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wiiiiilllllll's review against another edition
3.0
Good all-round; story, art, dialogue. Fits perfectly with the TV series - could've been an episode in fact - and begins setting up the movie.
jaepingsu's review against another edition
3.0
This takes places somewhere in between the ending of Firefly, and the beginning of Serenity. I wish I'd read this before watching Serenity, as it does explain a few things (for example: where Inara and Shepard Book were at the beginning of the movie). Basically, though, this is just an extra episode to the TV show, but without the same spark of it being acted by the amazing talent.
They tried cramming a bit too much in such a short space. Most of the time is spent on the action of the mission, and very little of it deals with the characters and their motives. Still, it was something to fill the gap between the show itself and the movie, and it really reminded me how much I miss the fun quirkiness of the Firefly universe.
They tried cramming a bit too much in such a short space. Most of the time is spent on the action of the mission, and very little of it deals with the characters and their motives. Still, it was something to fill the gap between the show itself and the movie, and it really reminded me how much I miss the fun quirkiness of the Firefly universe.
sleatherface's review against another edition
4.0
The story wasn't bad. I'm especially happy to see Mal finally figuring out how much Inara means to him. And the artwork is gold. I hate living in a world where Firefly has only one season.
toastx2's review against another edition
3.0
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
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
kaeoticneutral's review against another edition
4.0
A really nice bridge piece between Firefly and Serenity... looking forward to reading the others
compass_rose_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Almost like watching an episode. Wish there were more.
biblioseph's review against another edition
2.0
Very, very cool. Great feel.
I was a little thrown by the chronology at first, but I think I'd place this between the final episode on the DVD and the movie. (The correlation of River and Drusilla, crazy girls who see the future, is increasingly apparent. Oh, Joss, you fiend!)
In anycase! It's good to see the crew in their groove, pre-'Serenity: The Movie'. The hijinks of the series continue, everything is as it should be, and I'm glad I picked this up. Not too dark, like the movie, but not too safe, like some of those episodes. It's a good mix and a good introduction to the panels for these guys. The drawings are true to the actors but don't look like lifeless screenshots, Mr. Conrad has done a fine job.
I feel though that this continuation is one long episode, it read quickly, but didn't have clear chapter breaks, as a collection from several comic series issues might. This makes stopping unweildly and a little like pausing a movie for an hour or two, the flow stops. As the flow in this is awesome, that is a bummer.
Only other problem? I can no longer hear the mandarin curses, I can see some characters of words... But only gorram is spelled out for us. Since it's print, could we maybe finally see a translation of those curses?
I was a little thrown by the chronology at first, but I think I'd place this between the final episode on the DVD and the movie. (The correlation of River and Drusilla, crazy girls who see the future, is increasingly apparent. Oh, Joss, you fiend!)
In anycase! It's good to see the crew in their groove, pre-'Serenity: The Movie'. The hijinks of the series continue, everything is as it should be, and I'm glad I picked this up. Not too dark, like the movie, but not too safe, like some of those episodes. It's a good mix and a good introduction to the panels for these guys. The drawings are true to the actors but don't look like lifeless screenshots, Mr. Conrad has done a fine job.
I feel though that this continuation is one long episode, it read quickly, but didn't have clear chapter breaks, as a collection from several comic series issues might. This makes stopping unweildly and a little like pausing a movie for an hour or two, the flow stops. As the flow in this is awesome, that is a bummer.
Only other problem? I can no longer hear the mandarin curses, I can see some characters of words... But only gorram is spelled out for us. Since it's print, could we maybe finally see a translation of those curses?
prideandasparagus's review against another edition
3.0
This first issue hits all the basic points of an episode of Firefly (witty banter, gun fight, chase scene, angsty tension between Mal and Inara, River being weird, more banter), but doesn't really have the ineffable awesomeness that made the show so great. It's just the first issue though, so I plan to keep reading and see where it goes.
mythandmagic's review against another edition
5.0
Loved the TV series (unfortunately only one season long) and had mixed feelings about the movie Serenity, as I'm sure most people do. This series is set after the series and before the movie, so it fills in the missing gaps that additional seasons would have filled. And it does it perfectly so far. The first few images of Mal were a bit off as the artist got used to drawing him, but this little adventure captures the humour and drama of the Firefly series very well. Glad to add it to my collection.