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"I Don't Know Why I Think I'm A 14 Year Old Girl With Superpowers" – The Joss Whedon Dark Horse Panel At San Diego Comic Con

Peter Svensson writes for Bleeding Cool;

Scott Allie, editor of Joss Whedon's comics for Dark Horse opened the panel up with the announcement of a new digital comic featuring Spike this August. It will exclusively be available at comic shops, which will have the opportunity to get download codes from Dark Horse to distribute to their customers. The short comic will be written by show and comic veteran Jane Espenson and drawn by Georges Jeanty.

Joss then took the stage to massive applause. As is the usual for these sorts of occasions. Whedon spoke about Buffy Season 9, which will be more of a return to standard Buffy, someone more relatable than the character had been in season 8. "I know many of you have been generals in mystical wars and had sex that created universes." joked Whedon. He also spoke about the upcoming Angel and Faith series:

"We're bringing out Angel and Faith, who are a wacky team, they're cops they don't get along and they learn from each other!" He was joking. He does that a lot.

A fan joked about suffering from Firefly Addiction. Joss explained that there are groups that help with that. They usually start you off on Babylon 5, and slowly get you back into society.

He immediately turned it over to Q&A, and masses of fans lined up at the mic. Joss was blinded by the lights trying to see them all, and made note that his imaginary friends interrupt him. "Why would we do that?" responded Whedon's imaginary friend. Well, other personality, whatever.

Joss will not be involved in the upcoming Blu-Ray release of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. He hadn't heard there was one until that very moment. When the fans all went AWWWWWW, Whedon reminded them that they're feeling sorry for the man who just minutes ago had crowds cheering for him.

To the question of whether televised seasons 8 of Buffy or "after the fall" for Angel would have been just like the comic, Whedon pointed out that they physically couldn't have been based on the budgets they had. "There's no way you could have done those stories on TV. And also, you couldn't have had an entire episode of them having sex. (pause) That could only happen in season six." The idea that they had an infinite effects budget and could do anything and everything weighed heavily on the production of the comics. "It's season eight, it's a comic and we can do these things! That became a little bit of an albatross, not the cute kind like River, because people were more interested in (Buffy's) life than the fact we can draw bigger things.

Having discovered that I can do it differently than the TV show, I've discovered that I don't really want to." he stated. There was much applause.

Whedon is not currently interested in doing another big name comic. He talked with Bryan Hitch about doing a Spider-Man project, which didn't get anywhere because Whedon couldn't think of anything new to do with the character. He will be doing a Spider-Man reboot movie next year, this time featuring Justin Beiber. "It will be really, really bad," joked Whedon.

Whedon wrote every season of Buffy with the idea that it could be their last, something he neglected to do for Firefly. The one time he was able to write a cliffhanger season finale, for the third season of Angel, he realized how easy writing the season premiere became, as he didn't have to start from scratch.

In response to the question of why he had Wesley and Lilah from Angel get together, Whedon stated: "Well, they hate each other.. they're diametrically opposed and super sexy, I don't know why I put them together? They had quite the chemistry, when you get people who can't stand each other in bed, fun ensues."

Buffy and Angel characters will be appearing in each other's comics now that they're all under one corporate umbrella. At first crossovers will be left to a minimum to let the comics establish themselves and not make it feel like you have to buy both comics to know what's going on. If he had the time, Whedon would write five ongoing titles featuring Buffy and Angel characters. Willow and Illyria were mentioned as ones he wants to use, with the Kennedy/Riley team-up book as one he KNOWS will sell well.

Bringing Fray back into the Season Eight comics with Karl Moline was fun, though it broke the original idea of Fray. Which was that he could do anything and not have to worry about it impacting Buffy because it's so far in the future it'd never impact her present. Which has gone the way of the dodo.

The question whether there are any characters he regrets introducing or killing off. "I regret introducing Tara." joked Whedon, before seriously answering that while he never reaches perfection in his work, he tries to live sans regrets.

The story behind Spike's insect dirigible will be made clear. He'll be a part of Buffy's life. Whedon's got to put them in a room, but which room?

The possibility of Serenity comics that continue the storyline after the film was raised. "It would be interesting to know what happens next." said Whedon, though any such project won't come to fruition for a while due to "busyness and craziness and laziness and dizziness."

