hippy fascist said:
Dread, if you're worried about the team dynamic issue check out firefly. It's the purest ensemble work he's ever done. Yes river and mal kinda dominated in the film but go back the show(which is probably a better approximation for a monthly ongoing and I think all your fears may just disipate.
Also part of the reason I'm so happy about this is that whedon has always been about humour mixed with darkness. Which is kinda what runaways is if you think about it...
Also he's not afraid to let a villain dominate an episode as Jubal Early (and interestingly enough T'Jai since he was a stunt double for that episode) will be able to illustrate
I never watched FIREFLY either (and apparently I wasn't the only one as it got canned after less than a season) or the movie. I've heard good things but just never was interested. You can only watch so many "people on a ship in space" things before they all gell. I was never a huge fan of that genre either, aside for STAR WARS. The fact that my mother is an avid Trekkie likely helped. So I'll have to take your word for it.
And I agree, Whedon will probably be able to match the dark humor of RUNAWAYS. The dialogue is never a problem. When Whedon was mentioned a week ago on Runaways when we were brainstorming, I said that he could be a decent fit on the book. I mean, Bendis, JMS, and Millar are probably bigger writers right now than Whedon and I'd be pulling out hair if they were attached to Runaways. If Whedon doesn't fall into his ASTONISHING pitfalls he could be solid. He simply has to PROVE IT to me like everyone else. I'm not going to assume he's gold on the title until he writes it. And I'll admit he's horribly overrated, even on message boards. At least Bendy and Millar earn equal flogging around here.
Plus, any writer who was going to come in after 40+ issues of BKV's creating the title was going to have a hard time with "legitimacy". It's a given.
Not Jake said:
Dude, Buffy and Angel had huge heart, that's why they're so good
I admitted that I was neither a fan of either series and that I hadn't watched too many episodes. I could be wrong. Maybe they're the second coming if only I sat down and watched the entire runs of both like the fans have. I just haven't been interested to.
I bet you didn't like Arrested Development because of this too
Ah, AD, the sitcom that anyone who wants to pretend they're "sophisticated" seems to enjoy. That said, count me in 'cause I caught one episode and I actually found it quite hilarious. I can't hear the line,
"My name is Judge" without snickering to myself. I just rarely was home to catch it. I probably would have liked it.
You have to understand, those shows aren't your typical stand-alone episode sitcoms, they are rich tales, and skipping episodes is like skipping chapters of a book. I'm not saying one way or the other is better (Seinfeld was 95% stand-alone episodes, and it was great) but you're coming off as pretty narrow-minded in your television tastes.
There is a difference between "build-up" and "stretching a plot thin to kill time". Different shows do it differently. TMNT, for instance, devoted a lot of time to storyarcs, build-up, and subplot development, but enough happened in each individual episode, even 2-5 parters, that they never felt wasted. The 90's Spider-Man and JLU at times did this. Stand-alone shows can be good or bad too. I'm just saying that some shows and writers stretch out a plot way too far.
One example of this is NARUTO, a show I've watched a healthy amount of via a pal's DL's (like over 150 episodes worth). When 5 episodes fly by and nothing substantial that couldn't have been achieved in 10 minutes happens, I get bored and just wish the show'd get to the point. DRAGON BALL Z is probably more notorious for this, only it was heavy on action than plot. NARUTO will spend countless episodes repeating the same flashbacks over and over again until sometimes I'm just screaming, "I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE VILLIAN'S PAST ANYMORE! JUST GET ON WITH IT!" Bendis and Whedon both do this, both writing stories that could have cropped off an issue with some editting and nothing would have been lost to the story. This last ASTONISHING arc is dragging something terrible. Not even JUSTICE drags that poorly. Stuff actually happens so you don't feel like an issue or episode is just tredding water until some inevitable climax.
Just as not every stand-alone series is the best, not every "arc" series does it well.
FYI, some novellists also have this problem. The variations on which do and which don't are what help distinguish good and bad ones to me. Gasp.