Works on Everything Joss Whedon
Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Avengers, Doctor Horrible, Agents of Shield, Cabin in the Woods, Much Ado About Nothing, In Your Eyes, X-Men, comics, and more!
Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned from Joss Whedon Thought Catalog March 2015 Buy it on Amazon
Joss Whedon’s Names Amazon Page More Info Read a Sample on Wattpad May 2014
Pop Culture in the Whedonverse Buy it on Amazon Kindle Read a Sample on Wattpad July 2014
Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey McFarland and Co. Feb 2012. Buy it on Amazon
The Comics of Joss Whedon: Critical Essays
After the Avengers: From Joss Whedon’s Hottest, Newest Franchises to the Future of the Whedonverse PopMatters Nov 2015. Buy it on Amazon
The Heroine’s Journey in Joss Whedon’s Works (powerpoint on SlideShare.net)
Whedon’s Apocrypha: All his Obscure Projects (powerpoint on SlideShare.net)
Joss Whedon’s Projects (a complete list)
Everything I Need to Know in Life I Learned from Joss Whedon Thought Catalog March 2015
ASIN: B00V9H0ESG $4.99 Kindle
Joss Whedon has much to teach his fans, as he unfurls epics of sacrifice and heroism for superheroes and ordinary people.
Firefly, like Alien: Resurrection, was his anti-authoritarian dystopia, while Buffy the Vampire Slayer emphasized girl power and individuality in a world of monsters. Dollhouse tackled identity, memory and the soul, reaching from fantasy into philosophy, just as The Cabin in the Woods satirized the nebulous “Greater Good.” Now, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers explore heroism, teamwork, and personal responsibility. Whedon has independent works too, all explored from the paranormal romance film In Your Eyes to his feminist skits for Equality Now. In comics, such as X-Men, Runaways, Sugarshock, and Buffy, he explores unconventional teams and chosen families.
From Angel’s quest for faith and redemption in a world of nihilism to the smaller stories of family and friendships in The Office, Glee, Parenthood, and Roseanne, not to mention Much Ado About Nothing, Whedon offers lessons to improve the world and our roles within it.
This book compares themes, motifs, and archetypes across all his works, teasing out the common threads and the messages within.
Joss Whedon’s Names LitCrit Press May 2014
0692216383, 978-0692216385, $9.99
Doctor Horrible, Jayne Cobb, Oz, Fitz-Simmons, Echo, Pike, Saffron, Kaywinnet, the Groosalugg, Skip, Satsu, Dana Polk, Perfect Jheung, Icarus, the Siphon, Edna Giles, Dandelion Naizen, and especially Buffy the Vampire Slayer. With Whedon’s superhero names, goddess names, flower names, saint’s names, and dozens of British names, he’s filling his world with references from Shakespeare to manga, delighting fans who look closer. Which names repeat the most? Which characters have secret links? Examining Whedon’s naming through his five shows, plus his movie scripts and dozens of comics, reveals fascinating patterns for his dedicated followers.
Pop Culture in the Whedonverse
July 2014
Speed, Toy Story, X-Men, Alien: Resurrection, Roseanne, Parenthood, Superman/Batman. Even outside Buffy, Firefly and Avengers, Joss Whedon has written stacks of scripts, along with many series of comic books. His signature style offers strong women, sudden tragedies, and clever quips. But even more than these, he’s known for the pop culture references: Under his watch, Iron Man calls Hawkeye“Legolas,” Buffy dresses as Red Riding Hood and snarks, “Back off, Pink Ranger!” Wolverine makes sports metaphors, and Kitty Pryde uses Buffyspeak. Marty from Cabin quotes the X-Files and reads Curious George. Captain Mal has read Coleridge and the Bible but doesn’t know the Mona Lisa. Genre-savvy Angel and Spike become their Comic-Con costumes. By now, hundreds of shows recognize the fannish delight these moments bring, offering hundreds of their own nods to Firefly and Buffy. Within this volume are all Whedon’s references from AAto zombies, shwarma to Star Wars, from every project – script treatments to shows to one-shot comics, for the truly avid Whedon fans.
Part I: Fannish Nods and Self-Reference 11
Bending the Fourth Wall 13
Calling Attention to Being Fictional 13
Commentary and Easter Eggs 28
The Credits 29
Unusual Formats and Alt-Worlds 30
Subverting Expectations 32
Retcon 33
Writing their Own Stories 37
Self-Aware Quipping 41
Being Genre-Savvy 43
Actors and Creators as Fans 50
Characters as Fans 53
Fannish Behavior in Fiction 58
Conventions 58
Costumes 58
Fanfiction 64
Groupies 65
Shippers 68
Web Posting 68
Creator References 69
Cameos 73
The Actors 75
Whedon’s Repeat Actors 75
Repeat Guest Stars 79
Main Actors Jokes 81
Guest Stars Jokes 86
Whedon’s References to Other Whedon Series 89
Repeat Archetypes 115
Buffyspeak 118
How Whedon Shows Inspired Others 123
Part II: Hundreds of Alphabetical Pop Culture References from all of Whedon’s projects 500 pages.
