Dollhouse

As you flip around the television looking for something to watch, do you find yourself missing the days of Joss Whedon’s cool Dollhouse on FOX? Yeah, us, too… but cheer up, Meltheads, because Dollhouse lives on in our favorite medium! Dark Horse Publishing and the little marketing elves at FOX came up with a great plan and a new, limited edition comic entitled “Epitaphs” is being exclusively packaged with the Dollhouse Season 2 DVD.

But wait, there’s more! “Epitaphs” is written by none other than Dollhouse series writers Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen who also wrote the key epilogue episodes of the series, Epitaph 1 and 2. And yes, Jed and Maurissa are two of the brains behind the genius “Dr. Horrible” musical. In both the series and the comic, the “Epitaphs “stories tell how the destructive Dollhouse technology went from being just used on Actives to going global and destroying the world. The comic, like the show, features the popular characters of “Mag” (Felicia Day) and “Zone” (Zack Ward.)

But wait, there’s still more! While the first issue of the Dollhouse comic series is featured with the DVD, the good folks at Dark Horse will also be releasing a one-shot follow up and later down the line, a mini-series of the title. So, to get a little more info on it all, Jason and I went straight to the source – Jed and Maurissa themselves.

S – While the show was in production, was there a plan for a DH comic?

J&M – Originally, a Dollhouse comic was out of the question. As a new show, we were already off to a rough start… Joss didn’t want to complicate issues by adding anything to his already packed plate. And with Dollhouse’s intricate premise, it was a bit challenging to envision it in a comic book format. But as the series progressed and we discovered the apocalyptic world of the Epitaphs, the idea began to appeal to us. Slowly but surely.

S – Who approached you to write it? Joss?

J&M – Scott Allie at Dark Horse always kept the idea for the comic alive. So pushy, that Scott! But good on him, because here we are. We started brainstorming together, presented our ideas to Joss, and he gave us the go ahead.

S – Is any of the story to come something we would have seen in a season 3 of the series?

J&M – Possibly. The very mention of a Season Three is giving us the giggles. Giggles that are suppressing our tears.

J – How many of the DH characters will make an appearance or have an arc?

J&M – Some of the main characters established in the series will appear in the comics. And we’ll introduce some new faces as well.

J – How many issues of this run are planned?

J&M – Six altogether, including the issue that was featured in the Season Two dvd.

J – Now that you’re officially comic writers, any plans for original titles?

J&M -Doing an original title would be fun, but we have a lot of TV writing keeping us busy right now…

S – Aside from the DH comic, what other projects are you working on?

J&M – We’re currently writing on the prequel and Season Two of Spartacus on Starz. We’re also working on a few feature and pilot ideas that we’ve been wanting to conquer for a while now. And of course we’re always working on material for Dr. Horrible 2. Joss has a few songs that he’s going to play for us some point soon, but his schedule is a kind of tight right now. He’s writing some indie feature called “Avengers”? We’re always like, “Joss, do your career a favor and think bigger. Reach higher.” But he doesn’t listen.

We want to thank Jed and Maurissa for giving us a little insight into the upcoming DH series. These are definitely two writers to keep your eyes on as they continue to build upon their impressive credits. We’ll be watching Spartacus, and like most of the free world, be eagerly awaiting a follow-up to “Dr. Horrible.” Can’t wait to see what projects are coming up next!