X-Men not written by Joss? by chronicthehedgehog

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

X-Men not written by Joss?

POSTED BY: CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG
UPDATED: Saturday, June 4, 2005 12:22
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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 3:09 AM

Quote:

There are rumors circulating that a certain writer of a top selling X-Men title has had trouble meeting his deadlines due to other commitments, and that recent issues have in fact been “ghost written” by another Marvel regular writer.

Sources claim that this is why the recent issues have not been received as well by fandom and critics at large when compared to the previous ones.

I’ve received this tidbit from two separate sources, but I still hesitate to name names, to avoid causing undue scandal. I’m awaiting further confirmation on this rumor. Let the speculation commence...

This Has A “All New All Different” Factor Of Six Out Of Ten

Well, isn’t this intriguing? Joss certainly has other commitments (I.e Serenity), but surely he can turn in scripts on time, right?

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 3:22 AM

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Yeah, I'm really hoping it's not true, but until I see confirmation from something other than a rumor site, I'm going to trust in Joss not to decieve us by selling something as 'written by Joss Whedon' when it isn't.

Although I do have to agree that the more recent issues haven't been up to his first batch, it reminds me more about when a good writer has a somewhat lame idea and tries to make it work.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 3:32 AM

CHRONICTHEHEDGEHOG

I thought the premise for the latest run was great, X-Men vs the danger room could have (and should have) been done brilliantly unfortunatly I'm just not seeing it at the moment. Hopefully issue #11 will be better. Also, hopefully Emma Frost will stop talking like Spike. What's the deal with that??

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 5:24 AM

GROUNDED

I'd be surprised if Joss put his name to something he didn't write, especially since he didn't put his name to many episodes of Buffy that he did work on.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 5:38 AM

JASONZZZ

Yeah, I don't know if the rumour is true or not, but stuff like that happens all of the time. When you get to a certain particular level of writing or filmmaking, you get so many assistants and apprentices that you are directing and managing the workflow most of the time anyways. They are like "Executives" at the CEO level. Yeah, you still write some, but other people help to fix things here and there, you might jot down ideas and people help flesh it out. The assistants learn the writer's style and pen it out as is. Sometimes you can't tell the difference, sometimes you get crap. It doesn't mean the guy/gal has jumped the shark, but it's expected for some. A good example is that "Net Force" cr*p that has Clancy's names on them. You might ask yourselves, how is it possible for a guy to churn out 8 novels in one year?

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 6:32 AM

MAUGWAI

Don't forget, there are other X-Men titles. This may not even be about Joss. But I seriously doubt that a man who has so much experience in television, with its enormously fast pace, would fail to turn things in on time. Remember he and Tim Minear pulled together "The Train Job" over a weekend.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 6:39 AM

CAPTBAGGYTROUSERS

Who the hell knows, but I will say that in comics there is neither prestige nor much money, especially compared to television and film work. If he indeed has a ghost writer -which I doubt- it's someone who's probably making next to nothing for work that will never be recognized. I'm sure you could find such a person, but it'd be pretty thankless work.

History repeats the old conceits

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 7:38 AM

HJERMSTED

I could see Chris Claremont needing ghost writers... he only writes a half dozen X-Men comics a month.

But Joss? The man's a work-aholic with only two main projects going. Yes, I know one's a major motion picture... but the other is a sparsely (but deftly) scripted 20 page comic book for crying out loud! Joss is probably writing the stories faster than John Cassady can draw them.

Besides, we all know that Joss is capable of writing a comic book script with one hand while typing up the Wonder Woman screenplay with the other.

He is Uber Joss! Never doubt that.

mattro

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 10:56 AM

XLII

I suspect the report is bogus, mostly because the writers Marvel uses to fill in tend to suck. really hard. The latest story arc, while not quite as good as the first, has some really neat ideas at the heart of it. Also, mr. whedon is taking a few months off after issue 12, which they probably wouldn't do if he wasn't writing the title in the first place.
-xlii

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 11:31 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by xlii:
I suspect the report is bogus, mostly because the writers Marvel uses to fill in tend to suck. really hard. The latest story arc, while not quite as good as the first, has some really neat ideas at the heart of it. Also, mr. whedon is taking a few months off after issue 12, which they probably wouldn't do if he wasn't writing the title in the first place.
-xlii

I seriously doubt its true -

1) Spiderman/Black Cat
2) Daredevil:Father
3) The Ultimates

and so on and so forth - Marvel seem to re-solicit or be late. Yes, the X-Men titles are flagship monthly titles, but they could let one slip a little if needs be with no real effect.

"I threw up on your bed"

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 11:54 AM

STARPILOTGRAINGER

Quote:
Originally posted by maugwai:
Don't forget, there are other X-Men titles. This may not even be about Joss. But I seriously doubt that a man who has so much experience in television, with its enormously fast pace, would fail to turn things in on time. Remember he and Tim Minear pulled together "The Train Job" over a weekend.

Whether the rumor is true or not, I think it's pretty clear the rumor has to be about Joss.

The other X-Men titles:

X-Men - The current arc is the writer (Peter Milligan)'s first arc on the title, so there'd be no problems with it being late... it is not being favorably compared to some of his previous work, but all indications are that he's great when he's allowed to go wild, but when he has to work on a company owned book he's not all that good.

Uncanny X-Men is written by Claremont, who only writes one other book (Excalibur), and his quality's been more or less stable these last few years - of course, depending on who you ask you'll get widely varying opinions about what that quality is... I'm thinking the majority opinion is that a ghost writer would only _improve_ it. Still, Claremont is fairly active in the fan community, talking about the stories after the fact on message boards and why he made certain choices he did. Not likely.

