Written by Zack Whedon
Art by Georges Jeanty
Captain Mal and the crew of the Serenity return after an extended absence and a heck of a finale in their feature film. After fighting a Reaver onslaught and exposing government criminal conspiracies, what’s next for our favorite band of galactic outlaws?
The Story
The story picks up eight months after the end of the film Serenity. The Alliance system of worlds is still dealing with the fallout from the revealing broadcast about the planet Miranda. Months later, everyone – the Alliance, news pundits, wannabe rebels – keep asking the same thing: Where are Malcolm Reynolds and his crew?
Writer Zack Whedon (yes, brother to THAT Whedon) sets out to explore some of the more personal ramifications of the film on the characters and their relationships aboard their Firefly-class space ship. Time hasn’t frozen in this eight-month time skip, leading to some surprising developments that will cause readers to pause for a moment. Basically, it looks like Whedon is tired of will-they-won’t-they relationships.
What little time we do get with the cast in the few pages of a single issue, they feel as familiar as an old friend. Except River who seems oddly sane and coherent, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the other characters. We get an idea of how all the characters are doing after this time jump, setting up enough of a starting point for moving forward, while still leaving an air of mystery about what’s been happening all this time.
The end of the book sets up the return of a fan favorite villain, hooking the readers who are already set to keep up with this book. The only weakness of this issue is that it feels too short, and that we don’t get enough time basking in the great character performances that made the show and film into the great works that they are. That’s all the more reason to go ahead and ask for issue two in your hold boxes.
9/10
The Art
Georges Jeanty continues what seems to be his calling in bringing finished Whedon shows back to life. Any readers of the Buffy seasons eight and nine comics will instantly feel right at home. Jeanty does a great job contrasting between the clean and high-tech Alliance worlds and the more western badlands feel of the rebels and outland worlds, making sure the reader understands the setting this story takes place in.
Adapting live action into comic art is always difficult to do, and I find myself critiquing the accuracy of the likenesses of the characters’ actors instead of the quality of the art on its own. Shouldn’t River’s hair be darker? Shouldn’t Mal’s chin be broader? Readers looking to see Nathan Fillion won’t get the photorealism they may expect, but Jeanty delivers quality art that still match the personalities of the characters with bits of their actors shining through.
8/10
Overall (Not an Average)
This first issue is merely a taste of the same great characters of the series we love, but it’s a great taste that’s bound to make readers come back for more gorram Firefly!
9/10