Whedonesque Mobile : Comments on 11826 : Jeph Loeb to write arc for Buffy season 8 comic.

Great news.

I bet he is writting the Faith arch.

I love his Superman/Batman series. He wrote a very strong, troubled and intresting new Supergirl.

Donna Troy | November 11, 07:05 CET

This is really cool. I'm happy that Joss went this direction. Great news.

cheryl | November 11, 07:31 CET

Well, as long as it's better than Superman/Batman (excepting, of course, the beautiful #26), I'm down.

UnpluggedCrazy | November 11, 08:13 CET

Well, yay! Especially with his connection with Heroes, which I really like. But I still want and expect some Buffy writers. It was strongly indicated that there would be some.

dreamlogic | November 11, 08:21 CET

Sa-weet. Maybe we'll be seeing an adaptation of a story idea from the animated series.

The First Weevil | November 11, 08:55 CET

Jeph Loeb has done a ton more than just Superman/Batman. Check out his books with tim sale, for example.

theyarescientists | November 11, 09:01 CET

The Long Halloween drop-kicked me in the nuts. Remains my favourite product of the Loeb/Sale partnership. I really loved Dark Victory too, but in my mind it committed a cardinal sin - first it showed Merkel, then it killed Merkel. You don't come back from that.

[ edited by Simon on 2006-11-11 12:01 ]

The First Weevil | November 11, 09:18 CET

Also think about checking out Superman for all seasons and his marvel color books.

theyarescientists | November 11, 10:46 CET

Oh good call. This will send sales of the comic book through the roof.

Simon | November 11, 13:35 CET

Um, any chance we can inviso-text spoilers in a non-spoiler thread please The First Weevil ? Cheers ;).

('Dark Victory' may be quite old but not everyone's read it yet)

Not really a complete surprise given past involvement and the fact Joss and Jeph are good pals. Personally I find his stuff a bit patchy but as Simon says it'll very likely bump sales and if he's on form it should be a cracker.

Saje | November 11, 13:47 CET

Jeph Loeb will be writing an arc of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, the new Dark Horse Comics series picking up from where the television show ended, The Continuum has learned.

I think that's the first time we've seen the official title for the comic book. I wasn't sure if Dark Horse were actually going to mention season 8 in the title.

Simon | November 11, 14:01 CET

Score one for my guesses. :-)

Does make you wonder--is there anything Marvel won't do for Joss? Now they've loaned him a Marvel-exclusive writer for a whole arc.

Not crazy about Loeb--let no one mention the atrocity that is Superman/Batman--but he varies from project to project, so maybe Joss and Buffy will have a good influence on him. Plus, sales. Those will undoubtedly be excellent.

Also look for a Buffy Omnibus from Dark Horse next year.

Shiny--I was wondering about that, with the Star Wars Omnibuses and the just-announced Aliens Vs. Predator Omnibus. I've really been enjoying the Star Wars Omnibuses--they're chunky books at a slightly smaller page-size. Good way to catch up on Buffy comics if you want. (Of course, I already have all of the Buffy comic stories, so hopefully I'll be able to resist the Omnibuses.)

Niels | November 11, 15:27 CET

The early Superman/Batman issues were really good. Story and and artwise. Especially the Supergirl story and when WW was in them. The later ones, I do have to agree were and are not.

Donna Troy | November 11, 15:57 CET

For every bad comic that Jeph Loeb ever put out there are about twenty excellent ones to make up for it so I'm thrilled that he is going to write a Buffy arc. As far as I'm concerned, as long as he saves his less brilliant work for DC then I'm okay. Not like I'll ever have to read any of it. ;)

I wonder how many other Marvel exclusives Joss can wangle away for the Buffy book?

Kaine | November 11, 17:56 CET

Jeph Loeb has writen some great comics.Besides the three Batman Halloween specials which were the precursors to his Batman:The Long Halloween,Batman:Dark Victory and Catwoman:When In Rome,he wrote an extended run on the monthly Superman title followed by the monthly Batman title.His Batman run with Jim Lee,"Hush" is a particular favorite of mine.

He's also written some great Marvel work such as Daredevil:Yellow,Spider-Man:Blue and Hulk:Grey.

I wonder how many other Marvel exclusives Joss can wangle away for the Buffy book?

Maybe he can get Peter David who just did some great work for the IDW Angel line before going Marvel exclusive.

Buffyfantic | November 11, 18:07 CET

Yep, 'Hush' was pretty decent but I must confess I was underwhelmed by 'The Long Halloween' (though I know a lot of people thought very highly of it) and would only rate 'Superman: For all Seasons' as okay. Both just seemed a bit ... flat, IMO.

Only read Superman/Batman #26 which was nicely done (and for a good cause anyway) and the Superman/Batman annual which I thought was pretty funny and occasionally hilarious but wasn't by Loeb.

