'Serenity: Float Out' comes out this week - Firefly&Serenity

Well, it kind of confirmed what I think most of us thought anyway, right? First to post! Wow.

I have to wait 2 hours for my shop to open before I can witness such glory. Blasted time. You're always my adversary.

"Well, it kind of confirmed what I think most of us thought anyway, right?"

Sorry, I missed that staff meeting where we all got together and discussed what most of us thought....

So did you like it or dislike it, and for bonus points, why?

mbeauparland | June 03, 16:39 CET

Spoilers: The mystery "guest" is none other than Mrs. Zoe Washburne herself and this character has a bun, of the female variety, in her oven. =D

Matt7325 | June 03, 17:38 CET

Ah so that's the future they were hinting at.

Simon | June 03, 17:43 CET

Such a well written issue! And the art was fantastic! I really hope Joss and crew tap Patton for more Serenity/Firefly related work.
The additional "lil Reaver" comic was cute also.

Astonishing_Chaos | June 03, 18:41 CET

Holy crap, is that amount of ads typical? 24 pages of story and 11 pages of ads, not even including the back cover.

Nice last set of pages but the rest of it mostly felt like filler as a pretense to have those ending pages. Hopefully the Shepherd Book book finally delivers the goods on Firefly in comic form.

guardian_owl | June 03, 18:47 CET

Hmmmm.....I really wanted to like this. But it did feel like a big twist preceded by lots of pages of characters we didnt know telling us stuff we already knew (Wash was funny,Wash was loyal and Wash was a great pilot)

I didnt learn anything new about him.Which was dissappointing.

But having said that, if the revelation that Zoe is pregnant with his child means that there is could be more stories to be told in this verse...well then I would be very happy.Come on Serenity ongoing!!!

angeliclestat | June 03, 19:03 CET

It wasn't quite what I was hoping for. It wasn't bad, perse, but I think it suffered from having unknown characters tell us all the stuff we already knew about Wash. I didn't feel like it advanced his story, even postumously. The "two special guest stars" seemed to be randomly tacked on at the end, and the tone was also very down and lacking in that "Firefly-esque" spark that made the show so enjoyable.

That said I think it was well written and given time I might even come to enjoy the new characters that were introduced. I'd definately give him another shot at the 'Verse, but this felt more like a place holder for future stories.

I'd give it a B/B-

mbeauparland | June 03, 20:52 CET

Yeah, too much from the storytellers and not enough (new) Wash story. Probably too much pent-up Firefly demand made me impatient to get past these new dudes and onto some action -- 7 pages in before we see Wash! I did like the artwork, and had a few chuckles.

Parabola | June 03, 21:01 CET

I liked it. But I think it would have been better if the stories were told from the POV of the Serenity crew instead of Wash's old buddies. Telling it from the perspective of Mal and Jayne, etc. would have given us an inherent connection to what they were saying because we already know the Serenity crew.

If that makes sense...

jesse | June 03, 21:10 CET

Hm. Debating whether to buy it or not now....such mixed reviews.

Nicole | June 03, 21:23 CET

Disappointing. I knew that this was going to take place pre-Firefly, but I was still unhappy with the amount of the time we spent with original characters. Wash spoke very little, and when he did, he wasn't funny. I don't think Patton Oswalt has the voice of Wash or the 'verse down. I was surprised by the twist at the end. I hope it's integrated into future Firefly comics that take place post-Serenity. That was the only redeeming part.

racheltng | June 03, 21:56 CET

I was disappointed, I expected Patton Oswalt to be a better story teller, but the unknown characters remain unknown/uninteresting and the stories came out in a choppy/confusing way that lacked humor or emotion (and as others have said, didn't really tell us anything new about Wash). Frankly I'd hoped for something about Wash's origins/background.

I did enjoy seeing Zoe & her unborn daughter... but that seemed to be the only real hook here (kinda too little too late IMO).

I think it is worth having just to have the complete set of all things Firefly/Serenity related, but I was disappointed. If there had been a story wherein geese were juggled...THEN I would have been thrilled!

[ edited by embers on 2010-06-03 23:36 ]

embers | June 03, 23:06 CET

mbeauparland: sorry, I was just thinking things through at the time - obviously there was no meeting, but I had the feeling that quite a lot of people thought that twist that the end was a likely part of the ongoing nature of the 'verse as we know it.
I didn't love it, but I like it. Zoe looked kinda scary.
More Balinese shadow puppets!

minime | June 03, 23:32 CET

You know, I thought about this a lot and I don't think it is a BAD comic. It's just not what fans want at this stage.

Here's something which interests me: with Buffy, it seems like some fans want the characters to be what they know. To be Buffy, to be Angel, to be Xander. With Serenifly, it's more 'We get the character love. Show us something new'. That's a testament to the show. And the fan base.

[ edited by gossi on 2010-06-03 23:49 ]

gossi | June 03, 23:37 CET

Good anaylsis - I agree

minime | June 03, 23:44 CET

Just read this, and...

I found myself bored. Sad to say. I didn't enjoy reading paragraph, after paragraph, about Wash flying ships. The art was great though! And Wash had a few funny lines that made me giggle.(Him using his dinosaur as a therapist. Epic.)

Even if most of this issue's story is a bit boring, the ending made up for it... Completely. Zoe! She was the amazing guest appearance, I take it? At first I was like, "Well, why is Zoe there?" And then the next page I'm going, "O.M.F.G!" -Spaz- "OMG!" -Dies- It was what we were all hoping: Zoe has a baby belly. And it's a girl, apparently, in there!

Overall, I'd give it a 7/10. Good art, some good lines, and a great ending. A nice send-off to Wash. He will live on in his daughter. BUT a bit slow, for me.

