Hello, everyone, and welcome back to Whedonversity, our column here on Multiversity here we look at the books following the extended stories from all of our favorite Joss Whedon shows (so, everything but SHIELD). Every month, Scotland’s own Colin Bell and I will sit down to discuss the books, what we like, what we don’t like, extended continuity and all that jazz, and today we’re back with another trip to the ‘Verse in “Serenity – Leaves on the Wind” #2.
As a note, spoilers abound — both for the series, the film and this comic. However, hopefully you’ve had enough time to go to the story and pick up your own copy of the book (and if you haven’t, get going!).
Written by Zack Whedon
Illustrated by Georges JeantyForced out of hiding, Serenity’s crew gets separated, and it becomes clear that everyone looking for the outlaws is on the verge of finding them. River offers to uncover the secrets that are hidden within her in the hope that the crew might have something to bargain with.
* Buffy’s Season 8 and 9 artist conquers the galaxy!
* Zack Whedon returns to Serenity!
* The story finally continues after the film!
* Executive producer: Joss Whedon!
Matthew: Hello and welcome back to Whedonversity! Today we are looking at the release of “Serenity” #2, our second new Whedon book of the year. How exciting!
Last time, if you readers remember, Colin and I were ultra-hyped up on that sweet Whedon-y action as our favorite crew in the ‘Verse came swinging back into action.
But Colin — what did you think of round two?
Colin: I thought:
Matthew: That hardly seems like the most flattering endorsement. I take it you weren’t a huge fan?
Colin: I enjoyed it just enough. I think after the WEEEE’REEE BAAAAACK fanfare of the last month this instalment was a thoroughly solid issue, moving things along just nicely enough, without leaving me in any kind of awe.
What about you?
Matthew: Yeah, I was definitely a bit more disenchanted last time. Like, maybe I just came into the last issue with Whedon Goggles (the comic equivalent of Beer Goggles), but this issue hit me in all the right spots just a little bit less. I came away from it thinking it was solid and that I was happy with it, but I wasn’t blown away or anything; the sheer excitement and overall enthusiasm I had the first time around didn’t even come up the second, and I’m not sure if that’s an ostensibly good or bad thing.
I mean, it’s still a good comic, right? I wouldn’t say it’s bad. I just didn’t… freak out.
Colin: Agreed. AND THUS CONCLUDES THIS MONTH’S WHEDONVERSITY. Great chat, Matt!
It’s a fairly languid issue, barring maybe the closing few pages. I’ve no qualms with this, Firefly wasn’t always a non-stop action-packed 42 minutes every week. But maybe that’s where the lack of oomph is in this issue? It feels like a eight-minute act in an episode.
Matthew: Sure, and I think you’re onto something there. Maybe because it’s only a six issue series and not an ongoing, but I feel like maybe more should’ve happened overall. Like, the basic plot elements are hit and I think next issue in particular will be particularly telling to the lasting quality of the series, but tell me if you agree:
A) does it sort of feel like we’re dangerously close to retreading a variant of “Objects in Space,” and if so,
B) is that kind of a waste?
I like the return of Jubal, and we discussed last time that the comic feeling like the proper follow-up to the film, but I would hate to just have it be an extended version of “Objects” when it seems like the crew, let alone Jubal, could probably do something more interesting than argue inside a ship. Just … kinda sorta feels like a wasted comic, no?
Colin: I shall address your concerns as follows:
A) No
B) I SAID NO IT’S NOT A RETREAD MATTHEW
I’ve got enough faith in the team behind the comic to think they’re smarter than rehashing Objects in Space, and where I think it differs this time is that Jubal Early is PLAYING FOR KEEPS. That line – “…I’m going to hunt them. I’ll let someone else find them”? Ominous as all hell, and a really nice indication that the stakes are a little higher this time.
Continued belowMatthew: See, I just took that as extremely literal — especially since Jayne found them. So, yeah, he’s in it to kick a little ass and take some names, but this isn’t a dead/alive bounty, is it? He just kind of let someone else do the work so that he can get a bit of revenge mixed in.
Colin: I suppose he has taken this as a job, but am I misreading his intentions? He says he’s hunting. I take that to mean pursuing with intentions of killing. Re-reading it all, there’s been no mention by the Alliance of bringing anyone in alive.
Matthew: I guess we’ll wait and see. I mean, he has no qualms with killing since he takes out an entire ship and their crew in order to isolate the Serenity even more, but we’ll see what he has in store for the in later issues. I just hope it’s not an “Objects” retread.
But enough about Jubal. There are a few moments I’d like to address specifically. How about the return of Jayne and that seemingly being an open wound? And how are you feeling about Bea and her confrontation with Mal? Do you like Bea yet?
Colin: I don’t know if it was so much an open wound as it was Mal understandably being pissed that Jayne would take money to sell out Serenity, and lead the New Resistance to them when they were trying to hide. Mal admonishing Jayne for doing this after all they’d been through was one of my highlights of the issue, especially with Jayne’s wee sad face. Full disclosure, Jayne’s betrayal of the gang in Ariel and its fallout was pretty much when I properly fell in love with the show, so revisiting the Mal-and-Jayne-at-serious-odds trope gets my thumbs up.
And yeah, Bea got flat out shot down, eh? Must be pretty rough when your idol rebuffs you like that. The thing with Bea is that she’s got it tough as a character. She’s coming into an ensemble cast, so she doesn’t get much time to have her character built up, and even then any character she does have pales in comparison to the crew of Serenity, who we know so well from previous comics, movies and TV shows. What do we know about her so far? She’s resourceful, and she wants Mal to join the New Resistance. That’s about it. I feel there’s definitely more story to come with Bea, but I probably won’t start warming to her until I heat more of it.
