Post-Serenity Adventure: Serenity: Leaves On The Wind Leaps The Firefly Story Forward!

The Good: Engaging story, Decent character progression, Some of the artwork
The Bad: Last chapter is terrible, New characters lack the familiar charisma from Firefly.
The Basics: Serenity: Leaves On The Wind continues the story of the crew of the Serenity after the film and the birth of Wash and Zoe's daughter.


The longer fans of Firefly (reviewed here!) go without a new series, the longer fans have to rely upon the graphic novels and fan fiction to get their fix. And the more graphic novels that are released set in the Firefly/Serenity universe, the more convinced fans are becoming that Firefly was actually lucky to get axed when it did. As much as it might seem to be heresy to say aloud, part of the success of Firefly came from the fact that it was cancelled before it could go bad. The latest graphic novel from the beloved television show that I've gotten my hands on is Serenity: Leaves On The Wind.

Serenity: Leaves On The Wind is the most significant graphic novel set in the Firefly after the events of the film Serenity (reviewed here!). Foreshadowed in previous volumes, Serenity: Leaves On The Wind includes the important plot event of the birth of Zoe and Wash's child. The rest of the story involves tie-ins to both the film and significant episodes of Firefly, most notably the return of the fairly crazy bounty hunter Early.

Eight months after the crew of Serenity exposed the secrets of the planet Miranda to the universe, Zoe gives birth. Her daughter, Emma, is born healthy, but Dr. Tam discovers that she is bleeding internally and the Serenity does not have the supplies needed to save her life. Since the outing of the events on Miranda, the Browncoats have risen to start a de facto rebellion against the Alliance and they want Captain Mel Reynolds to be their leader. Unfortunately, in the attempt to save Zoe's life, Zoe is captured by the Alliance and imprisoned.

When Early once again finds and boards the Serenity, the New Resistance comes into play. Working together, the crew of Serenity and the New Resistance intend to deal a blow to the Alliance and save Zoe. But their efforts are complicated when they run into a young woman experimented upon much the same way River was and their plans go to hell, forcing them to improvise.

Serenity: Leaves On The Wind blends new characters with recurring characters from Firefly and Serenity, but the book only serves to prove how right the show Firefly got it with its original character blend. Lacking Book and Wash, the book is forced to rely upon Early and the Operative from Serenity to try to find the right chemistry. Fans of relationships might be excited that Inara and Mal are making a serious attempt at a relationship now that she is disbarred from the Companions, but Tam and Kaylee are having sex throughout the book with little in the way of spark.

The concepts in Serenity: Leaves On The Wind largely work; the idea of a Resistance is a good one and the idea that Jayne left Serenity makes real sense. The artwork is good enough throughout most of the book to make all of the characters, including the Operative and Early recognizable. Ironically, Dr. Tam is not recognizable. Much of the banter - when it is present - in Serenity: Leaves On The Wind is decent, but the book has a lot of exposition it needs to deliver to explain to readers exactly what the Firefly Universe has become.

The final chapter of the book is a one-shot from Free Comic Book Day and it is pretty terrible on the artwork front and not nearly as vital on the character/story fronts.

Ultimately, Serenity: Leaves On The Wind has the potential to be like the graphic novel continuation of Angel, but this is an early chapter and it is unclear how well the new mixes of characters and relationships actually works. The Serenity becomes a colony ship briefly in Serenity: Leaves On The Wind and that helps illustrate a glimpse of the potential that a rebellion against the Alliance might truly mean. How the Firefly gang fits into all that is potentially a disaster, but Serenity: Leaves On The Wind is actually a decent-enough start to it.

For other Firefly-based books, please check out my reviews of:
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: Better Days
Serenity: The Sheperd's Tale

6/10

For other book reviews, please visit my Book Review Index Page!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Serenity: Better Days And Other Stories Combines The Lackluster With The New To Enhance The Permanent Library Of Serenity Fans!

The Good: Decent sense of character voices, Moments of story
The Bad: The artwork, Very simple stories, No huge character development moments
The Basics: Milking Serenity fans with another hardcover comic book anthology, Dark Horse presents the underwhelming Better Days And Other Stories.


