Joss Whedon

Best Known For: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Serenity, Angel

Notable Comic Book Works: Fray, Astonishing X-Men

The last creator we spotlight is the master of Buffy and Serenity. Joss Whedon’s involvement with comics has ranged from treatments of his television series (including an upcoming "Season Eight" of Buffy) to the X-Men. Whedon has consistently impressed critics with his "back to basics" approach with Marvel’s mutants. Astonishing X-Men won an Eisner, the comic book industry equivalent of an Oscar award, in 2006.

Though his X-Men villain choices are sometimes odd, the Danger Room has manifested itself as a female robotic warrior, Whedon’s team chemistry is almost unparalleled. In a recent arc Beast was reduced to a savage state, Cyclops lost his powers, Colossus and Kitty Pryde had sex (finally) and Wolverine became a coward whose courage was only restored by beer. Only Joss Whedon could weave a story involving all of those threads. Whedon is planning on returning to Buffy and Firefly through comics and will also take over Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways series with artist Michael Ryan.

So we’ve taken you through a tour of Hollywood’s involvement with comic books. Of course that’s not even mentioning comic book-based movies or movie-based comic books. The entertainment industry seems to come closer together even as it continues to grow. More and more creators from many different industries (including videogames) are also shifting to write comics either for the creative freedoms the medium offers or because they read comics when they were younger. IGN Comics will continue to bring you the latest on the trends in the industry, so stay tuned and keep reading.