Comic Books

Firefly #1 Review

A solid start to what could be a wonderful continuation of the Firefly franchise.

November 13, 2018

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For Firefly fans like myself, news of a new comic series being written by Greg Pak is wonderfully welcome news. Let’s see if BOOM! Studios steps off on the right foot stewarding our beloved franchise, shall we?

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First Read Reactions

Man, I forgot how good it was to listen to Mal and Wash bicker about whatever mechanical crisis was currently besetting Serenity.

River: Still weird. Still awesome.
Gotta love it when Wash forces Mal to visualize his intimate moments with Zoe.
Kaylee and Wash make one heck of a team.

Never doubt Inara’s knowledge base, especially when it comes to backwater planets.
If there’s any way to get Jayne’s attention, it’s to awkwardly insult his mother.
Something tells me the leader of this religious group and Shepard Book are not going to get along.

As if having to relive the worst parts of the war weren’t bad enough, now you find out the war is still chasing you.

The Verdict

Looks like we’ve got a winner on our hands so far.

I’m not a huge fan of artist Dan McDaid’s line work, but he has a superb sense of storytelling that complements Greg Pak’s script extremely well.

And speaking of Pak, he absolutely nails all the characters’ voices, particularly those of Mal and Wash. Watching them bicker with each other over the state of a distressed Serenity was truly a delight to see again.

And although the narration occasionally gets bogged down in techno-babble (which doesn’t translate nearly as well in comic form as it did on screen), the story in Firefly #1 is typical of what made the show great. The main plot line of the Serenity crew escorting a religious pilgrimage is buttressed by even more interesting subplots, particularly the one that promises to explore one of my favorite aspects of the television series that I wish we’d seen more of: Mal and Zoe’s time together as soldiers.

So while I still desperately wish for Firefly to return to television some day, Pak and McDaid’s new series with BOOM! might be just what us Browncoats need to tide us over. It’s not perfect, but much like the ship Serenity, the series looks like it has the right type of juice to keep flying.