Firefly: Legacy Edition Book Two by Joss Whedon

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


After the movie, fans of Firefly wanted to find out what happened next and the comics were declared canon, so that seemed like a good bet. Yet, Serenity/Firefly comics had given us two mini-series set between the TV show and the movie and a graphic novel providing backstory on the Shepherd and a few free comic book day one-shots all (except for one one-shot) set before the movie.

However, with this book, we finally catch up to the crew of Serenity, as we get two six-issue miniseries and a one-shot.

Leaves on the Wind: As the first mini-series ends Zoe's expecting, a new resistance movement is looking for Mal and the crew, and Jayne has gone home. They take Zoe to a hospital to deliver and the alliance captures her, and they have to figure out how to get her back. Leaves on the Wind is just perfect. It's a worthy continuation from the movie with great art, and perfect dialogue. Jubal Early and the Operative both appear and neither appearance feels like a gimmicky fan service idea, but rather they work well in line with the entire narrative.

The Warrior and the Wind: A short story where River is babysitting Zoe's baby and tells her a story, a fairy tale about the crew of Serenity and her dad in particular. It's a beautiful, very emotional story for its short length.

No Power in the Verse: In the second mini-series, times are getting even harder for the crew of Serenity and the jobs they can get even less profitable, they come to the rescue of a friend they met in the previous mini-series and find themselves caught between a ruthless rebel leader and a dangerous new force from the alliance that has designs on River. This is not quite as good as the first story, but its still solid, with a lot of interesting twists. Some character relationships are frayed and several characters shift in significant ways (including Mal) but I think the change is realistic.

Overall, this book was just superb and left me hungry for more. I hope Boom Studios eventually follows up on the foundation laid here, because this shows there are still a lot of great Firefly stories be told even if they can't be told on screen.



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