Seems like his truly excellent stuff has been for Marvel so maybe I should look some of that up (mainly a non-Marvel reader though only by coincidence, I don't have any aversion to them as a publisher).

(and Peter David would be cool but 3 of the approx. 6 'slots' are already filled and i'd really like to see some ME writers get arcs. Jane E, Doug Petrie, either of the Drews, Ben Edlund, the list goes on)

Saje | November 11, 18:31 CET

How does one write for comic books btw?
Is there a special style that they have to follow?
Or is it just like a television script?

TaraLivesOn | November 11, 18:56 CET

TaraLivesOn, there's an example here.

[ edited by Jackal on 2006-11-11 17:09 ]

Jackal | November 11, 19:02 CET

How does one write for comic books btw?
Is there a special style that they have to follow?
Or is it just like a television script?

There are various ways--there's no such strict formatting rules as in the movie/TV bizz--but yeah, most common is writing 'full script,' which is similar to TV. In the script, the writer takes each panel separately and describes what's on it, and adds the text that is supposed to be placed in it. The amount of detail put in scripts vary per writer--Alan Moore, for instance, is infamous for his scripts the size of phonebooks, while others might leave the artist more freedom to fill in details and pick angles for shots.

Another way of writing is the 'Marvel method' (though Marvel uses it very little if at all these days) in which the writer simply gives the story, lets the artist pick the panels and then comes back to write the dialogue after the art is done.

Niels | November 11, 19:06 CET

Here's a sample script TaraLivesOn.

Comic scripts are sort of similar to a TV or film script in that they're technically more involved and more rigourously structured than most prose fiction (e.g. many writers structure their comic story so that big reveals are on turn rather than facing pages so that nothing's spoiled) but unlike screenplays, a lot of direction is usually given on the page (most directors would be chucking a script with so much detail on shots and close-ups against the wall in no time flat).

(various other limitations can apply of course e.g. Warren Ellis' comic 'Fell' is designed to be cheap and so has fewer pages which means more panels per page and very few or no single sheet 'splash' pages in order to fit the same amount of story - IMO, BTW, it works brilliantly in that instance)

[ edited by Saje on 2006-11-11 17:25 ]

Saje | November 11, 19:25 CET

I'm a big fan of Jeph Loeb's work ever since his days writing Cable. But I would like to see more ME writers get an arc on Season 8, not just comic writers.

FaithFan | November 11, 22:17 CET

Who do you guys think should be writing these books? I think Robert Kirkman could get the humor and the dialogue of buffy down.

theyarescientists | November 11, 22:21 CET

Who do you guys think should be writing these books?

Warren Ellis, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Grant Morrison, Doug Petrie, Brian K. Vaughan, me, Amber Benson and Robbie Morrison.

Simon | November 11, 22:29 CET

Jeph Loeb is a great choice. On top of being a great writer, it should give the comic a lot of publicity, as he's well known inside the comic book industry, but also known outside because of his work on Smallville and now Heroes.

I think that's the first time we've seen the official title for the comic book. I wasn't sure if Dark Horse were actually going to mention season 8 in the title.

It makes sense from a marketing point of view, as that's been one of the main things that have gotten people so excited about the comic (the other obviously being Joss' involvement).

Of course on top of ME writers, I would love to see Brian K. Vaughan do a story arc. I think Joss is such a great fit for Vaughan's Runaways because it's reminded me so much of Buffy. So it would be cool to see Vaughan tackle a Buffy arc.

Matt_Fabb | November 12, 00:09 CET

The only writer that's a must for me is Joss Whedon. I'd actually prefer him to write the whole thing. I bet I'm not alone.

cheryl | November 12, 00:49 CET

Joss should hire George Lucas :)

Koos | November 12, 01:36 CET

Warren Ellis, Jane Espenson, David Fury, Grant Morrison, Doug Petrie, Brian K. Vaughan, me, Amber Benson and Robbie Morrison.

I'm not familiar with Robbie Morrison but otherwise some damn fine choices there. Robert Kirkman was also an excellent suggestion.

I think most people would have loved to have seen the whole series written by Joss but realistically it was never going to happen. Jeph Loeb is definately a fine alternative though.

Kaine | November 12, 02:02 CET

Jane Espenson

YES! She would be excellent!

While we're setting up our dream team, I would add Drew Goddard.

Caleb | November 12, 02:56 CET

Drew Goddard would be great, but he's Joss' archenemy so I don't think its going to happen.

delirium_haze | November 12, 03:14 CET

I'm not familiar with Robbie Morrison

He's done some stuff in the US but he's writes Nikolai Dante for 2000 A.D. here in the UK. Britain's best comic book character of the last 10 years. Robbie's Tsar Wars saga is just amazing. Up there with Grant Morrison's Zenith and Alan Moore's Watchman in my opinion.

