By Jevon Phillips and Todd Martens, Times Staff Writers

He's completely cool with male vampires, but Joss Whedon has long been a writer who crafts strong female leads. No slouch herself in the strong character department, Eliza Dushku, who played Faith in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Echo in "Dollhouse," dubbed Whedon the "ultimate feminist male writer."

We asked Whedon to quickly rundown some his favorite female creations. Check out the top five women of Whedon, and some honorable mentions that we threw in ourselves.