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Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008 117

Posted by Zonk from the told-you-they-couldn't-take-the-sky-from-me dept.
gambit3 writes "'Serenity: Better Days' will be released as a 3 part comic in early 2008. The series is a step back in time to the early years of the Firefly crew, and the fledgling gang's turbulent attempts to cope with success after they pull off their first successful heist. It features the same creative team as Those Left Behind, with the story by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes providing all three covers this time." Ironic, considering today's brand-new poll.
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Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008 More

Firefly Lives - New Comics in 2008

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  • Blah (Score:3, Funny)

    by cephalien ( 529516 ) <benjaminlungerNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Friday December 07, 2007 @11:32PM (#21621029)
    I seem to be the minority, but I didn't find this series particularly engaging. In that context, I'm not surprised that they decided to go with a format that certainly costs less than a movie or a series, yet will still bring diehard fans in to buy it.

    • Re:Blah (Score:5, Insightful)

      by wizardforce ( 1005805 ) on Friday December 07, 2007 @11:45PM (#21621103) Journal

      I'm not surprised that they decided to go with a format that certainly costs less than a movie or a series, yet will still bring diehard fans in to buy it.
      Indeed if it fails they are not out much except the respect of many of their fans. What concerns me is that the only thing worse than no Firefly series is a badly re-animated Firefly series.
      • I have to second the motion. There is something to be said for letting something go out with a bang. It had it's run, and while we might have wished it was longer, it is done. Dragging it on has nowhere to go but down.
        • It's not like Whedon's a spring chicken when it comes to storytelling. And it only went for 13 episodes (and a movie) out of a few planned seasons, so there are obviously still stories to tell.
          • If it's anything like the ones already produced, this should rock.

            The last ones told a good story, and bridged the gap between the series and the movie. The way the characters were different in the movie actually made sense.
          • Except for Serenity pretty much slamming the door on future stories.

            The comic book series is going back in time, just like Star Trek did. I probably won't read them, not really into comic books. I'll have my kid tell me how it went.

            And for the record, I own the DVDs for both the Firefly series and Serenity.

    • Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Macrat ( 638047 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @12:23AM (#21621317)
      You only caught it on TV, right? When some episodes were dropped and played out of order? Go rent the series and watch it for real. I think you'll be surprised at what you missed.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by ghostunit ( 868434 )
        I'm of the same opinion as the gpp and did watch the entire series and the movie (I was sorta bored).

        My theory is that most fans just really like Whedon's characters, cliches and style of dialogue. If you don't know what that is, you can see it repeated exactly in Angel, Buffy and Alien:Resurrection. Examples: no one can say anything straight, it's all got to be "witty". Martial arts are for some reason the greatest power in the universe. Every character is "bad" but would do all sorts of heroics to save a
        • I don't know. I loved most of Buffy and Angel, and I was completely bored by Firefly.

          But I am also a big fan of the Aaron Sorkin years of West Wing, so I guess that fits into your witty dialog theory.

          • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

            by Fnkmaster ( 89084 )
            Weird, I'm not much of one for Buffy and think I watched one episode of Angel, but I loved Firefly.

            • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

              by Hucko ( 998827 )
              Ditto, hated Angel, meh for Buffy (girls in mini skirts is always eye-catching), but Firefly was almost British humour. I was impressed, and found the stories to be reasonably entertaining as well.

            • Weird, I'm not much of one for Buffy and think I watched one episode of Angel, but I loved Firefly.
              In other words, you are over fourteen.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by RicoX9 ( 558353 )
            Funny - I loved Firefly. Started watching Angel and bought the entire series, loved it. Went back to Buffy, bought the first 3 seasons, got bored mid-season 3 and quit watching. I would catch Buffy every once in a while when it was on the air, but it didn't catch my attention then either.

        • Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Insightful)

          by crashfrog ( 126007 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @03:52AM (#21622215) Homepage
          Yeah, count me another one who never saw the series until the DVD, saw them in order, whatever. I found it hackneyed and corny. Space-guns that make laser sounds, but look exactly like period Western firearms? Every space hooker has a heart of gold, particularly if they work at the Heart of Gold in an episode called "Heart of Gold"? And what the hell was with that assassin dude in the last episode? ("Am I a lion"? What? I was as confused as the doctor guy. Who the hell wrote that shit?)

          Space/western fusion could be cool, and is, but Whedon seemed to only combine the parts of space opera and westerns that were lame and didn't make any sense outside of their genre. And also - yes, we've all seen Gina Davis in "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and watched "Dark Angel." We know that crazy amnesiac chicks who escape from government facilities have always been trained as assassins. Was there anybody in the entire world who didn't guess everything about River's back story after the second episode? That person is an idiot, if so.

