Black Eye Guy
Taking over the World!
There's no real spoilers in here, hints at story but nothing that would count as spoilers.
The panel was made up of Christos Gage (Angel and Faith writer ), Andrew Chambliss (Buffy season 9 writer), Georges Jeanty (artist) and Jane Espenson.
Main points were:
Intesting that the Aunts were created for the Ripper series, I didn't know that!
I'm really liking the direction for the last arc, brining the scoobies back together and focusing on "friendship", it should be interesting to see them actually focus on their friendship as thats something that has been lacking from the comics.
The panel was made up of Christos Gage (Angel and Faith writer ), Andrew Chambliss (Buffy season 9 writer), Georges Jeanty (artist) and Jane Espenson.
Main points were:
- Gage says he had never watched an episode of the show previously, and was a fan of Whedon's work through Astonishing X-Men.
- Upon starting the shows, Gage says he was "immediately sucked in," as he was when he first discovered X-Men comics.
- Jeanty says he also wasn't a fan prior to working on the property, but he's definitely a fan now.
- Chambliss, who had previously worked with Joss Whedon, says he was a fan, and called writing Buffy Season 9 an "awesome opportunity."
- "It took me a long time to feel any amount of competency in writing comics," Espenson says of the difference between writing for comics and TV. "[Comics are] much, much harder."
- Espenson says that in writing comics based on TV shows, she wants to maintain the sense that there was once a flesh and blood actor playing the role.
- "With comics, I always try to remember that it is a visual medium, so what is the most interesting locale for this?" Gage says. "I do a lot of Angel and Faith talking on rooftops, because it's cool, and [series artist Rebekah Isaacs] went to London and took a lot of photos."
- Atkins asks the panel what it is about the characters that have kept them relevant over the years. Gage says he thinks it's the "universality of the character," no matter what type of situation or setting they might be in.
- Espenson says that beyond female fans, she's heard from many male viewers, who discovered Buffy and also "tapped into [the] metaphor."
- Jeanty says he runs into people who say they don't even like Buffy, but like the show, because everyone can find something they like about one of the franchise's characters. "I think if it was just Buffy for seven years, we wouldn't be talking about it this long."
- Atkins asks the panel who their favorite characters have been to write. Gage says it always depends on who he's writing at a given time, but he's enjoyed Giles' great aunts, who were created for the planned "Ripper" series. "If I screwed up, then I'm introducing a new Joss Whedon character and screwing up from the get-go. I've had a lot of fun writing them."
- Espenson says she had a "surprising amount of fun writing Oz." Jeanty says he "really had an affinity for Buffy," but once Faith came into play, he really enjoyed illustrating her.
- Chambliss says he had a lot of fun writing Spike, and Nikki Wood.
- Teases for the finales of Season 9? Gage says that it'll be revealed if Angel and Faith will ultimately be successful in resurrecting Giles. Espenson says that readers will learn something about zompires, and from an unexpected source. Chambliss says the final arc of Buffy Season 9 is called "The Core," which (partly) refers to the core of the Scooby Gang reuniting.
- No update at this point on the planned Drusilla miniseries, due to Juliet Landau's busy schedule.
- A fan asks the panel to describe the final arc of Season 9 in one word. Chambliss: "Friends." Jeanty: "Loss." Espeson: "Epic. I think it gives you a sense of the scope of it." Gage: "I can't do it in one word, but the title of the final arc is 'What You Want, Not What You Need.'"
- Jeanty says that Whedon is very clear about keeping the Buffy and Firefly worlds separate, and that he drew a variant cover in Season 8 with Buffy wearing a shirt with the Blue Sun logo from Firefly, and Whedon said, "That's cute — but don't do it again."
- Chambliss tells a fan that Season 9 started with a summit at Whedon's house, and that the writer/director "has had a pretty big hand in all of this." Gage adds that originally he wrote Giles' father as more like Wesley's father, and Whedon advised in going in a different direction.
- Jeanty tells the crowd that Whedon took a call from him as he was driving to the Avengers set, and had a negative reaction to something that he encountered there, but still kept on the call. "I'm sure there was this million dollar thing he had to take care of," but he made himself available to talk to the artist about Buffy.
- Chance of an animated Season 8 or 9? Jeanty points out that there is the Season 8 motion comic, "Which I thought was pretty good, but I just wished that they would ask me, because there were so many little things in the artwork" that he would have liked the chance to alter.
- How has the Buffyverse affected the panel? "I think that it's affected everything else I've written since seeing it," Gage says. Espenson says that she's also been affected significantly, that ever since her experience she asks, "Why are we telling this story?" and that, further, Whedon gave her job security and a much higher profile in TV writing.
- Jeanty: "Buffy has allowed me to travel. I've gone to London, to Australia, New Zealand — all of these cool places that I would have never gone if not for Buffy." (Jeanty says he's also taken a "wealth of emotion from the experience.)
- Chambliss says there are things that he didn't even know he learned from his experience of working with Whedon. "It really gave me a career, and I wouldn't be writing comics if not for it."
- Atkins says there's nothing on the calendar right now for Dollhouse, but he doesn't think Dark Horse is done with the characters. Something Serenity-related is coming later this year.
- What was the hardest story to write or draw? "For me it was the first one," Gage says, because he was effectively the "new guy" in the Buffyverse.
- Chambliss says the first arc was also the hardest for him. Jeanty answers, saying that the Espenson-written arc featuring Oz was tricky for him, due to the number of characters (and thus photo reference) involved.
Intesting that the Aunts were created for the Ripper series, I didn't know that!
I'm really liking the direction for the last arc, brining the scoobies back together and focusing on "friendship", it should be interesting to see them actually focus on their friendship as thats something that has been lacking from the comics.
