:)

xerox | June 04, 08:36 CET

I'd still love to see Joss on Spider-Man. But then again, BKV also works :).

GVH | June 04, 11:20 CET

FF is one of the books I collect, so that works with me.

Jeph Loeb (Buffy Animated) and John Byrne (Angel: Blood and Trenches) are among previous writers.

I agree with the author - Joss would be great with the family dynamic. That's one thing that keeps me reading the book - they're not just a team of heroes, they're family.

redeem147 | June 04, 13:15 CET

I'd love to see Neil Gaiman pen a Buffy S8 (or 9... :D) arc just to see what he would do with the verse.

BreathesStory | June 04, 13:44 CET

Meh...

I don't know. Personally I just enjoy Joss' work a lot more when it's on his own creations rather than X-Men, Fantastic Four or whatever else he might be offered. I was never remotely enthusiastic about Wonder Woman for the same reasons.

I'll happily read Joss written comics based on Buffy, Angel, Fray, Serenity, Dollhouse, Dr. Horrible or whatever else he comes up with but I'm in no rush to see him working for Marvel or DC again.

The one exception to that rule? Doctor Who. I actually would really enjoy seeing Joss tackle the Doctor, although preferably onscreen rather than in print.

The Highlander | June 04, 14:39 CET

I have to agree with Highlander. Normally I'm all on board with Joss taking over on an existing mainstream book but we know he can do it. And do it well. But if he were to launch a new title, I think it would be much better. So its a case of great and better than great.

With Astonishing and Runaways he didn't have to create an origin. He just picked the parts (and team) that he wanted and made a great story. For Joss fans that never read a comic, it might have been hard for them to understand due to the 40+ years of back story. But even with that obstacle, he was able to make a story that could be enjoyed by all.

Now with his own creation, we would get a Joss penned origin and I can't think of a better person to write a comic origin story...maybe Stan the man?

As for my dream project? I think I'd like to read a Joss Whedon written and Alex Ross painted conclusion to Hard Time. It was such a cool (and simple) story but it just grabbed me. The original writer, Steve Gerber, died last year and I'm sure he'd be thrilled with what they could do with his characters.

(btw, if Steve Gerber sounds familiar, he's best known for creating Howard The Duck.)

alexreager | June 04, 15:43 CET

I'm glad someone mentioned Neil Gaiman above. The man has the midas touch for storytelling. Gaiman is the reason my vertigo collection is as large as it is.

bluesuncompanyman | June 04, 15:56 CET

I'd disagree, Highlander. I agree that as far as movie and television work goes, I prefer original material. But Astonishing X-Men was amazing work and I prefer them even to the Buffy S8 comics (which still, after all this time, feel kind of out of place as a comic, while X-Men feels slightly out of place as an animation or movie to me). So I'd love to see what else he can do with a few well-known comic titles. But, having said that: if he'd want to do a completely original comic work, I'd be on board too.

As for Gaiman, I love his work. His comics are top-notch and his novels are amongst my favorites. I think I own pretty much everything he has published. But I don't think his style would mesh that well with Buffy. Sure, he could probably do it, because at the end of the day he's a great writer, but he'd have to loose what makes his voice so original to begin with to "fit in", whereas - for instance - BKV's style and voice was very similar to Joss' to begin with. When I fell in love with Runaways and Y: The Last Man, all I could think was "this guy should write for ME" and his work for Buffy S8 proved that he fits in completely.

GVH | June 04, 16:50 CET

Good points GVH. Your thoughts on "voice" are very much the reason I would prefer to see Joss put out an original book (in the Verse is fine but it would be fun to see something non-slayer centric.) If Joss wrote the FF, it seems obvious to me that the title would become, "The Invisible Woman and Co." Not that there's really anything wrong with that but we've been there and done that...several times.

As for existing heroes to write, how about Joss writing The Punisher? Or Daredevil? These are some title ideas that I could get excited about. If Kurt Busiek wasn't married to the title, I'd also suggest Astro City. With it's sprawling character list and the fact that they typically focus on a small group of heroes with each story arc, it would be perfect for the tall, dark and purple one.

alexreager | June 04, 17:42 CET

Ahhh, a topic dear to my heart.
While i admit i hadn't thought of Joss
writing FF before, now that i have read it:
WOW.
Joss could do great things with Sue Storm.
My fantasys?

1) Near anyone doing a Ringworld comicbook adaptation.
2) Near anyone doing a Snarkoutboys comicbook adaptation.

espalier | June 04, 17:49 CET

alexreager, if I understand you correctly, you don't think the problem is Joss having to attune his "voice" to a well-known world, but him transforming said title because of the way he writes and tells a story?

Because I have to say, for Astonishing X-Men that worked like a charm, so I have no upfront problems with that. It seemed like the X-Men were born to speak Jossian dialogue and it never felt like he was stretching the property out of shape to better fit his style (although, sure, some stretching was done). And I'm pretty sure he could do the exact same for Spider-Man, which seems pre-fitted (more than the Fantastic Four imho) to Joss' particular style.

