The Hot Topic: Does Joss Care?

Taake

Taake

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Black Thorn
So this week I thought we could talk about Joss Whedon and his current involvment with the Buffyverse... simply speaking - does Joss care anymore? How invovled is he? Is he an active part of the characters' story arcs or is he the Big Brother mainly kept informed if even that?

What do you guys think?
Do you think he has pretty much grown tired of/distanced himself from Buffy by now, or is character and show (comic) still his baby?
 
I think he "grown tired of/distanced himself" before the show ended. You cant tell me that he was completely focused on Buffy when he just finished up Fray, was writing for Angel and was starting a brand new series. Buffy hasn't been anything but a cashcow for him for decades. Especially now that Avengers rekindled his career, you will see less and less involvement with Buffy. Until you see another Alien: Resurrection.
 
Well the only person who really knows is the man himself. My guess is that he cares about Buffy but it doesn't have his attention. I don't think you could create something so enduring and not care about it. I suspect his input in the comics is very limited now. An arc outline here, a few ideas there and that's about it.
 
He cares, but has been too busy with other, multi-billion-dollar projects to give as much attention as usual. For the comics he attends the writers' conference each season that plots out the major story beats, he reviews each issue and gives notes where necessary. Nothing happens in the Buffyverse that he doesn't know about and approve.

Buffy isn't a cash cow for him. The director of The Avengers and The Avengers 2 doesn't need the income from a comic book that sells 15,000 copies. I don't know if he even gets paid for issues he doesn't actually write, since Fox owns the franchise, not him. He probably gets paid something for his Executive Producer credit, but I doubt it's an amount that anyone could live off of.

Buffy is still around because Joss still wants those stories to be told. That could change at any time... as soon as the end of season 10, in fact. But he certainly cares. Buffy is his avatar, as he's said more than once.
 
Unless all those writers/people are lying about that writers summit once a year then Joss is clearly involved to some degree with the Buffyverse.

People often sight the quality of the comics storylines of evidence that he's not involved now- but he wrote, scripted and plotted s8 which those same critics say is bat-sh*t insane (that that don't have a point) and also ignore that some of the seasons of the show had some pretty ropey plotting.

As for his views...affection? Nostalgia? Buffy was his first baby, his first big hit so I imagine that he views it with some fondness. But is he really THAT invested in the whole thing? I doubt it.
 
The question wasn't is he still involved, it was has he distanced himself/grown tired. Being involved does not mean he hasn't distanced himself. 
AndrewCrossett said:
Buffy isn't a cash cow for him. The director of The Avengers and The Avengers 2 doesn't need the income from a comic book that sells 15,000 copies.
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Buffy comics most certainly ARE a cash cow, and it was never stated he needed the income.
 
I'll say... No. To be honest, I think he's actually the problem and has been for awhile. He's Joss. People are going to listen to him and they're forced to use his input, even if it brings things down. He doesn't care, but he knows fans want more, but doesn't really know what fans want. He's betrayed his own 'what they need,not what they want' mantra and crippled the franchise.

Buffy has become Alien: Resurrection. 😛

I wouldn't call them a 'cash cow'. Maybe for us here, but he probably makes more in royalties a month for BTVS than he has for the Buffy comics since they started. There isn't much money in comics unless you're writing multiple stories for multiple companies at once. Subtract what's probably a good-sized license fee to Fox and it's even less.
 
Mr. Pole said:
The question wasn't is he still involved, it was has he distanced himself/grown tired. Being involved does not mean he hasn't distanced himself. 

Buffy comics most certainly ARE a cash cow, and it was never stated he needed the income.
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But how can you state that as fact? The debate is whether he still cares or not? The answer to that question (which none of us know) is the answer to is it a cash cow. But I think its fair enough for someone to point out that Whedon doesn't need the money from the comics to support himself in response to your remark.