Appendices
Whedon’s Projects
A Guide to Buffyverse Comics
Links
Buffy and the Heroine’s Journey
McFarland and Co. Feb 2012. Categories: Television Feminism & Feminist Theory, Gender Studies
ISBN 13: 9780786467921 ISBN 10: 0786467924
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-6792-1
There are many references in Buffy studies to the classic hero’s journey, but none to the classic heroine’s journey—unsurprising as there are only two works on the heroine’s journey—Maureen Murdock’s psychological study and my own From Girl to Goddess, just out from McFarland. Buffy’s journey is one of fiction’s most perfect fits for this pattern as she battles first the patriarchy and then the mother-destroyer, descending over and over into the underworld seeking enlightenment.
The heroine’s journey is about building a community of equals, about becoming a protector and rescuer of others rather than slaying a dark lord. When Buffy does both, defeating misogynist villains and saving the world many times over, she sets out on a subset of the heroine’s journey: the warrior woman’s path. After she conquers the land’s male enemies, she quests for her lost feminine side and seeks the First Slayer. From there, she takes the traditional heroine’s path, protecting her new sister Dawn from a goddess’s destruction. This quest reflects the Jungian cycle of facing one’s dark shadows as enemies and defeating them, reintegrating the fragmented parts of the self into power and wholeness. This Buffy does in the end, gathering an army of Slayers and reimagining the world as its new goddess of life and empowerment.
Buy it on Amazon
“This new 236-page soft-cover release from McFarland & Company Books is a great read for Buffy fans and nice addition to any Slayer collection.” —Examiner.com
The Comics of Joss Whedon: Critical Essays
McFarland, Fall 2015, Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-9885-7, Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4766-2193-7
A great deal of scholarship has focused on Joss Whedon’s television and film work, which includes Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, The Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers. But Whedon’s work in the world of comics has largely been ignored. He created his own dystopian heroine, Fray, gathered the goofy fannish heroes of Sugarshock, and wrote arcs for Marvel’s Astonishing X-Men and Runaways. Along with The Avengers, Whedon’s contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe include script doctoring the first X-Men film, writing a ground-shaking Wonder Woman screenplay, and co-creating ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Today, Whedon continues the Buffy and Firefly stories with innovative comics that shatter the rules of storytelling and force his characters to grow through life-altering conflicts.
This collection of new essays focuses on Whedon’s comics work and its tie-ins with his film and television productions, emphasizing his auteurism in crossing over from panel to screen to panel. Essays focus on the comic inspirations and subversive tropes of the Whedonverse, as well as character changes and innovations.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Buffy Comics
The Origin of a Superhero: Sacrifice, Choice and the Significance of Merrick in Buffy’s Journey… Joel Hawkes
Buffy Is in Bed with a Woman? Problematic and Perfect Gay and Lesbian Representation…Lisa Gomez
Separate Worlds or One? Canonicity, Medium, and Authorship…David Kociemba and Mary Ellen Iatropoulos
Introduction: Angel and Spike Comics
“Live in the Lie for a While”: Closure in Angel: After the Fall…Thomas Johnson
The Trouble with Spike: An Examination of William the Bloody’s Problematic Progression…Bryant Dillon
Introduction: Tales of the Slayers
“So I Wear Pearls”: Exploring Gender in Tales of the Slayers…Traci J. Cohen
“There Will Be Others Like Me”: The Legacy of Otherness in Tales of the Slayers…Kristi Pope Key
Introduction: Firefly
Do Serenity Comics Forecast our Pedagogies of Identity Construction?…Thalia M. Mulvihill and Christina L. Blanch
Introduction: Dollhouse
Mind-Body Dualism vs Materialism: Personal Identity in Dollhouse: Epitaphs…S. Evan Kreider
Introduction: Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog
Joss Whedon, Alan Moore and the Whole Horrible Future…Tracy S. Morris
Introduction: Marvel’s Runaways
Dancing in the Sky: The Value of Love in Runaways…Don Tresca
Introduction: Marvel’s X-Men
Embracing Goodness (and Colorful Costumes) amid a World of Gray…Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and César Alfonso Marino.
