I have to admit something. I had never watched Buffy, or Angel, until a few months ago.
I suspect it’s because I haven’t had the ability to watch broadcast or cable TV for the past 8 years. I won’t say I don’t have a TV, I do. I just can’t do anything with it but watch DVD’s.
I know tons of people who are so enamored of Joss Whedon. And Buffy. And Angel. And Firefly. But I had no idea what they were talking about because I had never seen anything he’d done. I would get bored when they talked about Joss Whedon, for hours, or said something we were watching was Whedonesque, because I didn’t get it.
“Oh, brother,” I thought. “How great can this Joss guy really be?”
But then, one day, randomly, I netflixed Firefly. And then I read Astonishing X-Men.
And. Oh. My. God.
I fixed the lack-of-Buffy-in-my-world problem I was clearly suffering from and have been watching Buffy and Angel religiously for the past few months.
What I love about all of Joss Whedon’s oeuvres is the ensemble. He is interested in how the team works together, or falls apart. I also love the attention to detail and the fully fleshed-out characters. As a writer, there is so much to learn from him.
So, yesterday night, instead of hanging out with friends, cleaning my apartment in preparation for my parents visit, or maybe, I don’t know, writing, I finished watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 7.
I find that I was so glad to get finished with it so that I can start reading the Buffy Season 8 comic book. (Should I pick up the Firefly one, too? Let me know!)
And now I, too, am completely smitten with Joss Whedon.
Dear Joss Whedon,
I love you.
your new fan,
cecil
May 18th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
Cecil,
One of those enamored people must have been our mutual friend Rowan. She and I have had many talks about how much we like Buffy and Angel.
She’s always spoken highly of you so it’s no surprise to me that you’d be a fan of Joss. I hope you enjoy reading season 8.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
yes! Rowan! She’s great! Last time I visited her, she made me watch the new Dr. Who! Not that i was complaining! I was LOVING it!
nice to meet you! any pal of Rowans is a pal of mine.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:42 pm
Cecil, the reception of the Serenity comic was a bit more mixed than that of the new Buffy, but personally I loved it and would recommend it. Felt like reading an episode they just never got to film.
Also, Fray. It may be Joss’s first comic, but the inexperience doesn’t show.
May 18th, 2007 at 3:43 pm
Yes get the Firefly comic. Three issues that fill the gap between the final TV episode and the movie Serenity. Plus it is just as good as the TV and movie stuff.
I would also reccommend the comicbook series FRAY by Whedon. Something you saw in Season 7 made its first appearance in the FRAY story. Future story of a Slayer after Buffy apparently wins. Flying cars, mutants, and bleak cityscapes as background. Awesome series that has a kickin’ trade for easy access to those that missed it the first time.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:52 pm
Welcome to the club.
Joss is your New Master now.
May 18th, 2007 at 6:55 pm
welcome to Whedonia, Cecil! and another vote for, well, basically, anything his name’s on, but especially Fray, which has a strong connection to a certain scythe you saw in those last few Buffy S7 shows.
(and life’s little confluences continue to amaze–when leafing through my most recent Alloy [girlyclothes, boys] catalog, I saw an ad for this interesting-looking graphic novel called The Plain Janes, and made a mental note to pick it up when I was getting my copy of Buffy S8 #4 this next week. then today, I clicked on a link to this article from Whedonesque, and, well, there you were! and since we’re both apparently Angelenos, if I run into you at Spaceland or something, I won’t be surprised.)
May 18th, 2007 at 7:18 pm
my friends still roll their eyes when i make a buffy reference! they just won’t believe me when i talk about how great the whedonverse is!
although, a friend from way back when thought the same thing when i lived back home. and three years later, after i’ve been long gone, he felt obligated to hunt me down on myspace to tell me that he apologizes for giving me so much trouble for liking buffy. and lo and behold, he’s a new fan!
so i tell people, “don’t knock it, til you watch it!”
May 18th, 2007 at 7:22 pm
Hey i’ve seen it all before but I just started rewatching S7! I’ve seen them all so many times that I didn’t have to catch up to the comic but welcome aboard!