As for Punisher and Daredevil, I do love those characters, but they are a lot more "dark" and not very funny. Now, given Dollhouse, we know Joss has no problems with doing dark and less overly funny, so I'm sure he'd do a great job (I think he could probably do some great things with the characters), but it seems like a less natural fit than Spider-Man and Fantastic Four (where I wonder if it'd become 'Invisible Woman and co.', by the way, as we've seen in Firefly and Angel that Joss also does fine with male leads).

GVH | June 04, 23:48 CET

Just today I finished reading #15 of Alias (a story not related to the TV show by the same name) by Brian Bendis. While I'd prefer an original Joss story in any medium, I love the idea of Joss writing Jessica Jones. She's a screwed up ex-superhero. Love. Her.

Jessica Jones is a strong female character. ;)

WhoIsOmega? | June 05, 00:46 CET

Call me selfish, but I would like Joss to finish the Firefly Trilogy Sets. We have Two; "Those Left behind" and "Better Days". We're still waiting on "A Shepherd's Tale". It would be really Shiny to have a Three-Volume Set of Serenity Hardcover Graphic Novels. :D

TDBrown | June 05, 02:15 CET

I'd like to see him write Captain America myself, you know, REAL Cap, Steve Rogers. A man out of time with morals, Whedon would do a lot with him.

Elf | June 05, 04:56 CET

The character similarities between the new Captain America and Angel are actually numerous, I think he could write both versions well. I would love to see him tackle Fantastic Four, doubt he has time however.

silent knight | June 05, 06:53 CET

Not campaigning for Joss to write Fantastic Four, but also wondering why the assumption that it would become mainly about Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman (as the main leading lady of the series). Just because he writes strong female characters doesn't mean he's only interested in that, would turn any established property into a feminist manifesto, or should mainly be valued for that aspect of his creative output. The main highlights of Firefly for me were the dudes (no disrespect to the excellent work Morena, Gina, and Summer did, especially as Summer's role expanded), they got the most attention and were handled expertly. The guys were the mainstays of Angel too, every other major long-running female character got killed off (Cordelia, Lila, Fred). Although on Angel, because it had 5 seasons as opposed to Firefly's half + 1 movie, the women were better explored and utilized overall, in some ways. Likely would've felt differently regarding Firefly if it had lasted.

Dollhouse feels 50/50 in terms of its focus on genders and how well it has handled each (equally well).

Yeah, much rather see original work by him--haven't read Astonishing, but did read his 6-issue Runaways arc and it wasn't the best thing he's done by a longshot. I liked certain parts of it a lot, but I still thought BKV was the best fit for his creation after Joss' run had concluded (haven't read Terry Moore's work yet, nor the newer team's).

[ edited by Kris on 2009-06-05 08:52 ]

Kris | June 05, 08:50 CET

You really should try Astonishing, Kris. I agree that his work on Runaways isn't the best thing he's ever done (but it's still quite nice and fits nicely with the rest of the series), but I think that there's an argument to be made that Astonishing is his best work, even better than Buffy, Angel or Firefly. I love it slightly less (becasue I have less emotional investment in comic books than I do in television and movies, however much I love the medium), but it is great work regardless.

GVH | June 05, 14:16 CET

Obviously it's always going to come down to personal tastes and preferences but I've read Astonishing, GVH, and I have to say that it really didn't grab me, even as a big former X-Men fan.

It was good, in fact very good in places, and no-one ever wrote Emma Frost as well as Whedon, but it doesn't come close to Buffy or Angel for me in terms of feeling the characters and story development.

May just be that I'd started moving away from the superhero titles by that point and wasn't especially looking to go back, Joss or no Joss, but I just didn't get all that hooked on AXM. Glad you enjoyed it though and I tend to think you are probably in the majority so what do I know? ;)

The Highlander | June 05, 14:56 CET

All good points. GVHI re-read my post and I'm not even sure what the hell my point was at the time I wrote it. So yes, I think you're assessment of the "voice" question is probably right on.

whoisomega I am SO jealous of you right now. You've got some awesome stories ahead of you with Alias. Possibly my favorite comicbook series of all time. They continued the book after it was canceled in a series called, The Pulse, but it never had the same darkness and depth of the original series. By the way, when you read that series, it's fun to find the Daredevil issues that were released in the same months because the story totally crosses over for like 20 issues but Marvel never told anyone about that. I understand why they didnt market the titles that way b/c the cross overs were story driven and sometimes a "crossover" only meant we see Jessica in a few panels with 1 line of dialog. But it has a very 'Versy feel--they just happen to be super-people in the same town so its natural that they would have some contact. Jess is Matt Murdock's bodyguard, as if he needed one.

Last note on Alias, I met Michael Gaydos at Wizard World and he was really nice. He drew a Jessica Jones sketch for me. Awesome.

alexreager | June 05, 15:02 CET