It's all Joss Whedon's fault!

Okay, so it isn't ALL Joss Whedon's fault, but he should shoulder most of the blame.

Pre - Joss Whedon I was interested in comics, or at least I tried to be. The truth of the matter is that what I knew of comics, I knew from movies. I liked the big blockbusters and the epic stories. It didn't hurt that the good guys triumphed in the end. I watched cartoons, what kid born in the 70's didn't. School House Rocks rocked! But when it came to printed comics, they never delighted me the way that I had hoped. Around the time that the Batman movie came out...you know, the Tim Burton one with Michael Keaton as Batman & Jack Nicholson as the Joker... I was in high school. I had taken a liking to Batman because he was a self-made superhero. He wasn't blessed with extra strength or extra abilities by birth or a freak accident. He created all sorts of cool gadgets and, of course, he had a dark side. I had also gone through a Batman tv series phase. Adam West's Batman didn't have a dark side, but the show was just so much over the top, kitchy fun. (Eartha Kitt stole the show as Catwoman.) All this to say that I was fascinated by Batman. I even started embroidering the back of my denim jacket with the bat symbol. Since I was this drawn in by the Batman story, I thought I was sure to love the Batman comic books. No such luck. The pages chopped up into frames and talk bubbles just didn't draw me in.

Time passes....I learned that I had some fascination with comics, but it is really the stories. To be specific, those stories that can be artfully translated to the big screen. While the comics themselves didn't excite me, I saw movie adaptations. The style of so many comic book movies where just so visually stunning. (I think of the Batman movies & even Dick Tracy.) The art design of the well-done movies was so magical. I was crushed that American Splendor didn't see any Oscar love as it was the most intruiging film I had seen in a long time. So, I had respect for the comic form, it's just wasn't my thing. In steps Joss Whedoon.....

So, I am a HUGE Whedon fan. I have been since some time in 1998 when my friends at the time introduced me to this amazing show called "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." It didn't take long before I was hooked. That summer I caught every episode of Buffy as they re-aired (almost) all of seasons 1 & 2. After that I never missed an episode. My Buffy fandom became a Buffy/Angel fandom and eventually I added Firefly. So now I am totally hooked on anything and everything Whedonverse. In the winter of 2005, I was eagerly awaiting the movie Serenity and any infusion into my world that was severely lacking in things Whedon. I heard that Joss & some of the cast were going to be at this comic convention called Wonder-Con. I was utterly intimidated by the thought of going to a convention, and even more so a comic book convention. I had never thought of myself as someone who went to a comic book/science fiction convention. I have only ever seen a few episodes of Star Trek and, while I have seen all the Star Wars movies, I remember them more as a cultural phenominon than as movies I treasure. I can't interest anyone in joining me, so I almost chicken out, but I figure, if Joss is going to be there, I should be there too. Here's when we get to the turning point in my life of comics. At Wonder-Con that year, Joss annouced that there is going to be a series of 3 comic books that bridge the gap between the end of Firefly the tv show and the beginning of Serenity the movie. Even better, each of the 3 comic books will have 3 covers so that all 9 characters get a feature cover. Okay, I'm in! I may not read any other comics, but I am going to get every single cover of these. Plus, even if I'm not a big fan, I can read 3 comics that Joss has written to fill the time until I get to see Serenity.

But that was only the beginning of how Joss Whedon has turned me into a comic book fan. Being a Whedon fan lead to being a Browncoat (fan group for Firefly/Serenity) and being a Browncoat lead not only to more comic book conventions, but to frequent trips to the comic book store. Lately, Joss has turned much of his amazong talents toward writting comic books, so what can some who loves his work do, but check out these comic books. I started out small, just things written by Joss Whedon like the Astonishing X-Men. Then at Comic-Con, they way to get Seth Green's autograph (or more importantly, his picutre with Duck -- different story, another time perhaps) was to buy the comic book he co-created with Hugh Sterbakov called the Freshmen. (Yes, that is still Joss' fault, I became a Seth Green fan when he was on Buffy.) Then there where issues of The Runaways to read because Joss was going to take over the storyline down the road. Oh yeah, let's not forget the big one, Joss Whedon to write & direct Wonder Woman. So a Whedon Wonder Woman wasn't to be, but I didn't find that out until I completely emersed myself in all the stories of the Amazon pricess I could get my hands on.

You see, it is all Joss Whedon's fault. And, in case I haven't said so yet, "Thank you Joss."