Review: Firefly #17
Creator:Â Joss Whedon
Writer: Greg Pak
Artist: Lalit Kumar Sharma
Colorist: Francesco Segala
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Reviewer:Â Tony Farina
Summary
Mal is torn between his loyalty to his crew and to his responsibilities as Sheriff. If he wants to run, he has to do it now, but Blue Sun has arrived in his sector, handing out new tech that is more curse than blessing. And that’s without going into the serial killer who has been leaving bodies all over town.
Positives
I LOVE the way this book is drawn. Seriously. Look at it. Look. Go ahead and look:
It is like a half finished sketch that is also finished. I know that is a terrible description but I have sat on this review for days trying to figure out how to express it. I just love everything about it. The shading is amazing. The colors are muted, as they should be in the verse. The way this book is drawn makes me feel like I am there, getting sand on my duster, ducking from bullets, trying to get away from whatever the baddie is. I just love it.
Greg Pak continues to prove he knows how to make Mal sound like the Mal we want. This is the most “true” to the source material in all of the Whedonverse for that reason. Pak is the man and I hope he stays around for years and years. I laugh all the time when I read this and that makes me feel like I am watching the show. Thank you sir.
Negatives
This is a Firefly book, that should have the team from Firefly, but instead, Firefly #17 has two members of the team and the rest of them out in the verse, waiting patiently. We all know Mal is not a patient man. Let’s get somewhere.
Verdict
Firefly #17 suffers from what this series has occasionally suffered from, the rest of the team isn’t it in. I love Mal and I love Inara. I love what the team is doing here, but the problem is, without the gang, the book is Mal Reynolds: Sheriff (co-staring Boss Moon). If that was the book, I would read it and like it, but I want the team. I know this is all set up to get there, but until then, I have to mark it down.
