Review: Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #3
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Writer: Josh Lee Gordon
Artist: Fabiana Mascolo
Colors: Lucia DiGiamarino
Letters: Jim Campbell
Reviewer: Tony Farina
Summary
The Serenity soars once again, 20 years after the events of Firefly, and Zoe must complete the most important mission of her life: keeping her daughter Emma safe. But Emma doesn’t see herself as needing protection and aims to misbehave in ways that are mighty familiar… Which wouldn’t be such a problem if the Blue Sun Corporation hadn’t caught up to Serenity.
Positives
Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #3 does a masterful job of once again balancing old and new. Gordon reminds us why we love Serenity and also makes us care about Emma. The smart thing about it is that for years, fans have had a sense of who Emma could be. We saw her born in the Dark Horse run and now we get to see her try to be her own person. Gordon manages to make her both likeable and awful. You know, a teenager. It is pretty great writing.
I have to say I love the coloring here as well. The verse is hard to capture just right and while the artist always does a lot of work, the colorist has to make us believe it. DiGiamarino is the secret star of this series so far.
Negatives
This issue might be leaning a bit too hard on nostalgia. I love Kaylee. She is my favorite character on the show, in the movies and in the comics. Don’t get me wrong there. The issue is that there is a lot of retread here. Nostalgia is great, but you can’t give us a “new” story that is a retelling of River’s story too. I mean, there are so many beats that are just the same.
Also, I know this is a book about space and living on other planets, but I don’t care for some of the hand waving that is done to explain this mind melding thing. It is a cool way to do exposition, but I just don’t buy it.
Verdict
Firefly: Brand New ‘Verse #3 is enthralling and honestly what we all wanted for a long time. This take the idea behind the Boom reboot and cranks it up to 11. OK, maybe 8. Definitely higher than 7. All I’m saying is that, this is a good idea that is, for the most part, well executed and drawn really well. I am not sure if this whole tale will fit in three issues. Maybe it isn’t supposed to. Maybe it will be launch a new, new story. That would be OK. I would totally read that.
