Brett MatthewsReseñas

Pretty solid Firefly episode. The art and continuity were a bit uneven. But it was a pleasant return to this universe.

I didn't like the art so much in this one and I found it difficult to follow the story. The dialog was sparse and often cryptic and there was little exposition to clear it up. I thought the fantasies of riches for the various members of the crew were pretty funny. The overall story didn't quite work.

I expected more, but as a bridge between the series and the film it works.

Reading this after Joss Whedon was outed as a piece of shit is bittersweet. I still have a lot of nostalgia for Firefly and love the characters. The writing really does capture the voice of those characters from the show. The art is interesting and captures the world. Beyond that, the story reads as a pretty average Firefly episode with not a lot going on.

It reads like watching an episode of Firefly. The characters say all the right things and in the right way, the artwork is gorgeous and hits all the same notes as the better episodes of the tv series. Loved it and will move onto the next one I checked out of the library.

I also appreciated the history of the Firefly universe section in the back...this is never talked about in the original tv series and you kinda get bits and pieces of it as you watch each episode.

I found the story line hard to follow unlike the first Serenity graphic novel. There could have been just a bit more background information as to why the crew stole a piece of hi-tech equipment at the beginning of the novel. The plot just didn't hold together well.

Yay Firefly! That is all.

Being a Firefly fan, i was very excited when, back in 2005, Dark Horse Comics announced and released Those Left Behind, the first of a possible series of Serenity comic books.

I am not much of a comics reader, i go through phases where months of absorption will occur, but generally, i stick to 15-20 issues a year. i help off on reading the Serenity comics knowing that 3 issues would only wet my appetite, with months before more would be available.

after three years, DHC released the next installment (three years folks, that was NOT a typo). Better Days came out, and again, i said, “bottom of the pile..”. i was itching to read them, but at this point, my browncoat soul was “okay” with waiting. i figured, eventually, i would borrow them from the bunny, or SamuraiShy.. It was again, put off. buried at the bottom of the “to be read” pile.

finally, i broke down and located a copy for consumption. good, goddamn.. how disappointing could these have turned out?

both comics exist in the blanks plot canvas between the end of the Firefly Series and the Serenity movie. with the number of questions fans were left with after series “completion” i was expecting to have a bone thrown to me, but.. nope. didnt happen. one of the tri-part comics was decent, the other was, well.. read on to get my true opinion.

Better days, the second set to be released, happens before Those Left Behind. so far as i am concerned, Better days should be renamed “better never made”. characters were thrown in that had no frame of reference. the story was loose and thrown out with no real cohesion. i had to read it twice through, then jump online and consult wikipedia to figure out the remainder i could not muddle through. instead of plot closure, new info was tossed in that opened plot doors. it is in essence, nothing more than firefly porn, with all of us fans providing the money shot directly into Whedon’s pocketbook.

seriously, never should have been made. the only saving grace of the thing was a single page image of River Tam, which i am including at the bottom of this post (see FNORDinc for image) to save everyone the waste of time getting to it. do not let it fool you. one page is not worth suffering through the rest. a job goes better than expected, and everyone is rich. they are all describing what they will do with their cut. River’s description of the perfect life was a single page and the only one worth looking at.

~~

Those Left behind, the first comic released, wasnt so bad,it was an enjoyable read. in all, it has a lot of the same issues Better Days had. there was no closure, new questions arise, but you do begin to understand why Inara and Book left Serenity and are separated in the film.. in the end though, it was a quick and mellow read with no real high or low points worth pointing out. it was almost like watching a well done episode, each character got some face time.

ultimately, nothing but geek porn, but enjoyable on a base level.

It was announced a few years back that there would be a new comic coming out focusing on Shepard Book and all of his mystery. this is yet to come to fruition after two years. to be fair though, if it ever comes out at all, following the above trend, it will be another year, and will not be worth picking up except to place on a shelf next to your firefly lunchbox and Mal Reynolds action figure.

--
xpost RawBlurb.com

events before the film

Oh Firefly. A wonderful TV show, brutally murdered by the man. Aired out of order, canceled too soon, brought back as a movie, and then never let go by fans on the Internet. It's been 18 years... it's never going to come back.

Unless...

You make a graphic novel of it!



