Release Date: January 29, 2014

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Written By: Zack Whedon

Art By: Georges Jeanty

Price: 3.50

Colors By: Laura Martin

Review:

Welcome to the New Resistance. Firefly fans have finally gotten hold of a long awaited sequel. Er, Season 2? Whatever you want to call a continuation of a movie via comic books. Sequential sequel? Either way its Serenity 2 and that cant be bad. All the major players are there, I think.

I have no gripes about the story overall. Even though its irritating as all hell that the damning evidence Mal and crew released across the ‘verse still isn’t enough to overthrow the oppressive Alliance, that is exactly what would happen in our government as well. Denial, lies, spin, deny, label the freedom fighters terrorists, rinse, blame the victims, deny, repeat. I really want that talk show bastard’s head on a pike though. Aside from Rush Limbaugh’s comic book debut, this is a faithful continuation of Serenity and the crew. The dialog is almost so perfect I feel like im reading the storyboard for the movie sometimes. Especially Mal’s slang and inflections he uses. Really well written. There is a New Resistance forming as our band of heroes tries stay as hidden as possible from the backlash of the events in Serenity. Also, the hero emerges when Zoe’s life is threatened after giving birth and Mal is faced with the dilemma of staying in hiding or getting her medical attention. The world’s most eloquent assassin is alive and Jayne is still Jayne. Looks like the whole crew is here.

Herein lies my problem though. While the writing is top notch and a very accurate depiction of everything Firefly, the art is somewhat lacking. Not one of the drawings look like any of the characters. Okay im exaggerating but not by much. I also know, as an artist, how difficult it is to capture someone’s likeness in comic book media and then proceed to do that 56 times per issue. Still, I only recognized the characters in one or two panels, tops. Not once did I say, hey there’s River. Mal and Zoe maybe, but no one else. Actually its been so long since i watched Serenity I had to google some of the characters to follow along. It’s definitely not BAD art it just doesn’t translate the characters well. That being said, the action sequences look good and the various alien species are very creative. His strong suit is spaceships. The levels of detail and originality in the vessels of Firefly is above and beyond awesome.

Overall this is a solid comic adaptation of Serenity and a great way to bring the sequel out. There is a lot more that can be done with comics with a lot smaller budget so we should get plenty of content with these characters everybody loves. Once I get back into the Firefly world, get back on a first-name basis with everyone, and get use to the art, the lack of celebrity likenesses shouldn’t be THAT big of an issue. It’s worth it to soak in some new adventures of the plucky hero fighting against an evil empire in the grand arena.

Also, the variant covers for this book are amazing. Here’s a preview for issue #2 of Serenity: Leaves on the Wind.

THIS looks like Gina Torres. I’m just sayin’.