          Hackneyed, predictable, cliched, generic. There was nothing about Firefly that ever deserved its praise, which is why it had one season and BSG's coming back for a fourth. Cowboy Bebop is still the best space western show out there.

          • Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Interesting)

            by Fweeky ( 41046 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @10:27AM (#21623697) Homepage

            Space-guns that make laser sounds, but look exactly like period Western firearms?
            They didn't make me think "laser", they made me think "guns in the future use a different mechanism to propel their bullets". *shrug*.

            Every space hooker has a heart of gold
            Hm? There are maybe 4 fleshed out enough to make a vague assessment; two of them are trained "Companions" and not exactly hookers, one's a double-crossing bitch and one shoots the father of her child in the face at point blank range in front of him.

            "Am I a lion"? What?
            He's a nutcase. Like many nutcases he probably has some sort of auditory processing or sensory integration disorder (which would explain much of his other odd behavior). He mishears Simon and thus a non sequitur is born when he repeats what he thought he heard back. This isn't uncommon in real life.

            Interesting characters like this was the entire point of Firefly for me. If you wanted a western, I can perhaps see why you were disappointed; I've never liked westerns.

          • "Am I a lion"?

            I'll grant you many of the episodes were really corny, and some were poorly done, but honestly I found "Objects in Space" to be one of the most well-written pieces of television I'd seen in years. Jubal made a fantastic counterpoint to River in that show, which itself was an exploration of the way in which we bring meaning to ourselves and the people and things we interact with -- as well as the ways in which that existentialism can be twisted when applied towards an end. The bounty hunter

          • Firefly is about Love. In point of fact. It's about people who do for each other, and ain't always looking for the advantage. If you can't see that, all you'll see is cowboys in space. You think that's a commentary on you?
            • Firefly is about Love.

              Love is a timeless, universal theme. If Joss Whedon wanted to have a show about love, he could have set it in Los Angeles. If he wanted to tell a story about love than that's what he should have done, not obscured the story with bad choices that failed the genres he tried to draw upon.
              • If he wanted to tell a story about love than that's what he should have done, not obscured the story with bad choices that failed the genres he tried to draw upon

                He DID tell a story about love. It's just not about sex. It's a story about a Doctor who sacrifices every earthly possession to go rescue his sister. It's about family. It's about trusting others with your life; it's about living at the corner of no and where, and yet be rich for what you have with each other. Sorry if it was burried too deep fo

                • It's a story about a Doctor who sacrifices every earthly possession to go rescue his sister.

                  Again, that story could have happened anywhere. When Whedon cribbed parts of it from The Painted Veil it happened in China. And it would have been a better story without the inclusion of distractingly lame elements like laser popguns that look like peacemakers, etc.

                  Look, you're a fanboy. I get it. A brownshirt- oops, excuse me, browncoat. It's not going to be possible for you to genuinely grapple with any criticism o

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by SanityInAnarchy ( 655584 )

          Martial arts are for some reason the greatest power in the universe.

          Ok, this one I take issue with. Did you not see the gunfights?

          And River is not a weapon because she's good at martial arts. She's a weapon because she can read minds, even unconsciously -- her martial arts (and gunplay, when she has a gun) are impossibly perfect.

          So the rest of your points, I could debate for quite awhile, but it's really more a matter of opinion. (Example: Everyone does not always have to say it "witty", they do because

          • That was one of my favorite seens in the show. Those few minutes showed more about their characters than most shows display in a season.
        • I have to say that I completely disagree- like battlestar and farscape firefly was a show that relied on atmosphere and characters rather than the good guys going after bad guys routine and did an incredible job of it- also on a more nerdly front one thing that I love is that firefly was one of the few shows that had no sound effects in space- which actually added to the atmosphere and suspense.

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by samkass ( 174571 )
        There was only 1 episode out of order, and I happen to think The Train Job made a better first episode than episode 1. The "dropped" episodes weren't dropped from the middle of anything... they're the ones that never aired because the show was canceled.

        I agree-- buy the DVDs. Best DVD set evar, and great commentary (I love that they brought the costume designer in for a couple of them). But still, don't oversell its presentation of the storyline. It's pretty much the same as you saw on TV (right down to

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          by Parafilmus ( 107866 )

          There was only 1 episode out of order...
          Actually, several episodes were shown out of order. FOX aired them in this sequence: 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 4, 5, 9, 10, 14, 1

          (Wikipedia provides the air dates here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Firefly_episodes [wikipedia.org])

          By putting episodes in the right order, the DVD set improved things considerably.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by samkass ( 174571 )
            I'd agree with you except for the first episode. It's the one place I agree with FOX... the original episode 1 was too heavy-handed, slow and obvious. Episode #2 introduced a lot of the concepts in a more entertaining way, and I think developed the characters much more quickly.