For those who might not follow my many, many reviews, I am a fan of the Firefly/Serenity franchise. It's a clever concept that has been fairly well-executed both in film and in book form. Still, it is trying to become a property that can be merchandised and Joss Whedon and his licensees are still trying to figure out how to make it more profitable. Apparently having undersold their anthology Better Days (reviewed here), this month Dark Horse has released Better Days And Other Stories. The anthology is the original Better Days mini-series - with Adam Baldwin's foreword from the original anthology - along with three standalone stories. I've reviewed Better Days pretty extensively on its own, so this review will focus on the stories unique to this anthology.

Having read the hardcover anthology, I like the principle of what Joss Whedon and Dark Horse is doing better than the execution. I like the idea of Dark Horse assembling their one-shot comics (many of which are harder to find) for their readers and putting them in an elegant hardcover volume for their permanent library. I just wish the stories inside were better and, especially, featured better artwork. At least, unlike Better Days the "Other Stories" feel more in tune with the universe Joss Whedon created, without relying on strange advanced technology not seen in the show. In that way, picking up this volume offers readers the nostalgia quality they are no doubt looking from from a book based upon the series that has been off the air almost a decade.

"The Other Half" by Jim Krueger is a remarkably simple story. As the Serenity crew tries to get their valuable cargo to a rendezvous with a buyer, they fight off an attack. Inside the transport, though, River has a chance to read the mind of the person being transported and she makes a judgment based on what she finds in his head. Only a few pages long, the story has a decent sense of mood and pacing, but it is pretty much a one-note story with a ridiculously simple concept. Readers know that River can read minds and that the Alliance is hostile to traders like those aboard the Serenity. So, the idea that one might be laying a trap for them is pretty obvious. That Mal would use River to suss that out makes the story exceptionally low on the "repeatability" factor for reading the volume.

"Downtime" is a similarly simple story with even less going for it. While the Serenity is blanketed with snow and forced to stay grounded, the crew mills about. Wash and Zoe use the time to get intimate (possibly setting up the final story in the anthology), Jayne gets treated for an STD and while everyone else reconvenes to give Jayne a hard time, River goes for a walk in the snow and takes out "snow men." This is another ridiculously simple vignette that trades on the idea that River can read minds and has the ability to kick some serious ass. Unfortunately, readers get this already. We've seen Serenity and her confronting Book is no big revelation for those who have read The Shepherd's Tale. Worse than that, the artwork by Chris Samnee is decidedly subpar. For example when River goes out into the snow the artwork is so vague that it lacks recognizable form for the characters.

The book closes out with "Float Out," a one shot by Patton Oswalt. Following the events of Serenity, three former associates of Wash's sit around and tell stories of his terrible sense of humor and amazing piloting abilities. The stories, from before Wash joined Serenity, has the intrepid pilot flying the Meltaway and other ships to earn his living. The story goes for the big reveal which is of little surprise - or at least none to me as Alan Tudyk and I discussed the plotline that had been intended to be explored had Firefly had a second season. Again, the artwork is particularly bad, though this time the blame goes to Patric Reynolds. I cited page 109 as having artwork that had a particularly crappy rendition of Wash.

Ultimately, it is a wash for me. The book was worth one read, but I couldn't muster up the desire to keep it in my permanent library. I'm one who has been excited about watching the set yet again, introducing my wife to it and even reading Those Left Behind again. But this didn't have much in the way of character development, the stories were hardly essential and the artwork - outside the extensive cover galleries - was hardly extraordinary. Fans might do better to wait to buy this when the hardcover goes on sale right before the inevitable softcover release.

For other Serenity or Firefly works, please check out my reviews of:
Firefly - The Complete Series
Serenity
Serenity Those Left Behind By Joss Whedon
The Shepherd's Tale By Zack Whedon

5/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale Fills In The Gaps On One Of Firefly’s Most Vital Characters (In A Mediocre Fashion).

The Good: Excellent character development, Great storyline/narrative technique
The Bad: ARTWORK is abysmal! Somewhat predictable in parts.
The Basics: An otherwise exciting and intriguing Serenity graphic novel, Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale is presented with such bad artwork as to distract from the quality of the story being told.


I have a lot of respect for the graphic novel medium now. Indeed, in the last few years, I have gotten more and more excited about the medium because so many movies have graphic novel tie-ins and so many canceled projects live on in the graphic novel medium. The doomed television series Firefly (reviewed here!) by Joss Whedon used the strength of the boxed set DVD sales to get fans Serenity (reviewed here!). But when it looked like there would be no sequel forthcoming to the big screen, Joss Whedon kept the franchise alive using the graphic novel medium. Right before Christmas 2010, fans of the Serenity franchise were “treated” to a new graphic novel:.

