Whoo hoo! I am on the ground at San Diego Comic-Con! I'm headed to Hall H to cover all the news that's fit to print about Joss Whedon and his work with Dark Horse Comics! Check this space at 4:45PM PDT to follow along!
[2:42PM PDT]: Made it inside. Joss Whedon has pulled in a hell of a crowd!
[4:47PM PDT]: It begins. Scott Allie introduces Joss Whedon for his first one man show for Hall H! Obviously the crowd goes wild! Thunderous applause and cheers!
[4:50PM PDT]: “I asked for the big room. I”m a little angry.” Whedon quips as soon as he gets on stage. “I”m a little terrified but you guys are foxy.”
[4:52PM PDT]: Whedon is grateful to Dark Horse for being so brave and talented for taking existing properties that already exists, being faithful but inventive. That”s a real tightrope act. “I feel like 5 years ago a tornado ripped through my house and dropped me in the land of Marvel,” says Whedon. And he knew that the worlds he cared about were in good hands.
[4:55PM PDT]: Now that Whedon is out of the Marvel world, he has the freedom to think about what”s next. Once Ultron was done, it was time to look and say “What else is there?” There are many things he can”t tell us yet, but new ideas and new formats are on the horizon.
HOWEVER, he wanted to put his hand to a comic book once more. Joss Whedon”s TWIST is a six-issue comic next year. It”s about the most important moral question of our day: “Why isn”t there a Victorian female Batman?”
[4:56PM PDT]: Joss Whedon”s motto: “Continue to earn what you already have.” Active gratitude.
[4:58PM PDT]: He says of Ultron that it is the most personal and surreal blockbuster. “Everyone is so perfectly pleased with how I handled Natasha,” he jokes, self-deprecatingly to huge audience laughter.
“Comic-con: The cure for Twitter,” Whedon says in response to the laughter.
[5:00PM PDT]: Q&A begins. The first question comes from a Woman of Color who is OVERWHELMED by talking to her idol, in near tears. About Zoe she says, “She made me believe we were still going to be out there, but that we would be strong and beautiful.” Not gonna lie, I teared up a bit.
[5:04PM PDT]: Next question is about Whedon”s favorite character is that he created. “My answer would change daily. But, I kind of feel how can say Buffy? She is the distilled essence of everything I am…not.”
[5:06PM PDT]: Question about if Whedon would bring a new cast back or original for “Firefly” in a perfect world. “We do not live in a perfect world. I know that because I do not have a flying car…and also my nose.” If he could he would put those nine people back on the ship and you wouldn”t need anyone else.
[5:09PM PDT]: Question about if the honeycomb pattern in “Cabin in the Woods” and the honeycomb pattern in “S.H.I.E.L.D.” are connected. “I think this is a thing that everyone can relate too, really. I love bees. I just want to put bees in my clothes and have ‘Bee Time.” No? Just me. Okay.”
[5:16PM PDT]: Question about life, the universe, and everything and how Whedon”s writing reflects that. Audience bursts into laughter. Whedon says, “You think I”m not going to, but I”m going to answer that. The world is a random and terrifying place and spoiler alert, we die. We”re designed uniquely to understand that…Oh I can quote myself! – ‘A thing isn”t beautiful because it lasts.”
Memory is storytelling. We learn to forget and we learn distort and from the very beginning we”re learning to tell a story about ourselves. It”s a narrative. We all come in here to celebrate the shared experience of storytelling – give us strength, distract us – it can do anything.
That is how we live peacefully and with each other. We understand our story and each other”s stories.”
[5:19PM PDT]: Question about getting more Latino characters in the Whedonverse: Joss says, “I”ve been knocked a few times about my work when it comes to race representation and my response is ‘Yeah good call.”” Whedon continues that his focus has always been gender but yes the landscape of America and the world is more diverse than he has focused on and going forward he is cognizant of being better about that.
[5:24PM PDT]: Question about the best thing to do after you finish a project. Start something else. That way you can withstand the vagaries of fate from the project you just let into the world. “That or beer. Or work DURING beer.”
[5:24PM PDT]: SPECIAL ANNOUCEMENT TIME!
[5:27PM PDT]: Joss Whedon is the latest artist to receive the Icon Award! A standing ovation from the audience. WHEDON WHEDON WHEDON chant starts up as Whedon gets emotional. Frank Miller, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and George Lucas are among previous recipients.
“This is the most beautiful murder weapon I've ever received. And just how beautifully the scratched out JJ Abrams' name is so sweet,” says Whedon. “I am really grateful. Thank you.”