Matthew: Bea seems like there’s more to the story, sure, and at one point I had it in my head that she could possibly be Mal’s kid or something, but so far I’m not particularly swayed by her as little more than a plot device — and honestly, I feel horribly saying that. Like, her role so far has essentially just been a tool through which we the reader can reconnect with the world and the crew, but she feels largely malleable rather than as someone or something that has specific import.
That, and the mini-aspect of the series hangs over her head rather largely. You’re right, we already care about everyone else (Jubal included!), and she’s coming in cold; two issues in and we know so little about her, so are we supposed to just wait for a twist reason to care, or is she going to become someone more relatable soon? (I could just be being largely unfair here, though.)
Colin: I suppose with Zoe out of commission for the time being, there’s a space in the crew to be filled. Think Bea’s up to it?
Matthew: Not particularly, no.
But that brings up a good segue: what did you think of the stuff with Zoe in this issue?
Colin: I’m no expert, but it looks like she’s going to prison. The man told her. Can’t imagine we’ll see much more of her in this miniseries. Nope.
Matthew: That’s a real committed answer there, Colin! WAKKA WAKKA.
I think the Zoe thing is an interesting turn of events, honestly. If it were in an actual film I’d question if it was something similar to how Book was dealt with in Serenity, but since it’s in the comic I wonder what the larger angle for it will be. It’s one of those weird things, though, that I question whether a separate Zoe subplot can be contained to a such a short run; I know that’s a rough thing to keep tacking onto this book, but with the various spinning plates going on I just kind of wish this was the first arc of an ongoing so I’d have more faith that we’ll see these stories get a decent amount of time to evolve and play out.
Continued belowIt’s like the thing with River, as well. Her going into her own mindscape and trying to pull out the next Miranda? That sounds like an inciting incident for a whole new season’s worth of stories, let alone something to be contained in just six issues. Heck, I’d love an issue that was literally just inside River’s mind, wouldn’t you?
Colin: That would be amazing! I was going to launch into a spiel about how they’ve only got six issues and wouldn’t want to waste one, but I don’t even care. I fully believe we could spend an issue in River’s mind and still have time to wrap up a riveting story. How do we make this happen?
Matthew: I mean, I guess we could draw it ourselves and send it to Dark Horse covered in glitter and say “Look at this present we made for you,” but that wouldn’t solve the inherent problem that we both fear there may be a few too many spinning plates. Unless, like it seems you indicate, you don’t agree with that?
Colin: Don’t make me bust out my soup analogy again Matthew.
Matthew: I’m not only going to make you bust out your soup analogy again, Colin, but I’m going to make you re-explain it within the new context now that my concern is not that it is too delicious but that I do not have enough time to finish it properly.
Colin: You’re never going to have me complain that too much is going on. I would say that the great thing about Serenity is that unlike Buffy and Angel, we don’t have five-plus years of full television seasons of stories already. There’s so much uncharted territory to explore, which is why I’m probably a tiny bit apprehensive about us going back to the well of “River has secrets” so quickly. But, I’m fairly sure I said the same about Jubal Early last month and now here I am cheering him on as he slaughters a ship to get to our favourite crew.
Matthew: Alright, alright.
So, I feel a bit bad that it got shunted so far down our discussion, but tell me, Colin: what do you think of Georges Jeanty now in issue #2 of “Serenity”? Is he better, is he worse, is he the same? What are all of your thoughts because I need to know them.
Colin: Jeanty continues to handle himself just fine. There’s a panel where Jubal Early lands on Serenity after leaping from an exploding ship and it’s just pure pop sci-fi – Laura Martin continues to make everything look better. Together with Karl Story on inks, they really are on full throttle here. I would say that although I’ve praised Jeanty’s ability to evoke the look of the characters without being uber-photo-referenced, there are some inconsistencies in the faces of the cast from panel to panel that can take me out of the reading experience a little. But then I see panels like the last one, with Early exudiing menace over a sleeping River, and Jeanty nailing actor Richard Brooks’ mannerisms down to a tee, and everything seems right with the world.
Matthew: Yeah, I think you’re right there. And I also really like how grandiose the book is. Like, not for nothing, but Buffy never really looked like this. There’s that wonderful splash page of the outlying space station with the asteroid belt that’s just so massive and epic, and it’s like, wow, I’ve never seen Jeanty really pushing himself like this within the constraints of his work in the Whedonverse before.
So, I can agree with what you’re saying about the lack of consistency in characterization at points, but damn, he is really stepping up his game. And, honestly? I can’t help but imagine that the shorter span for the series probably helps that to a certain degree; it is much more focused, there’s probably not going to be a lot of creative ennui as the book goes on. Jeanty is given the ‘Verse to play in and redefine, and even though there’s still a lot of areas in the book that are dominated by negative space, the parts where he really stretches his wings and tries something new have major pay-offs visually.
Continued belowColin: So how would you score this issue?
Matthew: I think I’m going a bit lower. 8.0 for me, teetering on the edge of a 7.9 but I like round numbers. You?
Colin: A solid “B” grade.
Matthew: Which is like an 8.5 in number value?
Colin: I refuse to put a numerical value on it. It is what it is.
Final Verdict: 8.25 – Buy!
