The Future of Whedon

full name / name of organization: 
Valerie Frankel
contact email: 

Call for Papers: The Future of Whedon
We all know and love Buffy, Firefly, Avengers, and the other big Whedon projects. But what's on the horizon—giant Marvelverse movies and tie-in shows? What about the smaller, long-rumored projects like Doctor Horrible 2, Ripper, Wastelanders, The Serving Girl? Whedon just created Bellwether Studios to produce Much Ado About Nothing and In Your Eyes. Will he do more Shakespeares like Hamlet? Film his decades-old scripts like Afterlife? What of the beloved Wonder Woman?

This collection welcomes speculation on proposed projects like those above and analysis of the unmade movie scripts (Afterlife and Suspension are up on http://writetoreel.com and Wonder Woman has popped up in a few places like Scribd). There are many recent unexplored Whedon projects: his Equality Now skits on YouTube "Evil Robot," "Zombie," and "When I Speak." There's also the documentary Comic-Con Episode IV: A Fan's Hope and the Buffy Season Eight and Astonishing X-Men Motion Comics. The comic books themselves could use more analysis as Buffy, Angel, and Serenity continue.

Subtopics
While the collection will include analysis of recent projects, plenty for the big ones (Agents of SHIELD, Avengers, Much Ado, Cabin) have already been received. Likewise, no more analysis of old projects (Buffy, Firefly) is needed.

These areas could use more submissions: Any perspective (gender, race, literary, cultural, television or comics studies, etc.) is fine, including comparison to Whedon's older shows:

1. New Spinoffs (comic continuations, other Whedon comics, computer games, and fan videos): Looking for Buffy seasons 8-10, Serenity comics, Agents of SHIELD TV-tie in comics, Spike Into the Light, Spike comics, Angel and Faith, Angel: After the Fall, Sugarshock, Myspace Dark Horse Presents Buffy shorts, etc. Likewise, older movies and comics in a post 2010-context (X-Men 3 vs Whedon's X-Men Gifted), etc.) are welcome.
2. New Mediums (conferences, Browncoats, Serenity showings, web releases, Whedon's blog and posting boards, social media): No one (possibly ever) has written on his new movie In Your Eyes or his Equality Now skits and "Whedon on Romney" (all on YouTube) or his Comic-Con Documentary. These are all released with unusual mediums, a topic worthy of exploration. He also wrote and directed The R. Tam Sessions (now on Youtube) as a promo before Serenity. I might take one or two on Doctor Horrible or Commentary The Musical as new mediums and/or Whedon's relationship to other web shows like The Guild. Homages to Buffy or Firefly in recent television could fit here. Whedon also directed Glee and The Office, if anyone wants to analyze those.
3. The Future – what Whedon could/will/might/wants to do next. This includes unmade movie scripts Afterlife, Wonder Woman, Suspension, or others. Shows in preparation or rumored: Doctor Horrible 2, Avengers 3 or other Marvel, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, New Buffy movie or Spike movie, Firefly continuations, The Serving Girl, Goners, Wastelanders. (There are many interviews and leaked rumors about these available, and speculation is welcome.) Other speculative projects such as "What if Whedon had Written Agent Carter" are acceptable.

This is a friendly sounding (not academic) collection that will be published as an ebook for Whedon fans with short pieces to be written in the style of PopMatters, the publisher of this collection. (Samples are up at http://www.popmatters.com/item/buffy-the-vampire-slayer1/) Final essays 2000-3000 words, MLA format. Proposals with optional bio or cover letter should be sent to valerie @ calithwain.com, subject THE FUTURE OF WHEDON by Feb 9. Finished papers due Mar 12. (and I'll try to answer questions/comments below) Happy writing!