            When I introduce Firefly to new folks from Episode 1, I almost feel like I have to apologize for how slow and disjoint the episode seems. Episode 2 is fun and flies along.

      • Re:I bet you really didn't see the series (Score:5, Insightful)

        by unsigned integer ( 721338 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @02:38AM (#21621911)
        Also, the director commentary (Joss) for many of the episodes is great to listen to. I enjoyed 'Objects in Space' *more* after watching some of the hows and whys coming from Joss as the episode played along. It was really quite engaging.

        You can see the basis for the long opening continuous shot in 'Serenity' at the end of this episode - something you don't /appreciate/ until you realize there were no cuts, no different cameras ... all one take. It was so subtle and well done that I hadn't realized what Joss was doing (had done) until he mentioned it in the commentary.

        Firefly, canceled before finishing a full season. Does that seem right to you?
        • >Firefly, canceled before finishing a full season. Does that seem right to you? Best comment evar!

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by dpastern ( 1077461 )
          I know...Joss has copped a bad hiding from the TV studios - he's consistently produced brilliant shows, all for nought. Lucas can provide a shitty script for any of the new Star Wars shows and they sell like hotcakes, Joss produces very well written scripts, thoughtful direction, excellent acting from his cast, on a shoestring budget and gets screwed over.

          In my eyes, Joss is the best talent in Hollywood, he just is so imaginative and doesn't conform to what Hollywood wants that this gets in the way of him
    • I suggest Kenny G to engage your enthusiasm.

    • Christina Hendricks on AMC's Mad Men (Score:4, Informative)

      by mosel-saar-ruwer ( 732341 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @03:38AM (#21622155)

      Most slashdotters are probably aware that Morena Baccarin showed up on Stargate SG1, and that Jewel Staite is the new doctor on Stargate Atlantis, and some might even be aware that Summer Glau did a stint on CBS's The Unit, but the one who really caught my eye was Christina Hendricks, as the ne'er do well called "Saffron":

      http://www.entil2001.com/series/firefly/season1dvd/ff1-6p2.jpg [entil2001.com]

      So if you liked her work on Firefly, then you might be interested to learn that she's now got a gig as "Joan Holloway", the head of the secretarial pool, on AMC's "Mad Men":

      http://weblogs.variety.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/31/joan.jpg [variety.com]


      Let's just say that she's everything you remember from Firefly and then some.

      Hubba. Hubba.

      • and some might even be aware that Summer Glau did a stint on CBS's The Unit,

        True story:

        Last week I had the television turned on to Fox (I think NFL football) and wasn't paying attention to the commercials. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Summer Glau (speaking in a "not quite right" way) in a promo for a new Fox science fiction-y type show. My hopes shot up through the two apartments above mine.

        Could it be true? Is Fox bringing back Firefl...

        It turned out to be a promo for Fox's new show Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles [wikipedia.org] . Glau plays a Terminator sent back in t

        • I did virtually the same thing . . . In what has to be their first intelligent move, Fox must have been targeting Firefly fans - it was just too perfect. Of course, it is consistently evil to do so only to dash our fragile and easily-raised hopes. :-(
      • Hendricks has also done a couple episodes of NBC's new show Life. She's playing Damian Lewis' soon to be trophy wife stepmom.
  • An electric bugaloo... is that like a cattle pod with more interesting options?

  • Better Days (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cybrpnk2 ( 579066 ) on Friday December 07, 2007 @11:55PM (#21621167) Homepage
    I wish with all my heart they had made "Better Days" as a movie and "Serenity" as the comic. Firefly was the very best SF show ever on TV. To have short-circuited its comeback as they did with making the movie so very harsh was IMHO a wasted chance at a relaunch. Fot those of you that haven't yet gotten what all of the fuss is about, hey, Christmas is coming, get the DVD [amazon.com] as a present to someone else and give it one more try. Firefly is the American Western mythos of the past presented in a Space-Age future. We need to remember the vibes it resonates on now more than ever.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by BlueF ( 550601 )
      Couldn't agree more!

      Firefly was the very best SF show ever on TV
      Serenity was such a huge disappointment after watching the show... Even more so considering that was the last we'll likely ever see in series/movie format.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Shimmer ( 3036 )
        Amen.

