Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion: The TV Series, The Movies, The Comic Books and More is the latest essay compilation aiming to be the ultimate tribute to all of the fantastic stories in the Whedonverse. But does it succeed?

If you are a regular reader of Hypable, you might already know about my all-consuming, slightly obsessive love of Joss Whedon and all that he does. So getting the chance to review what can only be described as an Ode to the Joss was awesome, even after picking it up and realising that it weighs almost as much as A Dance With Dragons. When they say Complete Companion, they aren’t kidding around! Published by Titan Books and Pop Matters, the 485-page, 800-gram (that’s right, I weighed it) tome encompasses all of Joss Whedon’s works, from Buffy to The Avengers. It’s full of insightful essays exploring both textual themes and how fandom and society have responded to Joss’ shows, movies and comics.

I want to establish from the outset that there is a definite academic tone to this book, which is going to be hit or miss for a lot of people. I am aware that, as someone who studied Film and Television at university and wrote her dissertation on postmodernism in Supernatural (and not that it matters but I got top marks for it too!), I’m going to be more inclined to enjoy this book than the average fan. This is not your usual “companion guide” to any show or film (if that’s what you’re after, there are plenty of those out there for you), but I’m glad it’s not, because if I wanted a list of all the episode names or a collection of quotes, I’d go to Wikipedia. This book offers something which only a book can, and that’s why I like it: it’s a collection of highly enjoyable, well put together essays from dedicated fans. It’s like if someone summed up 10 years’ worth of posts from the Whedonesque message boards – which is great, because you get to skip the troll and spambot comments. And no pop-up ads!

From “The Ethics of Malcolm Reynolds” offering a deep exploration of the main character in Firefly, to a very academic essay exploring “Identity Formation in Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and again to what reads like a fanboy’s ode to Joss Whedon in “Six Reasons Why Joss Whedon Is the Perfect Director for The Avengers,” this book touches on every little detail of his career, and there’s sure to be essays in here for all types of fans who want to engage with the texts on a more profound level, or just want to revel in the wonder that is Joss Whedon (and, after all, isn’t that all any of us want to do with our lives?).

Particular essays that I enjoyed were “Failure of the Everyman,” which examines the often overlooked character of Xander, “The Dystopian Future in Joss Whedon’s Work” which points out something that should have been obvious to me (that all of Joss’ futures are bleak), and “How Buffy Changed Television” – because I believe that it did. And there are countless others; I found that especially the ones that compared the different stories worked really well.

Of course there are flops, too. The essays looking ahead to Cabin in the Woods and The Avengers are already dated and therefore a bit off-putting to read, considering that they are predicting marketing strategies and how the films will be received, but at least they provided some interesting background on how the projects came about.

Then there are the interviews, which I bet is what a lot of people will skip straight to (I don’t deny that after checking out “Touch Me and Die, Vermin!” I headed straight to the Jane Espenson interview). Actors Alexis Denisof (Wesley) and Harry Groener (Mayor Wilkins), as well as writers/producers Jane Espenson, Tim Minear and Brian Lynch all contributed to the collection, and had interesting behind-the-scenes information to share about Whedon and his works.

One criticism that I’ve heard about this book, of course, is that for a Complete Companion, there wasn’t enough insights like this. Getting talented writers and dedicated fans to pick apart and analyse characters, themes and episodes holds a great value (such as the analyses of the Buffy episode “Restless” and the various different takes on femininity in the Whedonverse), but considering that this book is marketed as having it all, doesn’t it seem odd that Joss himself didn’t even feature as an interviewee? This is not necessarily the fault of the editors; I’m sure they reached out to both Joss and a number of prominent actors from the series. But what this book could have been was a more in-depth look into the minds of the people who created these fantastic stories, not just the fans who enjoyed them.

But taking this book for what it is, which is a highly biased, celebratory collection of essays that in a lot of ways read like very personal stories of how the writers have connected to Whedon’s various works, this is an exceptionally good read for fellow fans.

You can purchase Joss Whedon: The Complete Companion at Titan Books.