Ripping Good Yarns: Marvel Joins the Whedonverse

The amazing cast of Agents of Shield!  From left to right, Brett Dalton as Agent Grant Ward, Ming-Ne Wen as Agent Melinda May, Clark Gregg as Agent Phil Coulson, Chole Bennet as Skye, Ian De Casetecker as Leo Fitz, and Elizabeth Henstridge as Jemma Simmons.

I ain't gonna kid you.

The best television creator is Joss Whedon.  Period.  Buffy, Firefly, Angel, Doll House - the list goes on and on.  Not to mention his work on the Avengers, helping it become the third highest grossing movie of all time.

And now he is bringing the Marvel world of characters to television.  The Agents of Shield has been a great show so far, with it's great strength lying in  it's well drawn and vibrant characters.  Ably led by Clark Gregg as Agent Coulson, every episode is bringing the cast into sharper focus.  Whedon is particularly adept at creating incredibly strong and incredible women, women that defy stereotypes.  Ming-Na Wen is the most physically strong member of the group, playing Agent Melinda May, and with an understated quietness to her character. Even with that reserve, each episode is revealing more and more about her. Chole Bennet is fabulous as the junior computer whiz who has hacked her way onto the unit - she is a beautiful actress and has a Buffy level awesomeness to her character.

Each and every character is sharply defined and getting more interesting each episode. One of the key ingredients to a successful fantastical story is to inhabit it with very real characters.  And like Stephen King in the book world, Joss Whedon is an absolute master at this in television and movies.

The ratings for this Marvel-lous series have been good but not spectacular.  They have been far superior to any other  Whedon show (his fans are very dedicated, but not as many as for some of the lowest common denominator shows).  If had any recommendation for the show, it would be to go bigger in including them in the Marvel Universe.  This isn't Smallville - don't be afraid of capes.  The most recent episode involved two Asgardians, Sif and Lorelia (a version of the Enchantress), and the ratings were improved significantly from other recent episodes.

Of course, the improved ratings could also be due to NCIS being a repeat.  Sigh.  Yes, I have a lot of Rippers who follow this show.  But many of you may have the ability to record programs, and/or stream them.  Please do so!  I think it if you give it a few episodes, you too will start to fall for the characters, and become happy members of the Whedonverse.

And the more of you that join in, the better case we can make to bring back the crown jewel of the Whedonverse...........Firefly!

Long live the Browncoats!