I write “treated” in quotes above because the book is an unfortunate mixed bag. Fans of Firefly who were shocked by the events of Serenity realized there was a huge narrative hole waiting to be filled. I'm writing this review with respect to those readers who might have seen the television show, but not yet (for one inconceivable reason or another) caught the film. The hole in the story, the mysterious backstory of Shepherd Book, the resident religious figure on Serenity, is finally filled in with Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale. While this should have been a huge treat – Book was my favorite character in the franchise – the artwork in the hardcover graphic novel is so sloppy that it guts the power and strength of the story being told. In other words, just when I have attained a real respect for the graphic novel medium, I run into one where the artwork drags the story down to such an extent that it exemplifies much of the worst of the medium.

Shepherd Book's life is told backwards in The Shepherd’s Tale. From his part in Serenity, Book recalls his life leaping backward through relativistic memories. Book remembers leaving Serenity, talking with Jayne and walking in on Mal and Zoe during a deal that went wrong, even back to his arrival at the foot of the Serenity from the series premiere of Firefly. From there, his exploration of divinity is relayed and then the events that drove him to the monastery ten years before are shown. Book is brutally beaten by the police and he has a bowl of chicken soup over which he has a spiritual awakening.

The allusion to the IKV Alexander is quickly followed up with the story of Book in command of the IKV Cortez during the war. As a battle goes south for Book, he orders the Alliance surrender in a key battle, for which he is dishonorably discharged from the military. How Book reached such a lofty position is explained by his training as a torture specialist in the next flashback. From there, the reader learns how he ended up working for the military and the childhood events that shaped Book's life.

First, Zachary Whedon – who wrote the book based upon the backstory Joss Whedon had plotted out – does an excellent job with the story in Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale. Whedon takes a character who was frequently marginalized and makes him a viable protagonist who is able to carry the entire book. The narrative technique of having episodes journey backward through time to illustrate how Book became the man he was when he first appeared on Firefly - and explain why he had left the ship by Serenity - works extraordinarily well. It might seem like a gimmick academically, but Whedon’s execution makes it feel like a remarkably clever retrospective script. It actually reminded me of one of Peter David’s Star Trek Annuals back in the 1980s where he crafted a love story for Scotty that went back in time the same way. What allows me to heap some praise on Whedon is that it never felt derivative of the story I had read years before and enjoyed quite a bit.

Beyond that, Whedon’s version of Book is enough to make one want to go back and rewatch Firefly. How convincing Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale is might well be measured in being able to go back through the series and pick out details in Ron Glass's character on the television show and in the film. Viewers who recall the show might well remember how Book managed to get the crew of Serenity out of a scrape or two by flashing his credentials at government officials. This book explains why they would treat him with such power and deference, but for fans to believe it, there must have been clues that were sprinkled throughout the series. The book is powerful enough to make one want to go do that.

Unfortunately, the presentation of Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale is where the graphic novel falls down. The artwork looks like paintings, but the presentation is so sloppy that the lines and sense of movement are blurred almost beyond recognition. In many of the panels, Book does not look like Ron Glass and one might only know the subject of the pages because he is the only black person on the page. This guts the emotional resonance of the book because readers spend far too much time trying to discern what is actually happening on the page as opposed to the flow of the story. In other words, the “effect” completely undermines the message. Chris Samnee does not do anyone a service with his presentation of the story.

That said, Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale is just on the underside of average and most fans of the Serenity franchise will enjoy the book, assuming they can overlook the style instead of the substance. This was one of the rare instances where I could not.

For other graphic novels that tie-in with contemporary films, please check out my reviews of:
Serenity: Those Left Behind
Serenity: Better Days
Star Trek: Spock - Reflections

4.5/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Plot Heavy And Largely Pointless, Better Days Adds Little To The Story Of Serenity!

The Good: One or two panels of artwork, Moments of character
The Bad: Plot intensive, A lot of poor artwork, Adds little to character, Very "science fictiony"
The Basics: Light on character development and populated by poor artwork, Serenity: Better Days is not the best Joss Whedon endeavor to date.