        Like the Star Wars prequels, Serenity was so bad that it retroactively ruined the original series for me. The character of River, for example, lost all her charm. I can't watch the TV shows anymore.

  • Meh! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by solios ( 53048 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @12:53AM (#21621515) Homepage
    I liked Buffy, I loved Firefly. I like comics. I make comics (okay not for a living thank gawd but that's not the point). The Buffy comics, in my opinion, are nowhere nearly as good as the series was. Could be pacing, could be the layouts (they don't help), could be the fact that one issue of the comic seems to cover a bizzaro combination of a quarter of an episode and half a season. Whatever it is, it's lacking.

    So, meh. I don't want an artist's attempt at facsimiles of Mal and Jayne - I want more Nathan Fillion and Adam Baldwin. With shows like BTVS and Firefly, my enjoyment doesn't come from the script. The script is corn. My enjoyment comes from the actor's execution of that script. In comics, you don't have an actor giving a performance - you have a penciller (and then an inker, then a colorist) executing their impression of what they think the writer is trying to convey.

    I hobby in comics, I've done bit parts in short films and web serials, I've made my own shorts - a great - or even a good - actor can make a passable pulp script a cult phenomenon. Anthony Stewart Head and Nathan Fillion are great examples of this. You cut down the creative team (as opposed to scale UP the creative team), and something gets lost in the process.

    It's one thing to turn a comic book into a TV series or a movie - going the other way has always felt like a giant step backwards - not only do you lose the acting, you lose the cinematography and the editing, And even if all of that wasn't an issue, there's the fact that individual comic issues are as saturated with ads as a nuclear reaction chamber is with radiation - and with comics, the shift in visual style between comic content and ad content is even more jarring than it is with television ads or movie previews.

    So, it might be good but as far as I'm concerned it won't actually be Firefly. If I'm lucky it'll be available in trade paperback by the time I'm finished with my reading list of comics that only exist as comics (currently plugging through The Invisibles as the spare change permits).

    • The Buffy comics, in my opinion, are nowhere nearly as good as the series was. Could be pacing, could be the layouts (they don't help), could be the fact that one issue of the comic seems to cover a bizzaro combination of a quarter of an episode and half a season. Whatever it is, it's lacking.

      Completely agree. I described them -- to a comic book store owner, as I was purchasing Angel: After The Fall -- as reading like bad fan fiction. He seemed to agree. I'm terribly disappointed that these are the officia

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Toonol ( 1057698 )
        I half agree with you; the Angel comic is just as you described, bad fanfic. It also is cursed with terrible art. I don't know if I'm going to pick up any more issues. If I do, it will be just to keep my kids happy.

        But I think the Buffy comic, particularly the last arc with Faith, is excellent in all the ways the Angel comic isn't. It really captures the feel of the show for me.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Nar Matteru ( 1099389 )
      Well yeah, but moreso because people tend to fall in love with something the first way they experience it and less because of the acting (at least imo anyways) The acting and music does play a big part though. But this nonsense of people predicting its horribleness and claiming he's "taking the easy road" is just that, nonsense. And... I thoroughly enjoyed Those Left behind. True, it wasn't as good as the show, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Saying that something is horrible and planning to pirate it just

    • Re:Meh! (Score:5, Interesting)

      by freeweed ( 309734 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @01:38AM (#21621725)
      a great - or even a good - actor can make a passable pulp script a cult phenomenon. Anthony Stewart Head and Nathan Fillion are great examples of this

      Man, I wish I could mod you +1000.

      Sorry folks. I love Joss. Seriously love pretty much all the man has ever done. But without his cast, his work isn't 1% as good. Joss writes good. With the right actors he writes GREAT. Every comic I've read based on Whedon work has seemed like a sad attempt to cash in on a hot franchise.

      Then again, I'm not into the 250 Star Wars Universe novels released every year, even though I love the movies. So take what I say with a mountain of salt. I'll hand in my Comic Book Guy badge now :)

      • I'm pretty anti grammar Nazi ( and anti hyphen, but thats another diatribe), but it does warm my heart when fans say things like "Joss writes good." The Freudian slip of grammar in that statement is unbelievably awesome. I couldn't have said it gooder myself.
      • There's something to be said about a writer/producer being good at picking talent. It's true that bad actors could have ruined the series, but Joss probably deserves a bit of credit for casting well. Just look at the difference between Star Wars episodes 4-6 and 1-3. Same writer, but one series was great and the other was trash, in large part (in my mind at least) due to the casting.

        • Er, another important bit is that in between, he went bat$#!7 insane.
          http://www.hanshootsfirst.org/ [hanshootsfirst.org]
          Need I say more?

