Thursday, April 5, 2007

New Whedon Comics - Buffy, Runaways

Joss Whedon seems forever at odds with the studios ... and his recent exit from the Wonder Woman film was just the tip of the iceberg. You build up a devoted following and you'd think a little creative freedom would not be too much to ask. Well, it is. That might explain why Whedon is more devoted to a pair of high profile comic book projects these days.

We reported before on the new Buffy comic, which picks up right where the show left off. The second issue dropped yesterday, and so far, it is an exciting, faithful, and somewhat new direction for the Buffy-verse. You're favorite characters who survived season seven's finale are all there, steadily being introduced over time. We have yet to see much of Willow or Giles, with much of the first two catching up on the new duties Buffy and Xander have taken on. There's also a rather familiar villain, and a dash of political commentary that was largely absent from the show. Buffy was a brilliant show no doubt, but financial restrictions often kept the creative team from realizing their full vision. Thankfully this new medium will let those creative juices run wild.

While we're on the subject of comics, Whedon also has another project - taking over writing duties from the Runaways series. Upon hearing of this, we took it upon ourselves to see what Runaways was all about. Hillary informs me its kind of like X-Men, but cooler. Anyhow, Whedon's first issue hit the shops yesterday, as well. The series was originally conceived by the rather talented Brian K. Vaughn, who also penned the fabulous Y: The Last Man series (which we're hooked on over at the N&UR offices). Incidentally, Vaughn will also be writing a Faith-arc for the Buffy comic, and recently joined the writing staff over at Lost.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

As much as I'm excited for this comic, I also would really like to see a movie made. I wonder if that will ever happen...

Anonymous said...

I'm that's always in the back of people's minds. I doubt Sarah Michelle would come back, but I imagine roping in the others wouldn't be so so difficult. Or it could be a whole new cast. Maybe in a couple decades. I certainly think we haven't seen the last of the Buffy-verse on any kind of screen.