Serenity TPB Review or You can't Stop the Signal!!
Author: Joss Whedon and Brett Mathews
Artist: Will Conrad
Cover:Will Conrad
Publisher: Dark Horse
I'm not going to draw out this review. Most people that review this book have to let you know how much they loved Firefly and when they first encountered it and blah blah blah. So I'm just going to say I love Firefly and I love Serenity the movie...that's it. So onto the review.
Spoiler Free Review:
Serenity really delivers everything a fan (browncoat) could hope for and expect. It's not the show or the movie, but it's the next best thing. All the characters from the TV series make a return to the Firefly universe to bridge a gap between the TV series and the movie. If you are familiar with the TV series then yes you will love this book. Everyone shows up in this comic; Mal, Zoe, Jayne, Inara, Book, Kaylee, River, Wash and Simon. Hell, even Badger shows up! It's really hard to tell Joss and Brett apart in their writing, both seem to finish each other's sentences...well the characters sentences. The language and dialogue have transferred nicely, and the art doesn't deviate much from what was revealed of the universe on the TV series. Speaking of the artwork, it’s absolutely beautiful; the facial expressions are captured to an almost eerie likeness. The only gripe I have with the art are a couple action sequences. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell what is going on because there is almost too many explosions and bullets being fired.
The story itself is simple. It really feels like episode 15 of the TV series. The group use Shepherd Book as a bit of a distraction while they compete with another gang to rob the city then as they would on the show, the gang wins out, takes off, and lays the blame on Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Some guns get fired, people stabbed and of course our heroes escape on Serenity. Mal then goes to investigate what went wrong and why their supplier of information had stiffed them. Of course the Alliance makes their move as they recruit one of their old operatives that’s got a thing against Mal; my boy has enemies everywhere, to take him out. Now, I don't want to spoil anything else, in case you didn't read the individual issues, but this reads great as a collected work.
Sounds like a great episode doesn't it? Well, that can be a problem for new readers that buy the book on a lark. It could be confusing since they don't know anything about the series. Although the book does a damn good job of making Mal come across like a bad-ass and who doesn't want their captain of their ship to be a bad-ass!? So I don't think new readers will get the same enjoyment out of this collection. This is more of a payoff to the fans of the show and Joss Whedon's works. I would like to mention that all nine of the covers are included in this TPB; John Cassady, Joe Quesada, Bryan Hitch, Adam Hughes, Leinil Francis Yu, Josh Middleton, JG Jones, Jo Chen, Tim Bradstreet and Sean Phillips. Wish I hadn't bought every cover now. I highly recommend this book if you are a fan of the TV series and movie, if you aren't a fan; then go watch the TV series, read the comic and then watch the movie; you won't be disappointed. Damn, I promised not to draw out the review too.