May 18th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
…as I said up there in comment #6, I found this article via a link at whedonesque.com…and when I went back there a little later, lo & behold, there’s a comment from His Jossness, expressing a mutual crush on your book The Plain Janes! whoo hoo for you!
(and you oughtta try and get hold of the guy…lord knows he’s been hiring a lot of comics writers lately!)
May 18th, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Im not a super Wheldon fan and i’m not really enamour with Buffy but i REALLY loved the firefly tv series. The movie, Serenity, sorta falls short though.
May 18th, 2007 at 11:59 pm
being a no-tv-owner I went through the Whedon DVD discovery thing a few months ago… brought about by my 6 yo son constantly quoting ‘once more with feeling’…
May 19th, 2007 at 3:05 am
Wowza! Thanks for the suggestions. I will take them! I’m going to definitely pick up those serenity and fray books and the Buffy, although, my pal told me that I should hold off on reading the Buffy comic book until I finish watching Angel. I’ve been switching off once Angel started. You know. Just, cause!
Also, thanks Anna for letting me know about Joss’s post. I love that we were digging each others work on the same day!
How great is that! So! Great!
(And I love that he has a crush on himself!) (ha!)
May 19th, 2007 at 10:18 pm
Cecil–glad to have been of assistance! (and, yes, you really should finish Angel before Buffy S8 for maximal enjoyment.)
by the way, when I said “whatever his name’s on”, I kinda mean whatever his name’s on as active writer or executive producer…I wasn’t all that nuts about the first Serenity comic because he didn’t have nearly as much to do with it as he does on Buffy S8 and the forthcoming Angel S6 comic (you knew about that, right?). but his recommendations are always spot on, which is one reason why I’m looking forward to reading your Plain Janes.
May 19th, 2007 at 11:25 pm
Just want to point out, that even though he did not solo write the Serenity comic, he did guide that story, which is a direct bridge from the TV series to the movie. It sets up why Shepard Book makes a decision that lands him where is storywise in the movie. We get a resolustion to the Blue Handed guys and the surprise Whedon twist of just who hates Mal the most was revealed.
May 21st, 2007 at 1:43 am
Joss cowrote the Serenity comic, and he’s cowriting the followup, Better Days, again with Brett Matthews. This, I believe, is something he hasn’t done on any other book aside from the Angel miniseries he cowrote for us at Dark Horse a number of years back. Buffy Season Eight he writes, Astonishing he writes, Runaways he’s writing. On Season Eight when Brian K Vaughan takes over to write four issues, Joss will just be overseeing him and editing; he tells me he’ll be doing less than that on IDW’s Angel.
So Serenity is simply the next best thing to a Joss-written comic, still delivering a plot from Joss, some of his dialogue, and his direct writing involvement, if not exclusively his words.
May 21st, 2007 at 1:51 am
With Season Eight, since Joss is going to be resuming his role from the TV show, he’s suggested we use the title Executive Producer—or it may have been BKV’s suggestion, but we’re rolling with it—to reflect the way Joss will be breaking stories with the writers, and overseeing scripts the way he did on the series. Again, that’s slightly less than he does when cowriting Serenity with Brett.
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:50 pm
yikes! maybe I’ll have to re-read it (Serenity)…! I guess (to elaborate) I basically thought it read more like “a comics adaptation” (read: the earlier Dark Horse BtVS series or the Angel and Spike books) than new canon ala BtVS S8 or Fray.
but, lordnoze, I’ve changed my mind before, so I think I’ll read it again…
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:12 pm
Hi Cecil! Yup, you’re hooked now. I didn’t *get* the utter fabulosity of Joss Whedon ’til my boyfriend made me watch the entire run of both Buffy and Angel.
We got The Plain Janes last week and it’s great — congrats!
Shannon from the “celebrity” spelling bee in Ann Arbor
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:23 pm
hey Shannon!
It’s true! I’m hooked. I’m so glad you liked Plain Janes!
S-U-A-V-E-M-E-N-T-E is the word I lost on in that spelling bee.
Hope you are well, and writing (and knitting) lots. My “art of the week” this week was knitting!
And thanks for stoppig by to say “hello!”