A great deal of scholarship has focused on Joss Whedon's television and film work. But Whedon's work in the world of comics has largely been ignored. This collection of new essays focuses on Whedon's comics work and its tie-ins with his film and television productions, emphasizing his auteurism in crossing over from panel to screen to panel.

Table of Contents Preface Part One: Buffy Comics The Origin of a Superhero: Sacrifice, Choice and the Significance of Merrick in Buffy’s Journey (Joel Hawkes) Buffy Is in Bed with a Woman? Problematic and Perfect Gay and Lesbian Representation (Lisa Gomez) Separate Worlds or One? Canonicity, Medium and Authorship (David Kociemba and Mary Ellen Iatropoulos) Part Two: Angel and Spike Comics “Live in the Lie for a While”: Closure in Angel: After the Fall (Thomas Johnson) The Trouble with Spike: An Examination of William the Bloody’s Problematic Progression (Bryant Dillon) Part Three: Tales of the Slayers “So I wear pearls”: Exploring Gender in Tales of the Slayers (Traci J. Cohen) “There will be Others…Like me”: The Legacy of Otherness in Tales of the Slayers (Kristi Pope Key) Part Four: Firefly Do Serenity Comics Forecast Our Pedagogies of Identity Construction? (Thalia M. Mulvihill and Christina L. Blanch) Part Five: Dollhouse Mind-Body Dualism vs. Materialism: Personal Identity in Dollhouse: Epitaphs (S. Evan Kreider) Part Six: Dr. Horrible’s ­Sing-Along Blog Joss Whedon, Alan Moore and the Whole Horrible Future (Tracy S. Morris) Part Seven: Marvel’s Runaways Dancing in the Sky: The Value of Love in Runaways (Don Tresca) Part Eight: Marvel’s ­X-Men Embracing Goodness (and Colorful Costumes) Amid a World of Gray (Fernando Gabriel Pagnoni Berns and César Alfonso Marino) River Is Wolverine: Whedon Performs a ­Sex-Change (Melissa C. Johnson) Part Nine: Whedon’s Other Comics The Heroine’s Journey from Fray to Wonder Woman (Valerie Estelle Frankel) Comic-Con, Consumerism and Chaos: Reflecting the Fans in Last Angel in Hell, Stan Lee Meets the Amazing ­Spider-Man and Sugarshock! (Valerie Estelle Frankel) Part Ten: The Avengers, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Authorship Assembled: Joss Whedon as Promotional Auteur in Marvel’s The Avengers (Leora Hadas) Whedon’s Women and the Law: Parallels from Slayers to S.H.I.E.L.D. (Gail D. Rosen) A Guide to Buffyverse Comics Glossary Bibliography About the Contributors Index