River is Wolverine: Whedon Performs a Sex-Change…Melissa C. Johnson
Introduction: Whedon’s Other Comics
The Heroine’s Journey from Fray to Wonder Woman…Valerie Estelle Frankel
Comic-con, Consumerism, and Chaos: Reflecting the Fans in Last Angel in Hell, Stan Lee Meets the Amazing Spider-Man, and Sugarshock…Valerie Estelle Frankel
Introduction: The Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the MCU
Authorship Assembled: Joss Whedon as Promotional Auteur in Marvel’s The Avengers…Leora Hadas
Whedon’s Women and the Law: Parallels from Slayers to S.H.I.E.L.D….Gail D. Rosen
Contributors
A Guide to Buffyverse Comics
Glossary
Works Cited
After the Avengers: From Joss Whedon’s Hottest, Newest Franchises to the Future of the Whedonverse
With contributions from professors, scholars, bloggers, playwrights, and novelists from Australia, the Netherlands, Canada, and Great Britain, as well as the US, this collection explores recent additions to the multifaceted Whedonverse. But it doesn’t stop there. Above all comes the question “What’s Next?” How will Whedon adapt other Shakespeares like Hamlet and Twelfth Night, seeing that he hates to make the same project twice? Will he offer a female Horatio, a stronger Ophelia, a play set on a spaceship or S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters? Who will star? Other creators have signed on for the Wonder Woman film, but can they surpass his unpublished script? What will come after Avengers: Age of Ultron – Star Wars?
In today’s world of Netflix shows, comic continuations, and web releases, Whedon has far more options than he did in the ’90s Meanwhile, fans across the world are devouring his Buffy motion comics even as American creators pay homage to his works in their own shows, from Husbands and The Guild to How I Met Your Mother. All of this combines to build a glittering future for Whedon’s fans and for the creator himself as the Whedonverse swells larger with each passing year.
Contents
Presenting the Collection
Presenting the Classic Shows
Buffy’s Successors: How Both The Guild and How I Met Your Mother Spring from Buffy…Calvin Peat
The Vampire Family Plot: Naming, Siring, and Identity…Janet Brennan Croft
A Whedonite’s Guide to Characterization…Kate Johnson and J.T. Bock
The Future of Scholarship: Interview with Professor Rhonda V. Wilcox…Francesca Maria Stefanachi
Presenting The Cabin in the Woods
Watching the Whore: The Treatment of Jules in Cabin in the Woods…Carrie Sessarego
Something Nightmares Are From: Corporate Culture and Externalized Consequences…Erin Giannini
Presenting The Avengers
“That Man’s Playing Galaga” /Dis/ownership, Democratization and Demographics…Dr. Shathley Q
Collateral Damage: How The Avengers is a Superhero Film, Not an Action Flick…James Orbesen
Fun with Fandom in Avengers: Age of Ultron…Valerie Estelle Frankel
Presenting Much Ado About Nothing
The Whole Assembly: Much Ado About Superheroes, Shakespeare, and Shawarma…B. Mitchell
Sigh No More, Ladies: Much Ado Tackles Gender and Modern Judgment…Navya Dasari
Of Whedonverse Canon and “Someone Else’s Sandbox:” Marvel, Much Ado, and the Great Auteur Debate…Mary Ellen Iatropoulos
Presenting In Your Eyes
The Mad Girl Weds the Evil Doctor: Whedonisms in In Your Eyes…Valerie Estelle Frankel
Presenting Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Deployment Patterns: How Joss Whedon Leverages Transmedia to Force a Rethink of Old Media…Dr. Shathley Q
“I’m Every Bit the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent That You Are”: Exploring Opposing Masculinities…Scott Interrante
Whedon’s Women: Melinda May and Maria Hill as Transgressive Superheroines…Leanne McRae
Presenting the Buffy Comics
From the Small Screen to the Panel: Buffy in Comic Form…J.M. Suarez
Big in Japan: A Cross Cultural Look at the Whedonverse…J. Malcolm Stewart
Presenting the Angel & Faith Comics
No Future For You? Faith and the Future of the Dark Slayer…Siobhan Lyons
Journey into the Heart of Darkness: Intertextuality, Redemption, and Rewriting (Neo)colonial Discourses in Angel & Faith’s Lost and Found…Jessica Hautsch
Presenting the Serenity Comics
The Browncoats Return! The New Rebellion in Leaves on the Wind…Eugena McCrann
Presenting Future Shakespeares
“Though this be madness, yet there is method in’t”: Speculating on Adaptations of Shakespeare…Carl Wilson
Much Ado About Whedon and the Hamlet Hypothesis…Stephanie Garrison
Joss Whedon’s Hamlet: The Problems of Ophelia and Representation…Joel Hawkes
Presenting the Future
Violence, Strong Language, and Adult Content: Whedon’s Return to Television…Sebastiaan Gorissen
How to Make a Wonder Woman Movie…Valerie Estelle Frankel
Cleaning the Slate with the Force: Star Wars, Joss Whedon, and the Mind-Body Problem…Dominic Nardi, Jr.
Contributors
Works Cited
Whedon’s Projects
Valerie Estelle Frankel's Author Page 