Almost a decade after we saw Serenity fly, Zack Whedon has picked up the mantle with Buffy-comic artist Georges Jeanty to give us the next chapter in the Firefly saga. Nine months have passed since the crew revealed to all across the ‘verse that the Alliance was responsible for the creation of the Reavers, and needless to say, the Alliance is none too happy that the cat’s out of the bag.
The first issue of Leaves on the Wind won’t completely satisfy Browncoats pining evermore for the legendary sci-fi series, but then again, anyone who would expect so would be foolish to set such a bar. That’s not to say fans and newcomers will be disappointed, however, for the debut issue does exactly the job it was meant to do: catch anyone up who was left floating behind in the silence of space and whet your appetite for what’s to come. Just be prepared and breathe deeply with the knowledge that this comic serves up only a taste of the story rather than what you might expect of a full-length episode on TV.
The story begins with pundits bickering over omnipresent airwaves over whether the newsflash about the Alliance creating the Reavers, with one side fighting to keep the sort of journalistic integrity you don’t see much of nowadays in the real world when it comes to digging deep to find the real story, while the other side does their best Burne Thomspon impression out of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, snarling and painting the youth of the city as miscreants that are clearly just making a ruckus destroying public property and doing whatever else possible to be an utter nuisance. Muted chaos seems to be unfolding, but no one seems to know what to do or where to go next, given that the whereabouts of Serenity remain a mystery. Naturally, the Alliance are eager to get their hands on Mal and his crew, but they have no clue where to look, and it seems the Browncoats that are reading away are left shrugging their shoulders just the same. Even when the reader is at last taken aboard Serenity to learn more about the fate of its crew, that secret remains unknown, although perhaps it is unimportant anyway since Mal quips to River that they are simply hiding away in “some place no one ever thought to name.” A perfect first line of dialogue to set us at ease that the Cap and his crew are in good hands with Joss’ brother now at the helm — not that there was ever any doubt.
From here, we learn that River is now piloting the ship, having stabilized remarkably after both Miranda and Jayne have left the ship. Though, even with the threat looming of critical supplies dwindling into the red, Mal is intent on lying low a little while longer in order to keep his crew safe…but as the reader will surely guess, Serenity won’t be allowed to lie dormant for long.
To find out what blasts Mal and his crew back into action, support your local comic book store and grab a copy of Leaves on the Wind — Issue #1 if you haven’t already. You won’t regret it.
