New Melbourne Browncoats, Inc.

If you missed out on scoring a free Serenity comic on Free Comic Book Day, then don’t fret. You can now read the Serenity story for free at Dark Horse Comics. Just create an account (that’s free too!) and enjoy! The story, titled “It’s never easy”, takes place after the events in “Serenity” (the film). You can also read the free Buffy/Guild comic featuring “In space, no one can hear you slay” (Buffy) and “Beach’d” (The Guild).

With The Avengers set to pass the $1bn mark at the global box office this weekend in just its third week, it’s perhaps safe to say that 2012 is a very good year to be Joss Whedon.

Following a very successful US opening weekend of The Avengers, Joss has posted a wonderful message on Whedonesque to all his fans, and it makes for a fine read. So click this link and take in his wonderful purple prose.

For those who just want the highlights (you really MUST read the full post… it’s packed to the brim with witty Jossy goodness), here you go.

Dear Friends,

Well, it’s been quite a weekend. Someday, long from now, I will even have an emotional reaction to it, like a person would. I can’t wait! But before I become blinded by this “emotion” experience, there’s a few things I’d like to say. Well, type.
…
What doesn’t change is anything that matters. What doesn’t change is that I’ve had the smartest, most loyal, most passionate, most articulate group of — I’m not even gonna say fans. I’m going with “peeps” — that any cult oddity such as my bad self could have dreamt of. When almost no one was watching, when people probably should have STOPPED watching, I’ve had three constants: my family and friends, my collaborators (often the same), and y’all. A lot of stories have come out about my “dark years”, and how I’m “unrecognized”… I love these stories, because they make me seem super-important, but I have never felt the darkness (and I’m ALL about my darkness) that they described. Because I have so much. I have people, in my life, on this site, in places I’ve yet to discover, that always made me feel the truth of success: an artist and an audience communicating. Communicating to the point of collaborating. I’ve thought, “maybe I’m over; maybe I’ve said my piece”. But never with fear. Never with rancor. Because of y’all. Because you knew me when. If you think topping a box office record compares with someone telling you your work helped them through a rough time, you’re probably new here. (For the record, and despite my inhuman distance from the joy-joy of it: topping a box office record is super-dope. I’m an alien, not a robot.) So this is me, saying thank you. All of you. You’ve taken as much guff for loving my work as I have for over-writing it, and you deserve, in this our time of streaming into the main, to crow. To glow. To crow and go “I told you so”, to those Joe Blows not in the know. (LAST time I hire Dr. Seuss to punch my posts up. Yeesh!) Point being, you deserve some honor, AND you deserves some FAQs answered.

FAQs include “What does this mean for your upcoming slate of tiny independent films/Internet shenanigans? Will they fall by the wayside? And TV?” and “What’s next for Joss “finally got it right for a change” Whedon?”

Read the full post on Whedonesque.

Image courtesy of Kotaku.com