Joss Whedon's short-lived television series Firefly just refuses to die. After DVD sales far exceeded studio expectations and fans clamored for more adventures of the crew of the Serenity, Whedon prepped a feature-length film to provide a bit more closure. While the film's box office results weren't exactly phenomenal, it received a fair amount of critical praise and fans again continued to demonstrate their allegiance to Whedon's "space western." That interest has carried over into comic books, where Whedon penned a prequel to the film for Dark Horse Comics.
Together with Brett Matthews, who wrote several episodes of Firefly, this trade paperback follows the adventures of a mismatched collection of mercenaries, fugitives, and, as they say, "one law-abiding prostitute," in their search for "serenity." One of the somewhat ironic aspects of the show (and consequently the comic) is that while "Serenity" is the name of the ship operated by this bunch of misfits, it is also essentially what they seek - namely, serenity as it translates into a sense of personal freedom and peace, outside the boundaries of the rules and expectations of other people. The understated philosophical implications of Whedon's narrative is one of the compelling aspects of the story, whether on screen or on the page.
Here, the Serenity's crew agrees to take on a scavenger mission with the hope of earning some fast cash. Unfortunately, the mission is actually a trap prepared by those who want to recapture the mysterious little girl named River Tam and led by a one-eyed man who would like a bit of revenge on Serenity's captain, Mal Reynolds. The combination of old enemies with some new ones, along with Whedon's wholesale embrace of the "western in space" motif, make for an interesting and entertaining storyline (and one which clearly dovetails neatly into the opening of the film). Indeed, it supplies some vital backstory and actually serves as something of a bridge between the television series and the film.
Article comments
1 - David M. Brown
Thanks, it's good to hear about this. I'm probably a buyer, though I think "Firefly" something that probably works best on screen so we can get all the chemistry from the actors. I wish Fox would be smart enough to bring back the show. It would certainly be able to tug viewers in faster than the original run did.