Firefly comics!

[millernumber1]

In honor of the new Firefly comic series by Greg Pak and Dan McDaid from IDW, I thought I'd start a Firefly thread to talk about the new comics, and maybe go over the old stuff as well. I'm pretty excited to see new material after the last series from Dark Horse in 2014 (which I hated), but have some reservations.

I'm a bit torn about this. On one hand, it's nice that they're setting it during a time where all the cast is alive. On the other, it's really frustrating that they're not making a statement about whether they're going to overwrite the Dark Horse stuff. Additionally, it's nice that they're committed to a year long arc, at least, instead of the tiny shreds of stuff we got for over a decade from Dark Horse. Maybe they're trying to test the waters, and see whether it's popular enough to try to do a sequel series that overwrites or even jumps way past the Dark Horse stuff.

It feels a bit like Whedon is letting go of the reigns, since he knows that he's clearly not going to be someone to really supervise more than a miniseries every two to three years, so if someone wants to create something a lot more consistently, it's going to have to be a lot freer - so no "executive producer" credit on these comics, unlike the Buffy Seasons. We'll have to see how it goes...but honestly, I liked the first issue a lot more than the first issue of Those Left Behind.

[Rover]

I picked it up not really knowing what to expect. I didn't read the Dark Horse stories. I really had fun reading it! The character interactions and overall tone felt like an episode of the show and I love that they are centering the story around a western theme. The first issue has got me intrigued to read more.

There are a few panels where the characters faces look weird but overall the art works for me.

Which Dark Horse stories comics are worse reading?

And does anybody know the release date for #2? All I can find is December.

[millernumber1]

I picked it up not really knowing what to expect. I didn't read the Dark Horse stories. I really had fun reading it! The character interactions and overall tone felt like an episode of the show and I love that they are centering the story around a western theme. The first issue has got me intrigued to read more.

There are a few panels where the characters faces look weird but overall the art works for me.

Which Dark Horse stories comics are worse reading?

And does anybody know the release date for #2? All I can find is December.

Here's the tag on the publisher's site, with some of the info you're looking for: https://www.boom-studios.com/category/series/firefly/

I've read most, but not all, of the Dark Horse Firefly stuff. I really loathe Georges Jeanty as a penciller, and the writing for the miniseries he did wasn't something I enjoyed at all, so I don't recommend Leaves on the Wind or the one that followed.

The first miniseries, Those Left Behind, is mostly as "setup for the movie" story, and it's too compressed for my tastes. It feels like it needed at least one more, if not two more, issues, but it does have a killer ending.

I really hope that they decide to overwrite the previous stuff, depending on sales. But I guess we have a year to find that out. And a year of issues is more than we got for almost a decade!

[Rover]

Thanks for the info!

I feel like it's a universe that has such an awesome potential for more stories... It's weird there isn't a larger comics line.

Couldn't the new story co-exist with the Dark Horse stories without mentioning them? Most of the episodes from the show were basically standalone stories and I can see comics working the same way (unless Dark Horse did some major changes?)

[millernumber1]

Thanks for the info!

I feel like it's a universe that has such an awesome potential for more stories... It's weird there isn't a larger comics line.

Couldn't the new story co-exist with the Dark Horse stories without mentioning them? Most of the episodes from the show were basically standalone stories and I can see comics working the same way (unless Dark Horse did some major changes?)

I think it's clear that Dark Horse was too wedded to trying to get Whedon to co-write or at least edit/produce the comics to make a consistent or larger comics line. Thus, we only had one shorter story every two years, about. Looks like Boom is basically just asking permission and then doing it themselves, which I think is likely good...if they can get permission to actually go past Serenity.

I pretty much hated what they did with the post-Serenity Dark Horse stories - they were either boring, massively out of character, or horribly cliched - so that's why I would like to see them overwritten. But I'm not sure they'll get permission to do that, unless they get massive sales on this first year of books.

[matt levin]

My only difficulty with the new series is character depictions, in that I'm so wedded to the actors' appearances that the drawn characters "aren't them". My hope--even expectation--is that by the second or third issue, I will have 'out-grown' this fixation, so long as characters' 'voices' remain true, and can relax into fully enjoying this new series--so long overdue!

[millernumber1]

My only difficulty with the new series is character depictions, in that I'm so wedded to the actors' appearances that the drawn characters "aren't them". My hope--even expectation--is that by the second or third issue, I will have 'out-grown' this fixation, so long as characters' 'voices' remain true, and can relax into fully enjoying this new series--so long overdue!

I thought the depictions were pretty good, but they weren't exact, so I get the issue. Tie in comics always have fairly significant hurdles to face in that area, since there's no point in tying in unless they feel like the original enough.

Which is largely why I hated the Georges Jeanty Firefly comics.

[Rover]

My only difficulty with the new series is character depictions, in that I'm so wedded to the actors' appearances that the drawn characters "aren't them". My hope--even expectation--is that by the second or third issue, I will have 'out-grown' this fixation, so long as characters' 'voices' remain true, and can relax into fully enjoying this new series--so long overdue!

I think it's normal to focus on the character depictions at first because it's characters we're familiar with. What bugged me is that the artist didn't really capture Inara and River in a way that resembles the actresses...but they did a good job with the other characters. The dialogues were really 'in character' for everyone though, and that's what matters the most for me.

What do you think of the story so far?

[matt levin]

Rover, I like the verbal interactions between the characters; so far, though, not much in the way of 'story'--they basically run out of supply, 'crash' under duress. there we are, right? story just getting underway, I'd say.

[millernumber1]

So, issue #2 came out last week, and I finally got a chance to read it. Still pretty fun, though the writing felt a little less polished, and the art was a lot looser. But lots of interesting concepts - I'm really curious to see what's revealed in the next several issues about Mal and Zoe's past after Serenity Valley.

[Warnermam]

Hi, did you see him ? Black Mask calls him "Gar", and after Lynns. There is no doubt, this man is Firefly Garfield Lynns

[millernumber1]

Hi, did you see him ? Black Mask calls him "Gar", and after Lynns. There is no doubt, this man is Firefly Garfield Lynns

Wrong thread.