Adam Graham's Blog: Christians and Superheroes - Posts Tagged "serenity"

Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Those Left Behind fills a gap between the end of Firefly and the movie Serenity. Firefly ended with Inara deciding the ship and the film opened with both Inara and the Shepherd gone.

It's great to see the crew of the Serenity in action in any form. That said, I think this book is okay. There's a reason that this wasn't part of the movie because the story isn't all that interesting particularly in terms of the job they go on. Mal is probably is at his bitterest and least likable. At three issues, the story had little room to breathe with a character call back that's not all that interesting.

The best part of the book is the Shepherd's struggle with his relation to the crew and how having spent so much time with him might be drawing him away from living a proper Christian life. Yet, this element is given short shrift.

Again, it's okay, it fills in a gap, but beyond that, it's nothing special



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Better Days and Other Stories by Joss Whedon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book collects the three issue story, "Better Days" as well as three shorts published in 2008 and 2010.

In, "Better Days," the crew appears to have struck it rich. However, Inana accidentally puts not only the money, but the crew's life at stake when a client of her's gets under the impression that Mal is a Dust Devil, someone who fought on the war on the side of the Independents and continued to fight using terrorism.

This is a good story that captures the feel of a typical episode of Firelfy. It's not a great episode, but a good one.

In, "The Other Half," the crew is defending a stagecoach for a client who is secretly scheming to sell them out.

"Downtime," finds the crew snowbound and having a typical day in the life. The story plays for laughs the design of the infirmary as being totally open with no privacy curtains. And of course some people get killed because Firefly.

Finally, we get, "Float Out," whcih was written by Patton Oswalt and finds three friends of Walsh memorializing him. This is the first comic set after the movie and has a nice emotional feel.

Overall, these are worth additions to the Firelfy canon and worth a read for fans of the series.



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The Shepherd's Tale by Joss Whedon

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


We, at last, learn the true origin of Shepherd Book. It examines the decisions that lead to his joining the crew of Serenity and ultimately his end in the movie. It takes a look at short vignettes and moves chronologically backwards through his life to reveal this.

So many questions are answered in a brief book that gives the character explanation without overwhelming with too many details or storylines.

Overall,a great book for Firefly fans.



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