WonderCon
2005: News of the Whedon
Fans
attending WonderCon got what they'd hoped for today, as
Joss Whedon brought a few cast members from the upcoming
film Serenity for a panel. We'll write a fuller report on
that later, due to time constraints now.
One
thing that can't wait, however, is that before starting
talk about his television and film career, Whedon called
up another very important collaborator: artist John Cassaday.
After
mugging toward each other in mock intimidation, they announced
what comics fans in particular had hoped would happen. They've
signed on for 13 more issues of Astonishing X-Men.
Issue
#8 was just released last week, so we have four more before
the two take what Whedon calls "...a brief respite."
Neither man would make that time period exactly clear, but
promised that they would produce another twelve issues of
the regular title before wrapping it all up with their very
own Giant-Sized X-Men #1, this one of course being
Giant-Sized Astonishing X-Men.
Does
this mean that someone else will step in and provide a filler
arc, or does the title live or die by the participation
of Whedon and Cassaday? Expect some sort of press release
from Marvel on Tuesday.
In addition,
and this also had the room buzzing, Dark Horse Comics will
produce a three-issue mini-series to serve as a bridge between
the television series Firefly and its big-screen
adventure, Serenity. Working from a story co-developed
by Whedon, Bret Matthews will pen the comic.
Each
issue will have three variant covers done by some of the
biggest names in comics, so that each individual cast member
will have a cover spotlight. Whedon played coy about all
but one: the first cover will be a John Cassaday portrayal
of Nathan Fillion as Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Of the others,
Whedon would only gloat at having abused his clout in the
industry. "No one said no," he chortled.
Then
he brought his cast members up...but that's a story for
later.
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