Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind

As you are probably getting from other reviews there is sort of a mixed bag here. I won't be saying much different myself. What it boils down to is if you are interested in knowing what happened between the television series Firefly and the movie Serenity you get your answer here. The downside is the plot of this little graphic novel is not Joss Whedon's best.

Essentially this book puts together all three comics from the Serenity comic book mini-series that came out a little bit before the movie. The artwork is great. The dialog flows exactly as if you were watching an episode of Firefly. You also get a couple questions a few fans have been answering like how/when did Sheppard Book leave and what happened to the men with the blue gloves?

What limits the book is the main story around this. It's rather cliche and kind of comes from way out into left field. It doesn't make too much sense if you think about it and it really doesn't further the Firefly story. Keep in mind I'm talking about the main story and conflict of this series. Not those questions this series answers for fans.

So... should you buy this graphic novel or not? I say if you're a fan of the Firefly series and have the money burning in your pocket then go for it. Granted the comic book series probably has more collectable value (especially the alternate covers), but this book puts it all in one convenient place.

If you never been exposed to Firefly, but saw the movie and liked it then you got a situation because this book will answer questions you never asked, so then you're stuck with a weak plotline. You're better off saving for the Firefly DVD set, which is well worth the expense. If you never seen either the movie or the series, but are a comic fan... well just pass this one up.

...some stuff happen between the end of Firefly and the beginning of Serenity?

It's like one of those gaps in your jaw, when a tooth has broken off or a major filling has fallen out. Your tongue keeps poking with progressively growing obsession and habit, and when the dentist (I have a very friendly sone, so no dentist-jokes here!) finally fills the gap it's a great relief. Something becomes complete. Of course, it's artificial and not the real thing, but it's better than that horrible feeling of a void, of incompleteness.

This book fufills that need. I'd rather have had a load of Firefly episodes, but we can't have those, right? So, here's a filler, and as fillers go it does the job admirably. Thanks to Joss for giving us that. You're even nicer than my dentist.

Till Noever, owlglass.com, Author: KEAEN, SELDIENNA, CONTINUITY SLIP

When I ordered this book I thought it was going to be a full size novel. I was disappointed to see it only be around 50 pages, however it was a good bridge between the end of the tv show and movie.

Sorry Nathan Fillion (nice intro by him, by the way), but this is not my favorite comic book. I agree with other reviewers here, to wit: the plot isn't well-developed,and much of the story seems recycled from old episodes. Also, there's dorky comic-book dialogue and even a few Spidey-style double entendres. Do comics have to have this? Is it a genre requirement? I'd like to think not. Part of what made Firefly so special was that it rose above the usual television shlock. Why can't the comic book be better than the usual, too?

The good points include: a continuation of the story, some good dialogue sprinkled here and there, and the sense that these are (although with some curseworthy slips) the characters we know and love. Plus, I enjoyed the re-appearance of someone I love to hate, whom I'll just call "The Cyclops". Worth a read, and I will keep it, but a poor second choice to the series. If I picked it up without knowing about Firefly, I'd think it was perilous close to crap.

As a huge fan of both Serenity and Firefly I had huge hopes for this comic book, but it was poorly written, and the characters were very inconsistant.

As a dyed in the wool browncoat Firefly Serenity fan, I just had to read this. What happened between the end of 'Firefly' and the start of 'Serenity'? I've got to know. I could only find this whilst travelling overseas, it hadn't been released in Australia, or at least, I couldn't find it.

But when I did, I was mildly disappointed. Not to say the artwork or the characterisations or the storyline is to blame. The artwork is good, but it's not Jack Kirby. I'm a fan of Jack Kirby marvel comic art and much of the modern stuff just leaves me cold. The characterisations were consistent with Firefly but not especially deep. I suppose Firefly is a hard act to follow.

Reading the graphic novel I was hoping for some kind of revelation and only got a bridging episode. To put it in 'Firefly', the TV series terms, had this novel's storyline been made into a TV episode, it would not have been as mind bogglingly good as the brilliant 'Objects in Space', not even as good as 'Our Miss Reynolds', although it's more important to the whole firefly mythology than a straight action episode like 'the Train Job'. To jump across media boundaries again, all told I found it better than the very disappointing movie novelisation of 'Serenity'.

"Serenity: Those Left Behind". A decent enough story but don't expect fireworks. But in the absence of more Firefly episodes or movies, let's hope a graphic novel series emerges.

This book covers practically all the inconsistencies between Firefly and Serenity. While I thought the scripting could have been tighter in places, the overall effect was great, like having just one more chance to visit all the folks flyin' through the 'verse. Shiny!

I'm not a fan of graphic novels or comics, so I can't really judge this as an example of that sort of art form, but I was glad to have the extra story filled in between the series and the movie. To me, definitely worth having for that reason alone.

With a story by Whedon and a script by Brett Matthews, this comic is a nice treat for fans of Firefly and Serenity, but admittedly, will not fly very far with non-Browncoats. While the Serenity film was structured in such a way as to allow the new viewer to join in the `verse without too much confusion, Firefly is very much a prerequisite for "Those Left Behind." The story picks up shortly after the final episode of the series - Inara has made the decision to leave the ship but has yet to announce it to the crew, Book's discomfort with Mal's methods is growing and Jayne... well, Jayne is still Jayne. The story is a mishmash of elements from the show, including a failed heist, a new job from Badger and the coming together of three villains from the series.

When viewed in the context of the TV show and film, the comic almost feels like an afterthought. There were a few loose ends not addressed in the movie, as well as a few major status quo changes that Whedon and Matthews chose to clarify. The comic answers at least one of the big question from the show and uses that answer to dovetail directly into the film (simultaneously explaining the villain of the film and the absence of the villains from the TV show).

Matthews gives us a strong script, capturing quite well the unique rhythm, dialect and even pacing of the show. While many TV shows and movies don't translate well to the comic book page, it's not surprising that Whedon's creation makes the jump very smoothly. This is a rare show almost tailor-made to become a comic book.

The artwork by Will Conrad is passable, but suffers from the same problem as a great many film-to-comic adaptation: namely that the artist works so hard trying to replicate the features of the actors the artwork as a whole suffers. Those interpretations that don't work look even worse compared to those that do, and on the whole the designs are overly-detailed and don't quite blend with the comic book world. Comic artists need to learn from animators who do shows based on live-action properties. Rather than going for a photorealistic version of the characters, it's better to come up with designs that suggest the actors, but still fit in the artist's own style.

In the end, this graphic novel is really a love letter to the fans, something to ease the transition from Firefly to Serenity. It's worth the read for any Browncoat, but for the basic comic book fan, I couldn't recommend it if they weren't familiar with the TV show.

The illustrations are good. I'll give it that. And the overall story is not bad. But the strength of "Firefly" was never from the story but the characters and those who played them. I simply didn't think this gave the characters enough "screen time" to play out the story. It's too short. Perhaps the meat of what happens between the final episode of Firefly and Serentity is still a movie /tv show in the making... but this graphic novel does it little justice and seems more of a teaser. Particularly tantalizing as no one seems to know whether this material will ever be made into a movie/ tv program.

Regardless, as one other reviewer pointed out, if you're a "Firefly" fan it doesn't hurt to have it.