While the hardcore Whedonettes get themselves all in a tizzy about the news that Dark Horse will be publishing new Angel comics beginning late 2011, suggesting an end to IDW Publishing’s control of the franchise, another part of Buffy comics editor Scott Allie’s text tease caught my eye: The mention of Dollhouse comics at some point in the future, written by the show’s Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen.
I’ll admit it: Dollhouse is, for me, the odd-one-out of Joss Whedon projects, the series that never not only never quite came together, but actively seemed to self-destruct at points with weak scripts, ridiculous plots, disjointed characterization even for the non-“Doll” characters and, worst of all, a premise that seemed trapped between the glossy vapid “sexy” demands of the network and the confused, but more intentionally disturbing, intentions of its creator. Unlike others, I wasn’t bowled over by the show’s rushed wrap-up, nor “Epitaph” epilogues, but I’m curious about the possibility of what a comic incarnation could bring. Don’t get me wrong; I think that a Dollhouse that lacks watching actors take on new identities, mannerisms and personalities – or, in Eliza Dushku’s case, just identities – will lack some of the appeal of the original version, but if it’s a Dollhouse that’s closer to the apparently darker, more creepy take that Whedon originally came up with, it could end up being very interesting indeed. Assuming, of course, that Fox really was behind so many of the show’s schizophrenic tonal problems in the first place…
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