I have recently - within the past three weeks - re-watched the entire television series Firefly (reviewed here!) and one of the things that continues to impress me about it is how truly different it was from everything else that was on the air at the time or since. One of the children of Joss Whedon, Firefly is one of the most impressive franchises in the last ten years as the television series was quickly canceled, fans rallied with the DVD boxed set sales, funded a movie and now the stories continue on in the comic books. In fact, to bridge the gap between the television series and the cinematic endeavor, Joss Whedon penned a series of Serenity comics that were anthologized in Those Left Behind (reviewed here!).

Now, Whedon and Brett Matthews have returned with another anthology of Serenity comics, a trade paperback entitled Better Days. When I first saw this tiny trade paperback, I was excited. After all, I appear to have become one of those people who is asking the question (from the t-shirt) "How much Serenity crap do I need to buy before they'll make another movie?" I was eager for something new in the Firefly/Serenity universe. Unfortunately, with Better Days, there is the feeling that Whedon on some level knows this and he is just churning out . . . well, crap. Better Days is - overtly - a poor endeavor and fans of the series (even those of us desperate for something new in the Whedonverse) are much more likely to be disappointed than thrilled by this outing.

As part of Serenity's regular activities of thieving, the ship funds itself on a core planet where a new weapon's system is being tested, as they steal some artwork. The weapon is a drone with impressive killing power, though it doesn't seem to be able to hit Mal or any of his team as they flee it. In fact, they are able to incapacitate it and in the process, discover they might have an even more valuable item than the stolen artwork. Despite it missing its logic core, Mal is able to sell the drone to a buyer for the contents of a second heist, a Buddha filled with Alliance credits . . . millions of them.

Of course, things are never quite that easy for the crew of Serenity. Inara's latest customer, Sanda, turns out to be an Operative who is hunting down browncoats who kept fighting after the end of the war. Dust Devils, as they are known, are wanted fugitives and Sanda is hunting Mal while the drone builder hunts Mal and his drone. And the rest of the crew, faced with being absolutely rich, takes to vacationing on Pelorum, where they fantasize about what they will do with their money.

And, to be fair, there is something amusing about River's fantasy about marrying a whale, but the one panel certainly does not justify the rest of the book. Most of the characters - including River - are overlooked largely in Better Days. Indeed, there is little in this book that works on its own. Most of Better Days is preoccupied with setting up character elements for Serenity (reviewed here!) that were never even implied in the film. In fact, much of Better Days is a big jerking around of the fans.

First, because the book is set before Serenity all nine of the principle characters are alive, well and where they were before Those Left Behind. The moment Mal strikes it rich and realizes they have more money than they will ever be able to use, the reader finds themselves just waiting to see how they will lose it. After all, the ship is falling apart in the opening frames of Serenity. The wealth cannot last.

But the best two aspects of Better Days are both character elements that were never even implied in either Firefly or Serenity. Inara has a liaison that puts some strain on her and Mal and it is implied would be the source of Dr. Tam's discord with Mal present at the opening of Serenity. And Zoey is given a bit of backstory, in regards to the Dust Devils that enhances her character.

Only, the problem is, that Zoey's sudden missing chapter being filled in makes no real sense. Zoey and Wash have marital problems from the outset, largely to do with how Zoey has followed Mal during and after the war where the Browncoats were defeated. Wash feels like there is another person in his marriage and he struggles with that. As well, in the flashback sequences shown in Firefly, Zoey is always with Mal. The idea that Zoey had a great bit of independence where she might have been a terrorist following the war, then gone back to Mal makes no real sense. It is a good idea, but it falls apart in light of several of the other (canon) elements that were presented well before this.

As well, the artwork is not all the best, with many of the panels being less detailed or less precisely colored than in many other comic books or graphic novels I have read. Characters like Simon Tam suffer in this incarnation as there are many panels where he looks nothing like the doctor.

The other big element for me was the artwork for the chase scenes. Whedon seems to have hit a creative wall here. Fans of Firefly and Serenity are well-acquainted with chase scenes. Firefly had many and Serenity opens with two chase scenes. In the films it is easy to create tension and movement and make a chase scene interesting. As Mal and the heist team flee the automated drone, Better Days plods along in a visually uninteresting way that might have worked in an episode, but flops completely on the page. The artwork is not compelling and there is no real sense of pace or danger to the chase, making it more blase than exciting.

