Exclusive Interview: Whedonverse Artiste Georges Jeanty at SDCC 2014

Buffyfest was able to get a few minutes at the convention to talk with former Buffy artist Georges Jeanty about his recent work on the Serenity: Leaves on the Wind series for Dark Horse. The interview was great but unfortunately due to technical issues with our video recording, the audio of conversation has become badly corrupted; so a transcription of the interview is being made available instead. Sad face! Then again, some people prefer to read over video, so enjoy!

Thanks Georges for primping my hair before the interview began!

Buffyfest: Hi this is Tara with Buffyfest at San Diego Comic Con Day 2. I'm here with the very charming Georges Jeanty artist from Buffy, Serenity…long time with Dark Horse.

Georges Jeanty: Yes Ma'am.

Buffyfest: How are you?

GJ: I'm good!

Buffyfest: Now that Leaves on the Wind is done, what was your favorite part about that project?

GJ: Uh, the ending! Haha. The fact that it's over. Haha. I loved it, but man was it hard. It was something that was hard to do. I loved working with Zack Whedon. And… all of the characters. I loved Buffy for 6 years. I would never say no, but it was nice and refreshing to do something a little different - but still sticking with the Whedonverse because that style of writing is great, great storytelling. So, I had a blast.

Buffyest: Was it difficult going from these real life settings with grotesque monster faces on Buffy to nothing but humans in crazy Sci Fi environments [on Serenity]?

GJ: It was, and it was even more arduous because there were 7 characters you could argue the ship is the 9th or 8th character in this case. So it was, man I had references for everybody and every time I had to draw someone... God forbid they were all in the same room together I had to get references just for the little faces. So that's what was hard, that's what took a while. But it was great to do because everything was there. So it was almost like cooking this incredible stew and you had all the ingredients and it was just up to you to make sure they all came together well.

Buffyfest: And that leads nicely into this question: was it difficult to balance the visual dichotomy between Serenity’s tight, confined spaces and these huge open expanses with just a spaceship and maybe a rock in it?

GJ: Good use of the word dichotomy, and yes, you are right! I really tried, because of course when it comes to the show there is a sense of claustrophobia on the ship. It's not a fancy ship and it’s not a luxury ship. It’s a… it’s a “boat” they call it because it’s something that’s very functional but not luxurious. And you right, when they’re out in space I had freedom over pretty much what I wanted, as much space as I needed and how I wanted to go about that was totally up to me. So I was very conscious of the dichotomy and I really tried to space it so the interiors had the claustrophobic feel and then give the exteriors this very broad landscape.

Buffyfest: Now, between the Buffy books and Serenity, who is your favorite character to draw?

GJ: ....Aww, that's like picking your favorite kid.

Buffyfest: Your babies.

GJ: No, I can’t do that. Well… I loved Buffy. Buffy was great because… she’s the girl I came with to the dance. And, um… I will say Mal. Because he’s the one I had to draw the most, I felt the most comfortable with him. They were all great, but I’d go with the main characters of the shows.

Buffyfest: Now, how are things with Future’s End?

GJ: Future's End is good! That’s the new DC book that’s coming out now that I’m doing a few issues of. But I’m actually going from Future’s End to now I’m going to be the regular artist on Batwoman.

Buffyfest: Ooh, nice.

GJ: In another few months, that should be coming out. And, strangely enough, there’s going to be vampires. Wonder how that happened.

Buffyfest: I’m sure it’s a coincidence?

GJ: No, strangely enough I think they were thinking of me. Because they’re going, “Wait a minute, we’ve got Batwoman and vampires, who do we need? We need that Buffy guy!”

Buffyfest: So, when are you going to come back and do more Whedonverse?

GJ: ....Well, I'm still talking to the editor and I would never want to go too far away from Buffy, and we’re talking about a project later on that would be perfect for me to come back.

Buffyfest: We’ll love to have you back.

GJ: I’ll love it totally to be back.

Buffyfest: Thank you SO much for talking to us.

GJ: ....Anytime and I love the pancakes! (Editor’s note- The interviewer was wearing a stack of pancakes on her head.)

Buffyfest: Thank you so much!

"Whedonversity" Panel from NYCC 2013

Here is Dark Horse's Whedonverse Panel from Day 1 of NYCC in Full. The title was:
Whedonversity: A Look at the Future of Buffy and Serenity in Comics! Dark Horse Comics panel at New York Comic Con on Friday, October 11th, 2013.

Apologies for some video flaws in this, there was a Cosmic-Suit Spiderman bumping the tripod (not his fault).

Big Scott Allie Interview - NYCC 2013

If you're in New York, we hope you're having a ball at New York Comic Con 2013 which is currently underway. Today is the Dark Horse panel where they'll be covering a lot of Buffy Season 10 and news about the new Serenity series. But if you're in a land far, far away do not fret - we gotcha covered. Editor in Chief Scott Allie sat down with us to talk all things Whedonverse and then some! Look closely too because there are some new images in there. Enjoy!

Exclusive Interview with Scott Allie on the Next Adventure in the Serenity Universe (Spoilers)

Like it wasn't awesome enough to have Buffy Season 8 to look forward to, Dark Horse recently announced new Serenity comics for two of our beloved characters, Wash and Book. Scott Allie was nice enough to give us a little more insight into the new stories about to be told in the 'verse.