Echo on Dollhouse was not inspired by Rogue, as a fan wondered, but was his attempt to do Robot Fiction. Someone who has no support network, no identity, as Whedon knows no one in that condition. "I always write about helpless and building of strength and identity. Suddenly burdened with responsibility."

The Powers that Be in Angel are representative of the idea that there are powers out there that don't do anything good, and thus any change has to come from us.

Whedon would like to do a Buffy musical on Broadway, as long as it plays across the street from the theatre where Dr. Horrible is playing.

Fan: How badly are you planning on smashing our hearts to the ground with Buffy Season Nine?

Whedon: You all know I want you to suffer. It's like a drug! S9 is not designed around tragedy, life seldom is. It just happens. Do I plan to do something awful? I'm not going to tell you!

A fan asked what Whedon felt about the Queer Community being fans of his shows. "I'm totally against it. You're making the Lord angry!" joked Whedon. He then explained how the plight of the clone Ripley in Aliens Resurrection was a metaphor for the alienation that gays and lesbians, and really any marginalized group go through. "It absolutely means everything to me that the gay communities have embraced the shows. They are for them as much or more than anyone else."

Whedon didn't really have any dramatic life experiences that influenced his writing, unless sitting in your room reading Dune counts.

The idea of a season eight animated series is unlikely, as they tried their best to get an animated series done in the past and couldn't get it off the ground. Whedon is still waiting for someone to greenlight the Serenity sequel. "BUT THEY WON'T" he exclaimed to the fans, who had just erupted in massive applause and joy.

A Firefly musical would be bad, as it wouldn't mesh properly.

Responding to a question about his views on feminism, Whedon directed the fan to youtube to check out Equality Now, and find the video he did for them in which he goes into detail on the subject. He then amended that to just checking out Equality Now in general. "I don't know why I think I'm a 14 year old girl with superpowers. I don't look like one. The only problem with Avengers is 'where is the 14 year old girl? Is it you Robert Downey Jr? '" joked Whedon.

Whedon wouldn't want to write Star Trek comics, as while he adored the JJ Abrams reboot, he would rather do comics of something new, or something he's more familiar with and has done before.

Dr. Horrible 2 is still in the works. Jed, Zack and Marissa showed him a song recently that was so good he got embarrassed by the ones he had proposed.

Ben Edlund isn't currently scheduled for any Buffy comics, nor has he been approached, but Whedon would love him on board.

The seventh episode of a season is often more momentous because it's the first episode post the premiere that Joss will get to direct, and he saves the best story content for himself.

Whedon feels that the only major difference between writing for comics and TV is pacing, and that you don't have actors changing lines. Conversely, fewer people involved means that errors in the script are more likely to become errors on the finished page.

The cast of Avengers are a better team than the characters they portray.

Some of the plot points from Ripper, the proposed Giles spin-off will materialize in Angel and Faith, as the duo are based in Giles' home.

The proposed series has been attempted unsuccessfully so often that if he mentions it again to Anthony Stewart Head, Whedon will get knifed in the throat. If the series does materialize, he'll have to wait until the day of filming to call Head to set and tell him, as to not get him angry.

A fan pointed out the similarities between Kitty Pryde and Kaylee from Firefly, and the connection dawned on Whedon who suddenly realized that indeed, he had been inspired by Kitty but not consciously. "I never even saw the connection. I often don't. I an often unaware of let us call it 'theft.' Now that you say it, yeah, okay. Another 'original idea' from Joss Whedon!" He was quite embarrassed.

Whedon wants to add a strong gay male character to future works because there's only so many times he can write lesbians. "This isn't feminism, this is Cinemax! It's time for equal opportunity? Besides, who doesn't love cock?! (pause) And then I remember the children." realized Whedon.

Jo Chen's short story with Whedon involved Spike and Angel romance because Jo Chen likes Yaoi and asked for some in their collaboration.

The Dollhouse ongoing comic is coming. Whedon wants to do it because he is also a fan of the series, and felt that he didn't properly articulate what he had in mind for the show in the television series.

Peter S. Svensson is a Bleeding Cool Foreign Correspondant, embedded at Comic Con

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