Buffy The Vampire Slayer

oss Whedon may no longer be bringing us Wonder Woman but he is bringing back another kick ass woman. In this third part of our interview with Joss he talks about how he is treating the new Buffy comics from Dark Horse like a real eighth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: What was your mission statement when you sat down to write the comic?

JOSS WHEDON: I basically wrote a mission statement that I gave to other writers which was what the arc was about, where it was heading and what the signposts were so that when anyone came on staff we could look at someone like Brian Vaughan and say, “Okay, we’ve established what the basic conflict and mystery is, how far do you want to push that? How can you take that a little further within the confines of the story you want to tell about Faith?” Sometimes the arc will be very on the nose, complete mission statement pushing the story forward; and sometimes it will be completely tangential, because like the later seasons of any show you’re fascinated with all of the characters and you want to say, “What happens if I look in this room?”, and that makes for exciting comic book writing. So I’m encouraging it.

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: Are you committed to a certain number of issues?

buffy2.JPGJOSS: It’s supposed to be about 25, but now I’m thinking it’s going to be a lot more than that. We’ve got [as writers] Jane Espenson, Steven S. DeKnight, Doug Petrie, Drew Goddard, Drew Greenberg, Brian K. Vaughan, Brad Meltzer and Jeph Loeb, and those are only the people who have said yes so far. They might write a one-off or an arc. There can be different amounts for different people, all depending on when they’re available. I’ve just had so much interest from so many different people. And I’ll be writing a few. I plan on finishing the season off, but I know there’s at least one arc that I’m already working on to pop in after a couple of writers.

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: It sounds like the TV show in that sense, with you weaving in and out as a writer.

JOSS: Exactly. And I’ll be executive producing everything, making sure everything lines up and feels true.

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: I didn’t realize how extensive it was.

JOSS: Yeah, it’s a big commitment, but I’m surrounded by really talented people and that makes things easier.

GEEKMONTHY.COM: That’s got to say something about the power of Buffy.

JOSS: You know, it does. We’re all very nostalgic about the way it was to work together and to come up with that stuff and to hear the characters speak. To show you how into this I am, I’m actually so far ahead on scripts that people can’t even keep up, because another one just comes out of me. I can’t stop. But that’s me, I guess.

GEEKMONTHLY.COM: When people hear that list of names involved, that’s astounding for a comic.

JOSS: It’s huge. Definitely. We’re starting off with Brian, because he’s somebody I wanted involved in this project back when it was still possibly TV movies. He’s taking over Buffy at the same time I’m taking over Runaways. He’s coming in on number six, because I unexpectedly ended up writing a fifth one. It’s kind of a standalone and people will know why when they read it.