Ultimately, Better Days does not add anything vital to the story of the crew of Serenity. Mal makes explicit one character element that viewers and readers will already know about him, but mostly the character elements are somewhat forced and make little sense in the larger narrative. Given that there are nine characters in the series, most of them are neglected in this story, though all of them appear.

In the trade paperback omnibus edition (I refuse to call these compilations of previously released comic books graphic novels anymore!) there is an introduction by Adam Baldwin, who played Jayne and that conveys virtually the same sentiment that Nathan Fillion presented in his foreword to Those Left Behind. So for those who bought the original Better Days comic books, there is little incentive to buy this again.

Then again, it's hard to muster up the enthusiasm, even if one only wants this compilation book. Serenity fans: hold out for the next (hopefully better!) thing.

For other graphic novels tied to films, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Star Trek - Nero
G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra Official Movie Prequel
Heroes Volume 2

3/10

For other book reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2009 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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The Bridge Between Firefly and Serenity, Serenity: Those Left Behind Is A Worthwhile Journey!

The Good: Decent writing, Some real nice panels, Cover art gallery
The Bad: Some of the artwork isn't great
The Basics: In between the television series Firefly and the big-screen Serenity, are the events of Serenity: Those Left Behind which allows fans one more opportunity to enjoy Joss Whedon's universe.


One of the problems with Joss Whedon's creations are that they tend to be dense, layered. This works very well for a television show (Angel's serialization in the third and fourth season helped make the show as great as it was), but poorly for a cinematic adventure. So, when Whedon's Firefly (reviewed here!) was canceled and he won the right to produce the film Serenity (reviewed here!) one of the serious problems with the endeavor was that Serenity had so many plot lines and character threads to try to wrap up. Fortunately for fans of the series, Joss Whedon created a bridge between Firefly and Serenity, a series of comics that were assembled in the trade paperback Serenity: Those Left Behind.

The crew of Serenity, led by Malcolm Reynolds, is in one of its standard bad places. When a bank job goes awry, while Shepherd Book distracts the townspeople of the planet the crew is robbing, the intrepid crew finds themselves once more on the run, low on funds and fuel. As they seek more work from Badger, an enemy from Mal's past allies himself with the blue-gloved agents who are hunting River and Simon Tam.

And the resolution to that conflict leads to the character choices that establish where the crew of Serenity begin the film. This is a smart bridge between the television series and the movie, filling in the important gap between the two. Essentially, this answers the three big questions from the outset of Serenity: Why did Book leave, when did Anara get dropped off and why did the Alliance hire bounty hunters to go after River and Simon when they had the blue-gloved men?

The nice thing about Serenity: Those Left Behind is that because it is written by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, the characters all sound like they should. The dialogue reads just like an episode of Firefly. There is not a moment in the trade paperback where the reader feels "[X character] would never say that" or "X does not sound like that." Instead, it's very easy to read this graphic novel with the voices and timing of the actors resonating in the mind of the reader. The writing is crisp and the dialogue reads as correct for the characters and universe created in Firefly.

Moreover, the action in the book is as realistic as it was in the television series. There are no leaps here that use the conceits of comic books. No one suddenly develops special powers or abilities that were not indicated in the show. Instead, this feels very much like the series. And it's a decent story. It satisfies the reader and fan of Firefly.

The only real drawback is some of the artwork. Dark Horse kindly included the covers to the three comic books that this work anthologizes, but both the cover art and the interior art in some cases leaves much to be desired. So, for example, the cover with River is just plain terrible, looking nothing like her. Inside the trade paperback, there are panels that are amazing, like the panel showing Serenity engaging its engines (there are no page numbers, but it's near the end - this was always an awesome effect on screen). But then there are some real duds, like the frames introducing Wash into the story.

I suppose that's standard with comic books, but it's still disappointing to see.

Because this is an anthology of only three comic books, there is not much more to say on Serenity: Those Left Behind without giving everything away. That ought never to be done. On the balance, this is essential for those who are fans of the series, but easily overlooked by those who have never seen Firefly or Serenity.

For other graphic novels that tie-in with films, please check out my reviews of:
Star Trek: Countdown
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon - Foundation
The A-Team: War Stories

7/10

For other book reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2007 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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