 8 . I think there ’s good hooey in it . But I felt there was one element that belonged in both [ the TV show and the cartoon strip ] . And with The Avengers , it was the same affair . The veridical question was , “ Can I evoke the ethos and the feeling I had when I crack up that book every calendar month when I was 11 ? And at the same clip make a grown - up movie ? ”
What would Buffy Season 20 look like ?
I believe the material inquiry is , “ What will Buffy season 20 flavor like ? ” A minuscule creaky . She ’s credibly go to have some work done . Some Botox . You jazz … I am strain to suppose . She would be in her thirties . And believe me , there ’s a lot of stories to tell about that . Actually , it ’s sometimes easier to tell apart story about masses in their thirty-something than hoi polloi in their twenty .
So you feel that time of year 8 lost sight of the relatability of the persona ?
A little bite . I was so excited by what a comic book can do that a TV show ca n’t , that I lost a little bit of that thing of “ What was sacred , ” what must go from one thing to the other .
So this is kind of a eldritch question , and you probably answered it year ago . But why did you choose not to retell Buffy ’s bloodline in the airplane pilot of the tv set show ? Why foot up where the movie left off ?
I do n’t wish to tell the same story twice . Now , I repeat myself all the fourth dimension . I have the same themes that I go to . And I have more than once actually written the same vista doubly and then realize it too of late . One sentence I caught it , and one metre it aired . That was awkward . But I really do n’t … Once I ’ve tell a news report , I kind of need to move on . And I did n’t feel [ like retelling it ] , even though not many people had seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer [ the motion picture ] .
I was also creating a show , and movie to show is a very large modification . To suffice a question … the movie could just be a pastiche of horror movies . It was conjecture to be a real horror movie — but in the way that Cabin [ in the Woods ] is , it was supposed to be a commentary on horror movies . And that was enough of a premiss for a movie . It ’s not enough of a premiss for a TV show . So I call for to introduce a whole new worldly concern anyway . I take sidekick anyway . And I needed to make her younger anyway , because she would have fine-tune [ from high schooling too shortly ] . And so all of that head to me kick the bucket , “ I just want a newfangled story . ”
And this was before everybody rebooted everything . This was before Ultimate Everything . And so maybe now , I ’d go , “ Oh , we ’ll just depart again . ” Because people do that . But for me , I ’m wish , “ I told that story . And I get blase . ”
Do you think you ’ll go back to goggle box at some level ?
I absolutely trust so . I love TV , in a way that I do n’t have a go at it any other sensitive . But it ’s a vast commitment , and right now I just dumbfound out of a huge commitment . And I ’m endeavor to estimate out what my next one will be .
So when Angel moved from IDW to Dark Horse , he cross universes . Is there something about crossing universe in that mode that grow someone evil ?
Well , you do it , you just do n’t want to do it . You hybridize universe of discourse [ and ] first of all fail through Security is hell . OK , and you usually get a horrifying stomach . And the lag . It ’s really evil - lag , is what it is . So the most important affair for me , and I ca n’t say enough — I thought IDW really did a wonderful task , and was also enormously gracious about the fact that for me , I just needed [ Buffy and Angel ] to be back on the same web . And then , for me , it was also like , if we ’re going to do that , we have to ring a change .
And how evil he was or was n’t , or thought he was , is the effort of some argument — even among the writer . I ’m not sure we agree . I ’m not certain all of us could entirely come after the account [ in season 8 . ] Is that a job ? [ express mirth ]
Later on during Comic Con , we scat into Whedon at the Entertainment Weekly party , and learn the chance to ask him just two more question …
Is there anything you could tell us about Dr. Horrible 2 ?
Not a huge amount . Because we ’re still progress it . And we do n’t want to give away the plot . And we ’re not even trusted of the platform .
People like Tom Hanks and Bryan Singer are set about to create webseries now . Do you feel like this is a defense of your faith in that format ?
I felt vindicated the instant we terminate filming it and I like it . And other like it , that was skillful too . And other citizenry are doing it , that ’s fine , I estimate . But I think everybody ’s get their own reasons , their own order of business , their own story to tell . It was important for us to do it on the net . But what comes next — I ’ll be more concerned in what the hoi polloi with no established identities at all get to make than what we all can already make .
ComicsFireflyJoss WhedonMoviesSdcc 2012Television
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