Valerie Estelle Frankel

741.5/973

23

Trade Paperback

0786498854

9780786498857

Yes

Scholarly & Professional

0.5 in

9 in

12.5 Oz

6 in

PN6727.W445Z44 2015

2015-019744

English

256 Pages

1 vol.

Comics of Joss Whedon : Critical Essays

2015

Mcfarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers

Film / General, Comics & Graphic Novels

Literary Criticism, Performing Arts

A great deal of scholarship has focused on Joss Whedon's television and film work. But Whedon's work in the world of comics has largely been ignored. 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., 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, assembled 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 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 new interpretations.

Table of Contents Preface Part One: 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) Part Two: 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) Part Three: 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) Part Four: Firefly Do Serenity Comics Forecast Our Pedagogies of Identity Construction? (Thalia M. Mulvihill and Christina L. Blanch) Part Five: Dollhouse Mind-Body Dualism vs. Materialism: Personal Identity in Dollhouse: Epitaphs (S. Evan Kreider) Part Six: Dr. Horrible's ­Sing-Along Blog Joss Whedon, Alan Moore and the Whole Horrible Future (Tracy S. Morris) Part Seven: Marvel's Runaways Dancing in the Sky: The Value of Love in Runaways (Don Tresca) Part Eight: 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) Part Nine: 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) Part Ten: The Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the 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) A Guide to Buffyverse Comics Glossary Bibliography About the Contributors Index

The

Textbook

Mcfarland & Company, Incorporated Publishers

9780786498857