But it does bother me this idea than he should just be concerned about one project for his whole career, and that if he drifts away from that project that he has lost passion for it or is selling out. It is only human for someone with so many other things going on to become a little distracted, and it is only human for someone to want to move on with their career. But Buffy is I would say one of Josh's biggest passions and always will be.
 
I know I personally could have done without the abortion that wasn't and the robot who didn't know she was a robot storylines.

Honestly, I think Joss does still care about Buffy and the rest of the characters - if he didn't he wouldn't make time to go to the summits. But I also think that Buffy without Joss' full attention isn't the same animal, as the latter seasons of the show prove. I think, if he knew he wouldn't have as much time to dedicate to the comics, he should have just ended it, or put it on hold until he did have the time.

I understand that he has a life and a career and he thinks he's left the comics in the best possible hands, but I would honestly rather have no Buffy than Joss-less Buffy.
 
Mr Trick said:
What do you mean by that? Do you mean he should have stopped writing for the comics when his other commitments became too much?
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I think if you're not going to put the effort in it's shameful to expect fans to pay money for it. He's the EP, which is why they're canon (ymmv), yet his efforts seem to extend as far as listening to pitches and giving bad ideas. If he's not going to act like an EP, then he should stop calling them canon and let the fans move on and save their money.
 
Deep down I think he cares, however I do think his focus, energy and time are primarily spent elsewhere. One of the reasons he's been able to move on and dive into other projects fully is because he already got his second chance with BTVS; he's righted what was wrong with the film when he got to create the TV show....so he doesn't feel that need to nurture BTVS the way he once did.

I also think his fan approciation keeps him tied to past projects; he seems really aware of his fan base and how attached to certain characters they are.

Ultimately, if he didn't care anymore, I don't think he would continue to put his name on the comics anymore. It would be really easy for him to tell everyone he is too busy for it now and hand over complete control. The fact that he hasn't tells me he still cares; or maybe he is just a control freak.....
 
NothingVentured said:
I think if you're not going to put the effort in it's shameful to expect fans to pay money for it. He's the EP, which is why they're canon (ymmv), yet his efforts seem to extend as far as listening to pitches and giving bad ideas. If he's not going to act like an EP, then he should stop calling them canon and let the fans move on and save their money.
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But again what your talking about is subjective. Because some fans might still enjoy the comics. Also if fans don't enjoy them then they don't have to buy them.
 
Fans aren't going to know they don't enjoy it if they don't buy them. Also fans tend to be completionists. If you want to keep up with fandom and canon.
 
NothingVentured said:
Fans aren't going to know they don't enjoy it if they don't buy them. Also fans tend to be completionists. If you want to keep up with fandom and canon.
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Sure, but I guess if they haven't liked them for awhile then they can make that choice to stop reading. I just think it is a dangerous road to go down to start bringing issues of money into such things as art/culture.
 
I think that mostly I don't care. No, I mean, the guy's name's on the cover so I assume that he's still involved but to me, that's not a selling point and it's never been a selling point. I read the comics for the same reason I watch the show - it's fun.
 
I'm sure he will always have fondness for Buffy (and he cares enough to support its continuation) but he's moved on, that much is clear.

If he hadn't moved on after all this time there would be something wrong with him.
 
I think that Buffy is like an old love to Joss. He'll never forget her, and everything that he does from now on will be somehow compared to her, bit, basically, he's moved on to newer, more current loves. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and he may someday return to the Buffyverse in a much more active role, but, for right now, his candle is burning in just as many ends as he can handle, so any involvement with the Slayer is going to have to be put on the back burner for now.

On the other hand, blasphemous as this might sound, there are other writers and other directors just as good, or even better, who could handle the job quite well, especially if they used a team of new characters, leaving Buffy, Angel, and their respective teams out of the mix entirely. The way that things stand now, we have hundreds, if not thousands of new Slayers roaming around all over the world, slaying vampires, destroying demons, and maybe even averting the occasional apocalypse. With all those potential stories, anything is possible, and if it's someone other than Joss actually telling the tale, I'm good with that, just as long as the quality remains high.
 
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