You know... The greatest tragedy of Firefly isnt just that it was cancelled; it is that after that it was cancelled, most people who have watched it, who are not sci fi or western fans, whedon fans, or even tv series fans, LOVED IT. You get the impression that handled inteligently, it could have been a smash hit. Even my grandmother likes Serenity, and she hates movies from beyond 1970. Same with other Whedon stuff. When a lot of his work gets the change to be seen, its actually quite, quite popular. Dr. Horible was the same, and his Astonishing X-Men run had people droling.
Some hate it, of course, but it is surprising to me how many people from what you could call the mainstream are on the same wavelenght with him, mostly, curiously, not genre fans.
And now this.
For all the "he is a cult creator" vibe that seems to emanate from him, the guy actually has far more mainstream acceptance posibilities for much of his work (not all, mind you) than he is given credit for.
Makes me think on the whys and perhapses of the true "niche" nature of those who are put on that wagon... Are they all really just understood or liked by few or are we talking of not giving oportunities?
Is he really the geek director for geeks when so many people who dont know even what a geek is tend to get in love with his work the minute they give it a chance?
Whedon is one case (not the only one) where our need to label a creator is not doing him or us any favours.
Sorry for the rant. Just popped into my mind.