          It is true that both Anakins were atrocious . . . however, recall that Lucas really liked them! If his taste changed that much, his writing could have too! (Granted, he's never been good at dialogue . . . another major reason the originals were better is that Lucas got some help for Ep. V & VI - Lawrence Kasdan [wikipedia.org] and Leigh Brackett [wikipedia.org]. As part of the new insanity for 1-3, he backed away

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      You're missing a lot with the existing comic. I bought the hard cover which had more art and the forward written by Fillion. Not only was a it a good story that did help bridge the gap to Serenity the movie, but they preserved much of the feeling those actors gave onscreen, the aura of their characters. I've never watched Buffy, never read those comics, I don't know how good or bad they are, but if you liked the Firefly series and the movie, you're really doing yourself a disservice by not picking up the

    • comics already exist... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Joe the Lesser ( 533425 ) on Saturday December 08, 2007 @02:39AM (#21621919) Homepage Journal
      Um, if you weren't aware, there was a firefly comic book already released years ago after the show but before the movie, that dealt with the timeline between the two.

      The characters were drawn as the actors, and it was very well done, with a forward by Nathan Fillion.

      Obviously not as good as the return of the show, but so long as the series makes profit off the air there is a chance it will return in some form or fashion.

      Check it out [wikipedia.org]
      • I've never been interested in Buffy books, Angel books, Star Trek books, Star Wars books, or any such thing.

        I don't know if that's because it just isn't the actors, or because I was traumatized at a young age by Splinter of the Mind's Eye.
  • I loved FF as much as the next sci-fi fan. I watched the entire series several times. But, IMO, prequels are the last vestige of the marketing department. That one last chance to generate some revenue. Just let it go guys so I can grieve and get some closure.
    • That's why every stories should begin at the beginning : so that no one can possibly be tempted to make prequels...

      But unfortunately, I don't think even the bible is prequel-proof.

    • There's actually a past. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by SanityInAnarchy ( 655584 ) <ninja@slaphack.com> on Saturday December 08, 2007 @06:13PM (#21627137) Journal
      Most prequels suck, I think, because there's really no reason for them. They've run out of things to do in sequels, and they're looking for another direction to expand that universe, but it doesn't work, because it kind of ruins the originals. (Example: Star Wars. It's kind of hard to watch the originals after watching the prequels, and kind of hard to watch the prequels, period.)

      But think about it -- the first few minutes of Serenity were a prequel, after all. And there actually is a ton of story there, maybe written out, maybe not.

      Example: What did Book do before he was a Shephard, and why does the Alliance like him so much? Where else can you find out, except in a prequel or a flashback?

      How did Mal come to side with the Independents, anyhow? Why did Inara leave House Madrassa? Why was the Alliance formed?

      I'd much rather have a sequel, but unlike you, I'm not ready to kill it off. I want more Firefly, because I'm convinced the show was good enough that it wouldn't jump the shark. Think about it -- would Firefly really suck as much as Star Trek did after 7 seasons?

      • Example: What did Book do before he was a Shephard, and why does the Alliance like him so much? Where else can you find out, except in a prequel or a flashback?

        That's the biggest mystery of the series (OK, it's as obvious that he was a hunter-killer like the guy in Serenity as it was that River was trained as a super-assassin early in Firefly . . . but there's no *solid* evidence, and it *could* be anything), and one of the things I am most dying to know more about . . . but it's also the most important one to leave mysterious, because that's where it gets its power. It was awesome to slowly realize what we can surmise during my first viewing of Serenity, thoug

        • but it's also the most important one to leave mysterious, because that's where it gets its power.

          Any other show, any other writer, and you'd be right.

          But look at River. Her mystery was powerful, wasn't it? Poor, crazy little girl, what did they do to her in that hospital... slowly finding out over the series, and then, explosively, fully realized in the movie. And just as powerful, just as tragically beautiful -- her theme song in the movie is a broken, slightly out-of-tune piano.

          Ask yourself: Is River

  • I mean, c'mon, every other fan favorite TV series has had a line of traditional novels. When will there be a Firefly series??
    • Be careful for what you wish! Most of the TV-series-inspired novels of which I can think have been terrible . . . although if Whedon was given veto power, I'd trust him, I guess.
  • Nice to see Firefly in the headlines again. I liked the series, got it after hearing people on slashdot continuously talking about it ;) It is something totally different for a sci fi series, not that the cowboy part of it appeals to me. It's different because it's the first (that I've seen) that bothers about the little guy, the white trash, the petty crooks and FINALLY the deal with weapons in space making sound. And there's something surreal about the way the way the ship moves, the shots of it are amazi

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