Buffyfest: Talk a little bit about your working relationship with Patton and Patric on the Wash one-shot. How is your input as an editor different on Serenity: Float Out as opposed to the Buffy Season Eight comics and the previous Firefly books?

Scott Allie: Well, like other projects, Joss came to me with the writer, and the first time I saw the script, Joss had already edited it. Normally, if Joss brings in a writer who hasn't done comics before, he gives them the full tutorial on writing comics. I gave Patton a little help getting his script ready to draw. Patton saw everything as the art was coming in, he asked for some very specific things as it was being laid out and drawn—there's a bit at the end, the big payoff, that he watched real closely, was very specific about. But I was more hands on with the art direction, even more so on this than on Buffy.

Buffyfest: Can you give a little more detail on your influence with the art direction on Float Out since you're more involved in this instance? Do you like working closely with the artist of the book your editing?

Scott Allie: Yeah, I love working closely with the artists and writers. That's the fun part of the job, certainly. And with this, with Patric, I just went over his layouts real closely, talked him through a lot of it. I forgot—he does this great thing. Most artists will turn in layouts sort of reluctantly, and I try to give as little feedback as I think we can get away with. With Patric, not only is he really open to input, but he tends to turn in TWO options for layouts for each page. That's really unusual. He'll work the whole page out twice, and then we pick, me or the writer or whomever, which version to go with. That certainly opens up the dialogue in a unique way.

Buffyfest: Tell us about Patric Reynolds and why you chose him to draw Serenity: Float Out?

Scott Allie: Duncan Fegredo, the artist who draws Hellboy for me now, sent me Patric's samples, and I hired him for a short Hellboy-related story. Then we did a couple other little things, and I loved his work, and loved working with him. So when suddenly I had Patton's script, and no on lined up to draw it, I weighed a bunch of options, and considered when I was planning on getting the Shepherd Book graphic novel out. I realized that if I jumped on it with Patric I could get it out fairly soon, could cut in half the time between that moment and getting the Book GN out. I'd asked Joss and Patton if they had ideas about how they wanted the book to look, and they left it up to me—whereas on Season 8 Joss was very specific about how he wanted it to look. With the style left up to me, and with script in hand, I went for Patric. The Wash one shot sort of marks the beginning of phase two of the Serenity comics. I'm really happy with what Joss and Brett and Will did, but we're at a different place with these books now, we're in a different phase of our collaborations with Joss. I understand better what he's really about, and how that translates to comics. I'm real proud, obviously, of Season 8—but I want Serenity to stand out as something different from all the other stuff we're doing, what we've done. Patric and Chris, the Shepherd's Tale artist, are amazing storytellers who transcend mainstream comics' styles. In Georges, we found someone who brought tons of personality and character to a conventional superhero art style. Which is what Season 8 needed. Needs. Not over just yet ... Patric and Chris bring more of an illustrator approach, but with solid, traditional comics storytelling.

Buffyfest: Patton talked about the potential of a “new adventure” growing out of Float Out in his MTV interview. How do you feel about the idea of telling new stories in the Firefly universe with new characters at Dark Horse? Do you think there are stories that should be told outside of the crew of Serenity?

Scott Allie: I dunno. What I'm most interested in are new stories with the established Serenity cast, but if Patton wants to do more with Trey and the guys, I'm game. I guess those might not be the new characters he's talking about, but we haven't gotten into that.

Buffyfest: We know Joss and Zack Whedon are penning the latest Book story. Can you elaborate on Joss's specific involvement in the story for Float Out?

Scott Allie: Patton was on Dollhouse, and told Joss he wanted to write a Firefly comic, that he wanted to give Joss some pitches. He approached it in a real professional, fairly formal way. He gave Joss a few things to choose from, and Joss picked Float Out. Joss gave Pat a few story points, at least one thing that's real important to the Firefly world. Then Patton scripted it, and Joss gave him notes, specific changes, some rewritten lines. And the script was done. At that point it was This is pretty much how Season 8 works, too, except that usually it's Joss going to the writer, outlining some major points he needs them to hit, and then they pitch ... but from there it largely follows the same process.

Buffyfest: We’re getting Wash’s story told in flashbacks. Any chance we’ll be seeing a return of his now infamous porn stache from “Out of Gas”?

Scott Allie: It's not too late to add that.

Buffyfest: Can you tell us a little bit about these new characters from Float Out. What was their relationship to Wash in the past? Friends, lovers, fellow pilots?

Scott Allie: These are guys that Wash worked with in the past. Fellow pilots or people he otherwise worked with in that capacity. He had a career before Zoe and Serenity, and we hit a few high points from that time, with these guys who have recently heard he'd died, and want to memorialize him.

Buffyfest: Switching gears to the Book story for a moment, committing to creating a hard bound graphic novel shows a major commitment from a financial standpoint. What do you think makes this particular story in the Firefly Universe so compelling that, even all these years later, you can know people will come out in droves to buy it? What was the thought process behind putting out Book's story in a graphic novel format as opposed to a series of single issues?

Scott Allie: There's a bunch of reasons for this, including the great sales on the Those Left Behind hardcover we did. But the main reason is that the story Joss has outlined has a unique kind of momentum to it that would be disrupted by having to do breaks between issues. You'll see what I mean in a few months.

Buffyfest: Finally, are there any new Whedonverse/Dark Horse tidbits you'd like to share? Maybe something in the Dollhouse variety?

Scott Allie: Here's my horrible tease: there is news brewing that we are not ready to announce.