Simon | November 12, 03:46 CET

Ellis and Grant Morrison are obviously brilliant, but I don't know that I'd put them on a Buffy book. Some entirely separate story where they have more room to be themselves, maybe, but certainly not an arc in a larger story.

American readers might know Robbie Morrison best from The Authority vol. 2.

My vote's for TV-writers as well, although BKV seems so obvious a choice it'd be a crime not to have him.

And about the 'Season 8' title--I'm actually wondering if we can count this as making it official. It may just have been Jeph referring to it as Season 8 because that's how everyone is talking about it, and I'm thinking the mini's might just get individual titles.

[ edited by Telltale on 2006-11-12 02:36 ]

Niels | November 12, 04:33 CET

He also worked on the authority for a little bit. And he was on the book where quitely debuted. Simon is a pretty big comic book nerd if he's throwing props to robbie morrison.

theyarescientists | November 12, 04:35 CET

Or Geoff Johns. Geoff Johns could be pretty awesome on a Buffy book, too.

Niels | November 12, 04:39 CET

Geoff Johns writes an incredible team book so seeing him work on the Scoobies would be very interesting. His run on the Avengers was superb.

Kaine | November 12, 04:51 CET

I know Robbie Morrison best as the man who ruined The Authority. Good times.

While Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis are my all-time favourite comic writers (along with BKV and, of course, Joss) I wouldn't recommend either for the Buffy comic. I do however agree that it would be awesome if BKV wrote an arc and if the rest were all Buffy writers.

Senor Pants | November 12, 04:55 CET

Warren Ellis might be a little too, well, intense for Buffy but he would be an excellent choice to write a canon continuation to Angel, should that ever happen. I'd love to see what he would do with Spike and Illyria.

Kaine | November 12, 04:59 CET

Does Joss have the relationship with Geoff Johns? It seems more likely that the guys he will be getting for the buffy comic will be marvel guys.

theyarescientists | November 12, 05:10 CET

Posted by Saje:
Um, any chance we can inviso-text spoilers in a non-spoiler thread please The First Weevil ? Cheers ;).

('Dark Victory' may be quite old but not everyone's read it yet)

Apologies. My bad.

I'm going to put my money on Loeb, Jane Espenson, Brian K. Vaughn, Drew Goddard, Ben Edlund and/or Doug Petrie. Usually I'd say Brett Matthews, but he should be busy on the Firefly comic. :p

The First Weevil | November 12, 05:33 CET

It seems more likely that the guys he will be getting for the buffy comic will be marvel guys.

Didn't he get a couple of DC artists to do the variant covers for the Serenity comic book mini-series?

Simon | November 12, 05:37 CET

I'm not really sure what I think of Brett Matthews--the Serenity comic was mediocre, and "Heart of Gold" was...good, but I think I've read that there were a lot of last minute rewrites (i.e. probably by Joss), and there is some choppiness left on screen. I sort of hope he stays away from the Buffy comics, though I'd be glad if he could surprise me, in a positive way.

As far as which ME writers will work on this, I'm going to go with the people who have contributed to previous Buffy and Angel comics. So Jane Espenson, Doug Petrie, Drew Goddard, Ben Edlund, David Fury and Rebecca Rand Kirshner. I'd love to read a story by any of the above--well, RRK has probably the weakest track record of the above, but she gave us "Tabula Rasa" and I love her for that.

I wonder if someone could convince Tim Minear? You gotta figure there's some part of him that's dying to write a Buffy story, having missed his chance while it was on the air.... Also there's always Stevie DeKnight, who was originally hired for the animated series.

WilliamTheB | November 12, 06:32 CET

Ooh, that'd be cool if Minear wrote some of it. Maybe James Gunn would be an interesting choice as well, since he and Joss did write that pilot together and he does like humor/horror genre that buffy sort of fills. Plus his brother and wife are awesome.

theyarescientists | November 12, 07:37 CET

I would love to see Peter David write one. My dream cover artist would be Alex Ross

Donna Troy | November 12, 08:21 CET

Didn't he get a couple of DC artists to do the variant covers for the Serenity comic book mini-series?

Only J.G. Jones and Josh Middleton--and I don't believe J.G. was exclusive to DC at the time, and Josh also worked on the movie as a designer, so he has an excuse.

Niels | November 12, 13:48 CET

I just KNOW that BKV is going to write an arc. I would be shocked if he isn't.

daylight | November 12, 19:23 CET

About Loeb writing more than Superman/Batman...I wasn't big on Hush or The Long Halloween either. They seemed like thin plots designed to include every Batman villain ever. :'(

Don't like Heroes either.

But I remain optimistic.

UnpluggedCrazy | November 12, 21:33 CET

November 11 2006