You know, it's actually pretty good. It's not the best graphic novel I've ever read--and not quite up to the standard of the TV series or the movie--but it's still fairly enjoyable.



I can still hear the voices of the characters, it's got a straight forward enough heist plot.



Best of all, it's trying to fill in a few questions that took place between the series and the movie. Whatever happened to those "two by two, hands of blue" guys? Why did Book leave? The answers are ... not that great, but at least it's something I suppose? I'm curious if the rest of the comics will give any more on that front.

Overall, not the best I've ever read, but more than enjoyable enough for an afternoon's divsersion.

After the cruel and heart-wrecking cancelation of Firefly, many of us were left desperate to know about how our anti-heroes fared in the ‘verse. Thankfully, Whedon and Co. stepped in to tell us. These four volumes, spanning the time before Firefly to long after Serenity, are extensions of the bigger story. From the Shepherd’s background, to general mayhem, to what happened after Serenity, these stories carry us back to that world and those people whom we loved so much.
Most reviews are meant to either deter would-be readers or entice – but truthfully, I seek to do neither. If you are a Firefly fan, you’ll read these, because they are cannon. They are the stories we would have seen on TV and didn’t get to because FOX is an asshole.

Attempts to narrate the Firefly universe between the end of the televised series and the movie.

IMHO the movie suffered as the narrative tone went from plucky to epic. Similarly, the story does not excite as this work is a bandage, plugging holes that should never have existed in a first place and appearing rather insignificant compared to the bookends on either side.

This is a fun quick read. Reads like an episode of Firefly. Which - being one of my favorite shows is why when I found this at the Hershey Library it was an immediate grab. Fun compelling the story. Artwork is crisp and characters look like they did in the show and act similarly. The action scenes were OK-ish, the art made them a little wonky, but for the most part still able to follow them. Enjoyed the hour or less it took to read this, so that makes it a win.

Segunda parte (primera parte comentada aquí) de la serie de Serenity, que se enmarca temporalmente antes de la serie y de la película. A pesar de que la calidad de los dibujos me sorprende negativamente, la historia está muy bien hecha y muy entretenida. Digna sucesora de la serie para los que nos quedamos con ganas de más.

Capítulos previos de la serie Firefly (precuelas que dirían en angloparla), escritos por el mismísimo Joss Whedon. Me encantan. Es más de lo mismo, más serie y más película, pero eso es precisamente lo que quiero. Se lee demasiado rápido pero se disfruta de cada detalle. Muy entretenido para los aficionados.

Love my Firefly and just about everything to do with it. I do wish that it had been a bit longer and added more details but I guess that's the nature of a graphic novel. Bring on more!

"He was crowdin' me, and I don't know him. I hit people that crowd me I don't know."
-Jayne

Filling in some of the events that happened between Firefly and Serenity, this short graphic novel reads just like a missing episode. An episode filled with the usual coin-stealing, gun-blasting, and backstabbing that made me love Firefly so much. If you've seen the show and are wanting a little bonus content of the crew's adventures out in the black, this is it. Just keep flying, folks. (And reading too.)

A good follow-up to the last installment. The most amusing illustration in the book was definitely River's little fantasy about what she would do with all of the money made on the last job. Like the book previous, this serves well as another 'episode' within the series. The ending was satisfactory, if not 'fantastic' or mindblowing. All in all it felt rather bittersweet, as to my knowledge there are no further installments within the series.

Amusing side note - the intro by Baldwin was laugh out loud funny.

This graphic novel was a worthy follow-up of the Firefly series. While not fantastic as far as graphic novels go, it genuinely felt like a continuation of the series. It felt as if it were a small, self-contained episode. The writing was clever, the artwork generally good, and the intro to the book by Nathan Fillion made it all feel very much worthwhile.

I liked the story in this one and all the concept artwork sprinkled in was really cool

Okay, so I went to the library to pick up a few dvds for a few days I had scheduled off work, and I just had to pick up new installments of Serenity and Buddha while I was there. As far as I could tell, this was the next Serenity graphic novel, so I picked it up. Started reading it on the bus and finished it before they called my name in the doctor's waiting room.

