Will Mal defeat Kalista? Can River ever trust herself again? Can a disappointing comic series set in the Firefly universe redeem itself in the final issue?
Serenity: No Power in the ‘Verse #6 (Dark Horse Comics)
Observations
- Dang. I guess ‘Fiddler’s Green’ is Inara’s unofficial trigger phrase.
- Poor River :(
- When poop starts to hit the fan, Zoe Washburne steps up where others step in it.
- Mal is always at his funniest when he’s in the middle of getting his ass kicked.
- So…the Alliance is going to do exactly what they assumed they would.
- Uh, since when can Zoe and Bea fly?
- What? The domestic terrorists blew up a bunch of stuff without regard for collateral damage/innocent lives? Curse their sudden but inevitable betrayal!
- I can’t wait to see what happened at Fiddler’s Green…
- …or we could just talk about it.
- Nice to see Jayne finally recognizing the obvious.
- Mal better get some more super soldier kids if he wants to pull this off.
The Verdict
Mericourt did exactly what we expected her to do.
The Alliance is responding the Miranda incident by putting its boot down even harder on the outer rim planets…just like we expected them to.
River is back to being emotionally unstable, unable to trust herself, a source of major tension on the ship.
Jayne is finally embracing the fact that he cares about the Firefly crew, something that he’s done privately (but obviously) for a long time.
The only new/interesting development was Inara’s confession to Mal about a part of her past that intersected with his time in the war. It would have made for a great flashback scene or even an entire issue. Instead, got a few pages of exposition.
While I like the new conflict Serenity: No Power in the ‘Verse potentially sets up for Mal and his crew, this was an incredibly disappointing series. Considering that it was set in the Firefly universe, I’m as surprised as anyone that I didn’t like it. But despite Chris Roberson’s knack for portraying each character’s distinct voice, the story is mostly boring and predictable.
Even Georges Jeanty’s art, the series’ one consistently great aspect, had some issues. One panel in particular is sequenced in such a way that what should have been a breathtaking escape is very hard to follow. I do have to admit, however, that the combat scenes and double page explosions were still pretty amazing.
Speaking of action, Roberson choreographs those scenes exceptionally well. Combine that with his superb dialogue skills, and he might be in a better position to write a good Firefly-universe story that’s plotted out ahead of time (or maybe it was and the Firefly brain trust just screwed the pooch this time).
Whatever the case, the shortcomings in No Power in the ‘Verse were too much to overlook, even for a diehard Browncoat like me.
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