Serenity: Those Left Behind
By Joss Whedon & Brett Matthews
Reviewed by Munawar Mobin
Firefly was a television show created by Joss Whedon which successfully combined the gritty Western world with exploration and exploitation of space and technology, and it turned out to be one hell of a story about space cowboys. The show followed the adventures of Captain Mal and his crew, as he scraped just enough money to keep his ramshackle but hardy ship, Serenity, flying, by taking on and participating in criminal activities.
Serenity: Those Left Behind was a comic book series published in 2005, by Joss Whedon himself, intended to bridge the gap left behind by the undeserved cancellation of Firefly and the movie, Serenity. The comic series was made in the hope that it would give fans further closure from the terrible events of the schedule mix-ups 10 years ago.
The comic book brings fans another picture to the already colourful backdrop of the short lived television series. The comic starts off with Mal on one of his jobs when he gets interrupted and the plan goes haywire. Old characters like Badger and federal agent Dobson make a comeback. Badger is his old sleazy businessman slash crook self and Dobson (an agent Mal had shot and thought he had killed) is portrayed as your classic obsessed killer with bad intentions fuelled by the usual medium in every story: revenge.
River plays an important side role during the three-issue series, and her 'two by two, hands of blue' situation further develops.
If you're a Browncoat, reading the comic will play tricks on you with the same feelings you got when you were first hooked onto the TV series. Joss Whedon manages to hold true to his usual story telling as the feeling of 'great potential being lost unexpectedly and unfairly' will hit the Browncoat reader hard in the face.
The artwork is superb, although Inara doesn't look too much like Morena Baccarin but Mal looks exactly like Nathan Fillion. Serenity: Those Left Behind is a great bridge and is indefinitely successful in answering a few vital questions about the film and what could've been the possible future of the Serenity crew.
