Astonishing revelations: UnderGroundOnline talks with Joss Whedon about Astonishing X-Men and the Firefly movie:

"It's not like I ran home and said, 'Honey I'm going to be making those big comic book dollars.' If I did a comic, my first instinct would be to do something that I created because I have things to say. Most of the things I have done have been owned by 90 different people. A comic book is something you can't make your own, but the bottom line is that it's the X-Men. That was Joe's trump card. I love that team, I loved what Grant was doing with them, and I grew up with them as much as I can I say I've grown up. The idea that I was going to spend a year telling them what to say and do made me just about as happy as any geek has ever been. I did it for the happiness."

This part made me laugh, though, on a couple of levels:

UGO: "Are you going to pull a Ben Edlund and put out twelve issues in five years, or go at a faster pace like Kevin Smith?"

Whedon: [laughs] "Fray was in the Edlund/Smith mode of storytelling. I don't have a choice this time. I signed a contract to meet deadlines. I know how Marvel works and I take it seriously. I'm not running three shows, so to me this is my TV show this year. It's going to air, so I better get to making it."