Review: Firefly #15

Greg Pak’s Firefly run is the gift fans have been waiting years to see. Greg Pak understands the characters, conflicts and themes central to the Firefly universe. While he doesn’t attempt to parrot the humor and verbal skills found in Whedon’s work, he does understand that at its heart, Firefly is about a family.

This issue also highlights the world-building occurring through this run. Where the Firefly show was centered around battling a corrupt government, the comics are much more centered on the complexities of working in a world ruled by gangs and corporations. As is often the case for the Serenity family, what begins as a mission for wealth comes up against a desire to help people.

Mal has taken on the role of Sheriff for the Georgia Space Sector and the scheme to use this to make a profit shifts as the responsibility quickly turns real. Mal must find and stop the gunman who spared himself and his Blue Sun corporate liaison but attacked an entire village. Wash helps Zoe make peace with Malcolm’s decision to help the sector by reminding her that she too is often distracted by a desire to help friends. Malcolm, his partner Boss Moon and his liaison Agent Carpenter work to save whatever lives they can from the decimated village. He than chases away the gunman, and in the process becomes a hero to the people.

Following the battle Mal finds that Blue Sun also hired Agent Mannahata and the tech team investigating the attack. Because Mal saved the village, and more important to Blue Sun the Platinum stored there, they reward Mal with an advanced Blue Sun communicator. The communicator acts like a higher tech iphone and shows that most of the killings occurred on homesteads where Blue Sun gave out loans. They want Mal to stop the attacks to protect their assets.

This conflict is stale on the surface, but it sets up an interesting status quo for Mal. He is working to help innocents, but in doing so becoming more aligned with corporate interest and sponsorship. He is a politician who must work with immoral supporters in his hopes of achieving good for innocents.

The smaller character moments are where this book shines, and the interlude where Mal visits Inara for advice, ice-skating and banter is gold. Filling in the gaps between the television series and the Serenity film should continue to allow a wealth of opportunities for moments like this.Â The book ends again with a cliffhanger, with Mal talking to Kaylee and Jayne who have joined the Chang-Benitez Gang. Just as Mal asks them to lay low, they are attacked and their convoy blown up. The mystery of who the villains are and why they have such varied targets is left for another time.

The artwork in this series continues to astound. Lalit Kumar Sharma has an amazing ability to make every panel, expression and character feel like the television series. The artwork is exactly right for the tone of the series and what we’d want in a Firefly book. The characters are not photo-realistic as we too often see in series about media properties. This is true artistry, but still keeps the characters and locations true to the tone of the Firefly world. Similarly the colors by Francesco Segala are used perfectly and do a great job of varying the tones between scenes.

Pak and Sharma continue to tell an interesting story in the Firefly universe. It would be nice to have more attention given to characters besides Mal and Zoe. Whedon’s characters are all so well formed that it’s a shame not to spend more time with such a vast range of characters. Kaylee, Book, Inara and Jayne deserves a whole lot more focus. That being said, Pak does understand all their voices and this story is building nicely. The next few issues should reveal if Blue Sun is more problematic than Mal can see or if another enemy lurks in the shadows of these attacks. Hopefully with this comes a chance to focus further on other members of the cast.

Writing: 3.5 of 5 stars
Art: 4 of 5 Stars
Colors: 4 of 5 stars

Overall: 3.8 of 5 Stars

Writing: Greg Pak
Artist: Lalit Kumar Sharma
Colors: Francesco Segala
Letters: Jim Campbell
Cover: Marc Aspinall
Publisher: Boom Studios

Author Profile

M.R. Jafri

M.R. Jafri was born and raised in Niagara Falls New York and now lives with his family in Detroit Michigan. He's a talkative introvert and argumentative geek. His loves include Star Wars, Star Trek, Superheroes, Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, Transformers, GI Joe, Films, Comics, TV Shows, Action Figures and Twizzlers.