Lots of action and laughs in volume 2 of the Unification War series. How I love Firefly! The only bummer is the cliffhanger ending and knowing I will have to wait a million years for the next one. The Joss Whedony vibe from the show is why I’ve enjoyed this series so much so far, and I love the depictions of the characters. The cover gallery at the end of the book is fabulous. Zoe’s arc was unexpected and wonderful, and I loved Mal’s gradual wearing down of Boss Moon (with a little help from her mom). Primo stuff for Firefly fans. Enjoy! ( )

Very enjoyable new chapter in the firefly universe. Learn more about Mal and Zoe. So far the series has not revealed deep dark secrets of any other principle characters. Reading a graphic novel series is a wonderful break from other types of literature. This series is particularly good fun. ( )

Let's get the most important thing out of the way first: The character voices work. They're not always 100% there, but more often than not, they're pretty close, and for several scenes and exchanges I effortlessly and automatically hear the original actors' voices in my head when I read them. The same compliment can be paid to the character motivations, and the plotting. It's not always 100%, but it's damned close, and much more so than I would expect (getting this right is very, very hard). In all these regards, "Unification War" continues to place itself solidly among the upper half of Firefly/Serenity comics made over the years. The voice of Mal in his dealings with his new nemesis and of Simon, Jayne and River in a hilarious identity dispute were particular highlights to me.

The artwork is fine enough. The character likenesses are a good bit further off than one might like, and I sometimes have a hard time telling if River is River or Inara, but the drawings tell the story, are nice to look at, and don't lead to a lot of unnecessary confusion.

My main complaint, actually, is that the plot developments in this volume feel too big for its place in the continuity. "Unification War" takes place well before "Serenity", during the heydays of the crew, and the way the story is unfolding by the end of this book feels incongruous with the scale, level of notoriety and general atmosphere of the TV show. If the series had gone on for a couple of years, they could easily have done a plotline just like this one -- but they didn't. And if this story was set after the (similarly big) events of the "Serenity" film, I'd also have no issue. But for being about the small crew of smugglers during an established, under-the-radar period in their life, their actions are just taking on too big of a presence in their 'verse here for it to ring true to me. Fingers crossed the resolution in volume 3 will remedy that, because it's a very small complaint in a book I otherwise really enjoyed. ( )

I like how this adds some complexity to the history. ( )

The plot, and how everything goes wrong in a spectacular fashion, feels very Firefly. The new characters, especially Boss Moon, are compelling enough. But it feels like it lacks some of the wit and charm of the main characters. ( )