This story starts in the middle of action, and it was confusing to try to figure out just when this story was. The back of the book establishes that it was written after Those Left Behind, but it clearly takes place before it. Later, after I'd finished reading, I looked up a timeline on the internet and found that indeed, it took place after the TV series, but before Left Behind. Ok. Glad that's clear.

Although the credits claim the same artist illustrated Better Days as Those Left Behind, I had a totally different experience with the artwork this time. Maybe I got used to his style, maybe he hit his stride, I don't know. This time faces were the familiar faces that I loved, this time pages were sumptuous when they needed to be, gory when they needed to be, many individual expressions were so spot-on perfect that I had to stop and stare at them awhile to fully appreciate them. There was one action sequence where I'm still a little murky on what exactly happened and how, but I'm willing to let that slide.

As for the writing -- well, I defy any lover of these characters (and really, who else would be reading these?) not to delight in the crew's fantasies of what they would do if they were dirty filthy rich. The crew interactions in this scene capture much of what was best about the series.

Anyway. I'm not going to go on and on. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

So, I had some library fines. A book that I checked out for Jefferson was left lying on the living room floor. Solomon picked it up, and with seemingly no effort at all, popped one of the sections right out of the binding. I inquired at the library, and there was no repair option. Basically, I had to pay $20 to replace the book. I spent a lot of time grousing and contemplating options and avoiding the library entirely until one night my husband asked if I would be willing to donate $20 to the library. "Of course!" I answered. So he suggested I take a twenty to the library for the fine and tell them to keep the change as a donation. Somehow that changed it entirely, and off to the library I went.

My brother-in-law came along to pick out some dvds, and as I made my selection immediately, I got bored waiting for him and started to wander. And finally found the adult graphic novel section! (Not "adult" as in "naughty," of course, but "adult," as in not children's or young adult.) I circled the stacks and was delighted to find a copy of Buddha, Vol. 3, the next in the series that I hadn't read. Inspired by this success, I tromped over to the young adult graphic novel section and checked out the Whedon selection, as I had yet to read any of his comics and was curious. Of course, I ended up picking up this copy of Serenity.

It's strange, switching to a comics format after a much-beloved TV series. Both genres are of course so visual, and it took a little bit of time to get used to the artist's renderings of such familiar characters. In particular, there was one character who was not a regular, but had only previously appeared in a single episode. He was referred to by name once, and it seemed familiar, but I was left examining his face for pages, hunting for clues that I had identified him correctly. What finally nailed it for me was the dialog. As soon as the character got a change to make a speech, I could hear his voice ringing in my ears.

I do sympathize with the task of drawing for this kind of comic. Instead of getting to invent the look of your characters afresh -- to be bound to representing those characters as they were portrayed by actors. Certainly it's a skill I'm lacking. Some of the drawings were wonderful. But I can't keep from mentioning that in nearly every frame containing Simon my brain was screaming, "Who in the 'verse are you trying to draw here?"

Anyway, it was interesting to get a glimpse of how the story moved from Point A (the end of the series) to Point B (the beginning of the movie). I know, sometimes such things are better left a mystery, but I can't look away. I'll have to go pick up the next in the series...

Loved it! I really wish there were more than just 3 Firefly graphic novels. I loved the show and love being able to revisit the Firefly world.

After the cruel and heart-wrecking cancelation of Firefly, many of us were left desperate to know about how our anti-heroes fared in the ‘verse. Thankfully, Whedon and Co. stepped in to tell us. These four volumes, spanning the time before Firefly to long after Serenity, are extensions of the bigger story. From the Shepherd’s background, to general mayhem, to what happened after Serenity, these stories carry us back to that world and those people whom we loved so much.
Most reviews are meant to either deter would-be readers or entice – but truthfully, I seek to do neither. If you are a Firefly fan, you’ll read these, because they are cannon. They are the stories we would have seen on TV and didn’t get to because FOX is an asshole.

This handsome volume once again relates the origin of the famed lawman. Using ideas expressed in the 1990s [author:Joe R. Lansdale]-penned Lone Ranger comic, Matthews wisely views Tonto and not the eponymous hero as the brains of the duo. Cariello's art effectively captures the period in a realistic manner. Complete with gorgeous [author:John Cassaday] covers and designs, this book successfully introduces the mythic western hero for a new generation of fans.