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The last time I did a Stars For Dinner entry (a.k.a. "the only time"), I met the very man 17 days later. This has to happen a second time for it to be considered a pattern, so I might as well go all out and meet the man who set me on the course I am on today, and I don't mean a pudgy/pasty/balding course (then again....).Without Joss Whedon, I would not be working in television.
My attention throughout elementary and middle school was focused entirely on comics. I don't regret this; the obsession provided me with hours of entertainment, a self-created universe of friends, and glimpses at popularity when other kids would notice that I was drawing a static-electricity powered monkey wearing head gear getting electrocuted by a teenage girl wearing a smiley face ringer tee and cut-off denim shorts (everyone misses 1996, right?). However, I never had the attention span to grasp anatomy, depth, or the fact that a couple of stray lines does not a cityscape make. I was in love with comics, but not really certain if I could pursue them as a career.
Then I saw Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it clicked. Comic book style storytelling on television, full of call backs, continuity, recurring characters, big time change, the works. I became obsessed with the show and that pretty much sealed the deal. Television, the box that introduced me to the life-changing Muppet Babies, was my true calling. I don't know why it never occurred to me.
Other factors have come into play, definitely, but Buffy in 8th grade was what started it all. And Joss Whedon is responsible for that. Sharp characterization, unwillingness to trap himself within one genre, the man was and is an inspiration. After Buffy, he created Angel and Firefly, two shows that are very Whedon yet completely their own shows. Angel, a dark noir drama set in the alleys of LA, became the funniest show on television for a brief time. Firefly is good too, but I think there are bigger fans of it out there. They're called brown coats. Or something.
Recently, Joss has entered the world of comics. He writes three a month (Astonishing X-Men, Runaways, and the Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season Eight) and is now making me wonder why I gave up on my comic dreams. His spot on characterization of every character on all three of those books makes me cry the tears of nerd joy with every reading (don't even get me started on Kitty Pryde's speech to Emma Frost in Astonishing #2) and inspires me to aspire to take the reigns of one of my favorite Marvel books in the hopes of doing it as much justice as Joss does his.
It's a nerd stereotype, to be true. The man has a t-shirt and slogan after him that denounces Star Wars, for Kenobi's sake. But I can't help it. He's never lead me wrong, he's never let me down, and I know we could talk for hours about the X-Men. I mean, the first page of his first issue references Uncanny X-Men #168, one of my top five issues of all time. From there, who knows where the conversation could lead. Childhood superhero creations? Favorite candy bars? Tragic school stories, most of them involving Field Day?
Joss, let's do lunch.