New X-Men Academy X: The writing team (Nunzio deFilippis and Christina Weir) is only writing that book and a spinoff miniseries, quality's been fairly consistent, and they are also fairly active in the fan community online.

Really, the only candidate the rumor can be about is Joss. I still don't believe it's true, for the reasons others mentioned.

Star Pilot Grainger
"Remember, the enemy's gate is down."
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Unreachable Star: http://www.unreachablestar.net - Comics & SF News/Reviews/Opinions

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 1:20 PM

SPOOKYJESUS

My 3 reason's why Joss wrote the comic.

1. Astonishing X-men is a limited series of twelve issues, it's not an ongoing title. This means that the majority of the scripts where probably in the bag before issue one went to press.

2. The current story is loosing people because they think it's silly that the danger room is attacking the X-men. What we really have is an existential sci-fi story about a room that can create any object or enviroment that decides to recreate itself. Very Joss.

3. It says "written by Joss Whedon" on the cover.

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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 3:14 PM

KRAD

I'm not saying the story is true or false, but the recent history of Hollywood folk who have written comics is fraught with blown deadlines. Even J. Michael Straczynski, who has been better than most, has farmed out some issues of Amazing Spider-Man to Fiona Avery (thus keeping the monthly schedule). And then, of course, we have the year between the third and fourth issues of the Jay and Silent Bob comic Kevin Smith wrote for Dark Horse, or the second issue of the Daredevil/Bullseye comic of Smith's that has yet to come out several thousand years after #1.

And hey, Astonishing X-Men has only had a passing familiarity with its theoretical monthly schedule......

Keith R.A. DeCandido
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Wednesday, June 1, 2005 3:34 PM

TRAVIS

And lets not forget Joss himself missed the FRAY deadline more then once.

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Thursday, June 2, 2005 3:29 AM

CYBERSNARK

Spectacularly so.

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Thursday, June 2, 2005 3:51 AM

SIMONWHO

"I like deadlines. I love the 'whooshing' noise they make as they rush past" - Douglas Adams.

And boy did Joss blow the deadline on Fray.

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Thursday, June 2, 2005 4:24 AM

JADEHAND

Actually, from the letters page in issue 10, Joss will be on through issue 24, not 12. sounds like an ongoing series to me. unless they just doubled the number of issues.

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Thursday, June 2, 2005 10:20 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by Spookyjesus:

1. Astonishing X-men is a limited series of twelve issues, it's not an ongoing title. This means that the majority of the scripts where probably in the bag before issue one went to press.

3. It says "written by Joss Whedon" on the cover.

Actually, its an ongoing AFAIK - Joss has a finite run on it, subject to extensions. And given the way that the industry works, chances are that only a few scripts were in the bag - but let's also remember that delays also happen at the art stages as well.

That said - your 3 is the only answer that needs re-stating.

"I threw up on your bed"

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Thursday, June 2, 2005 10:57 AM

SPOOKYJESUS

How come everyone has this idea that it's an ongoing series?

It was Twelve made of two six issue arcs.

There will be a break.

There will be another Twelve when Joss is available that will also be made of six issue arcs.

An ongoing series is something published each and every month (sans delays). This was always a fixed Twelve kind of deal. Joe Quesada even (prior to the announcement that Joss wanted to do more) that the series would probably wrap down at the end of Joss' run.

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Thursday, June 2, 2005 10:57 AM

BOBTAYLOR

Fudging some deadlines and occasionally having an apprentice help with a script (a la Fiona Avery) is just fine.

What is NOT fine is Marvel saying that ONLY Joss Whedon is writing "Astonishing" (as credited), when, in fact, someone else is partially or entirely penning certain issues behind the scenes.

That would be entirely unacceptable, and hopefully, it is not what's happened. I can't see Joss taking part in such a ruse, so my current guess is it's an unfounded rumor.

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Saturday, June 4, 2005 4:52 AM

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Quote:
Originally posted by Spookyjesus:
How come everyone has this idea that it's an ongoing series?

Well, its a monthly series which was intended to have Whedon and Cassady on for one year, now two - it may wrap if and when Whedon leaves, or may get a new team onboard. I'd say it qualifies as an ongoing series (as opposed to a maxi-series) - almost all monthlies are broken into arcs adding up to 6 issues for TPB purposes.

"I threw up on your bed"

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Saturday, June 4, 2005 12:22 PM

WHOISRIVER

Quote:

But Joss? The man's a work-aholic with only two main projects going. Yes, I know one's a major motion picture... but the other is a sparsely (but deftly) scripted 20 page comic book for crying out loud!

Erm. Hang on - do you know what j's schedule is now? Hmmm?

Do you really think he gets up and thinks "Hey, I've only got two projects going!".

You know all those media interviews he does? You know those Serenity comics? You know the Serenity novelisation he's approved for Keith for publication? You know all the post production meetings for Serenity with Lisa (the editor), the meetings with Loni (special effects).

You know overseeing the Serenity musical score? You know the meetings with Universal marketing? You know liasing with the producers for Universal? You know going to the screenings? You know going to cons? You know posting online to let us know what's going on?

You know the start meetings with Joel over Wonder Woman?

You know his wife? You know his 2 baby children?

You know his dentist? You know his doctor? You know his childrens doctor? You know his family? You know his friends?

The list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on.

He's fucking busy. Pardon my french.

But never mind, for crying out loud, he can't be busy.

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