I recently had the chance to see Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon speak at the San Diego Comic-Con -- probably my fourth or fifth time seeing him do a panel there. Following are some of my recollections of his comments there:

The Joss panel was hysterical and heartwarming as his panels always are. As always he shares credit with his wonderful writing staffs and cast.

(POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Spike coming to Angel (no, he wouldn't tell us how -- though when someone asked if Spike was coming back as a ghost, he said he wouldn't say, then joked, 'no, he's coming back as a mummy! Hah! No one saw that coming!'). He said he was starting filming the first episode of the next season of Angel this coming week.

Yes, he'd still LOVE to do a Faith series, but he wishes Eliza well with "Tru Calling". When asked who his favorite character was in all of Buffy, he checked to see that none of his cast was in the room LOL and then said definitively: Willow. That got a huge roar of approval from the crowd!

The latest issue of Fray (his future-Slayer comic book) should be out in a few weeks. He dropped the hint that he'd like to do another series of Fray comics and was very open to continuing all of his Buffy-characters' stories in comics. He mentioned an upcoming work -- "Tales of the Vampires" as a follow-up to "Tales of the Slayers". He also said (when asked) he'd love to work with other classic comic book characters in the DC and Marvel universes. He (only semi-jokingly) said he'd always dreamed of making "Buffy vs. Batman"! When asked who his biggest writing influences/icons were, he cited Stan Lee and Charles Dickens.

He said Firefly DVDs are coming out with all eps in widescreen and full commentary on every episode. The Firefly movie is still a possibility to film this year!

On commentaries, there was a complaint that early Buffy DVDs didn't have any and Joss noted that when the first seasons were released, commentaries weren't as big of a deal and studios didn't see the need for them, but that he said with the last season or two of DVDs there should be more of them.

Another quick note on the Joss panel that I can't believe I almost forgot to mention because it's about how Spike is more evolved than Angel...

But it contains reference to seasons 6 & 7 of Buffy, so if you're not caught up, don't read the following.

Okay, so Joss was asked by a woman in the audience, how the audience was supposed to accept Spike or a Spike/Buffy relationship after the attempted rape in season 6. Joss said, after that scene, the writing staff felt very ambivalent about that relationship and they discussed its ramifications a LOT and that very ambivalence is what they wanted the audience to feel. Joss said they wanted to look at whether the action of rape made Spike automatically 'inhuman' or whether there was a chance that he could genuinely feel contrition for his actions, understand that they were wrong and truly repent those actions and spend the rest of his time dealing with the consequences of it and changing his behavior, evolving into a better person. Joss said that after the rape the writers absolutely did not want to suggest that a future romantic relationship between Buffy and Spike was possible or acceptable. Joss specifically cited that he found the "Luke & Laura" saga disgusting (on General Hospital, Luke originally raped Laura, then married her in what is considered one of the biggest soap opera romance ever) and that's NOT what the Buffy/Spike relationship was going to be. What the writers DID want to explore was the issue of trust. Could Spike's behavior prove that he's worthy of Buffy's trust again -- not her romantic love -- but could they get to a place of intimacy of trust.

Also on a related topic, someone asked why Spike didn't react as Angel did when he got a soul -- going all moony and freaked out for years. Joss said that when Angel was originally vamped, he went all out evil. Then a soul was forced upon him by the gypsies which basically completely threw him out of whack for decades. But any time his soul disappears, he's completely evil again. Spike on the other hand, Joss said, did not REALLY change that far from his original human personality when he was vamped. And of his own volition, out of remorse for his actions (the attack on Buffy), he voluntarily went looking for a soul because he knew he needed to become a better person, which and I'm quoting Joss here "means Spike was a much more evolved being than Angel".

Just wanted to share that.

Oh, and he also joked when asked if there was anything in Buffy he would have changed he said "Yeah, that whole female-empowerment thing -- I have no idea how that got in there!" He also said (when asked) he hoped Buffy like other iconic characters would grow beyond him and hoped that the show's legacy was (along with the "underrated Xena" -- his quote) to provide a different perspective of women's roles in the world and how much they truly could contribute.