Fred_Sonja | June 04, 00:10 CET

I knew that this was going to take place pre-Firefly

You mean post-Serenity.

I enjoyed it. And nothing in it contradicts the plot of my still-undrawn submission to serenitytales.com, part of which also takes place post-movie. ;)

Speaking of, the "littlest Reaver" comics in the letters section are by Mike Russell, the guy behind serenitytales.com.

The One True b!X | June 04, 02:57 CET

Also, bonus points for whoever leaked a fake spoiler about this that had be bummed that I knew something. Because it turned out not to be what happens.

The One True b!X | June 04, 02:58 CET

Got the issue today. It was a nice little story. And an interesting final page! I wasn't thrilled, but I liked it.

5X5B | June 04, 03:11 CET

I thought it was really good.
Oswalt managed to capture the 'verse without making it appear as a caricature, which was my biggest fear.
As to the last page, I'm interested to see where that goes.

Tyler823 | June 04, 04:15 CET

Ok, I'm probably a big huge idiot, but...who is Patton Oswalt? Other than the "rose porn" guy from Dollhouse, I mean.

Everyone's been raving about him, so excited he was in Dollhouse, now he's writing Firefly comics, and...I'm clueless.

ShadowQuest | June 04, 07:42 CET

I found it completely boring. I haven't been a huge fan of the Serenity comics thus far and this would have to be the worst to date. Really don't have anything positive to say sadly.

Kaan | June 04, 08:46 CET

ShadowQuest: Patton Oswalt is a really brilliant stand-up comedian , who has written more than one comic book (more than just this one), and he did a great job in Dollhouse.... Other than that I've got no information.

embers | June 04, 13:12 CET

I agree with the majority that I would have preferred the stories of Wash to have been told by the Serenity crew, but it was an interesting read. And I, like several others, am proud to say I totally called Zoe being pregnant - several years ago, actually. I walked out of the cinema after seeing Serenity, and said to my friend, "I bet if we see anything that takes place after this, Zoe will have had or be carrying Wash's baby."

Now if my other post-Serenity prediction (Jayne and River hooking up and having crazy, angry sex) would be proven correct, I could die a happy man. :D

[ edited by Scruffy on 2010-06-04 13:27 ]

Scruffy | June 04, 13:25 CET

I loved it, and quite enjoyed the storytelling device of the characters we didn't already know. I did not really like the Augie comics.

espalier | June 04, 16:26 CET

ShadowQuest, aside from all of what embers mentioned, Oswalt's also been a frequently recurring guest star on United States of Tara (wrapping up its second season this Monday), wrote for the first couple seasons of MADtv back in the mid-`90s, wrote a few episodes for a few other comedy shows/sitcoms, voice acted in a bunch of cartoons (most notably as the lead Remy in Pixar's Ratatouille), and played bit parts in guest spots in numerous films and TV comedies, as well as a main part on the sitcom The King of Queens (didn't watch, though I'm aware that lead Kevin James has a ton of fans). More recently he's gotten acclaim for starring in the film Big Fan and I'm also noticing in his IMDB credits that he's been in four episodes of Caprica.

Around here, I think he's well-known/well-liked moreso due to how much love he has for Joss Whedon's works as a fan himself (Firefly/Serenity, at least, dunno if he's admitted to being a big Buffyverse fan, think he might've mentioned Dr. Horrible though) and how enthusiastic he was about adding this story to the 'verse.

Kris | June 04, 18:07 CET

Kris, embers Ta. I just felt like I was missing something, since everyone was raving about him being on "Dollhouse" and I had no idea who he was.

The 'verse just keeps expanding, doesn't it?

I have nothing to say about the comic, since I'm not reading any of them, but I will say that when I watched "Heart of Gold" I was fully expecting a baby subplot at a later point. How would Mal react? Would they be worried about River? I can totally see Kaylee babysitting, and actually think Jayne might soften a bit around the tyke.

ShadowQuest | June 04, 23:08 CET

ShadowQuest,

Think Mal would panic while saying nobody panic.

Anonymous1 | June 05, 05:32 CET

I got the ones with Wash only on the cover. Like that one better. Did everyone notice the big shadow of the dino on the back of the front cover. I didn't notice that at first.

It says on that page "For Alan Tudyk, for making us believe a man can fly. A spaceship."

Anonymous1 | June 05, 06:32 CET

Also amusing that it says "part 7 of a series" on the inside front cover.

The One True b!X | June 05, 06:36 CET

The One True b!X,

Yeah, I noticed that too. I thought 7 what? But I guess
if you count each comic you get 7. I don't tend to think of them as separate comics anymore.

Serenity: Those left Behind 3
Serenity: Better Days 3
Serenity: Float Out 1

Anonymous1 | June 05, 06:41 CET

Meanwhile, one story missing from this comic's tales of Wash's amazing adventures is how in Serenity: The Other Half on MySpace Dark Horse Comics Presents, he managed to shoot down Reaver ships despite Serenity not having any guns. Now that's flying skills!

BEATING A DEAD HORSE. I AM BEATING A DEAD HORSE. OR AT LEAST DROPPING ONE ON TOP OF PATIENCE.

The One True b!X | June 05, 06:44 CET

"Thing about Wash was, he'd never drop the clown, no matter how things got. I think he was always worried about who'd hear his last words, and whether or not they'd be clever..."

Anonymous1 | June 05, 06:46 CET

Hey, Dark Horse didn't count Serenity/Firefly comic Serenity: The Other Half Online

otherwise it should be 7 1/2 in a series.

Anonymous1 | June 05, 06:51 CET

Do you know what the problem with the issue was? It was 5 years too late. If it had come out soon after the movie then there would have been more of an emotional connection. No matter who upset we all were at Wash's death...something like this doesnt have the same impact 5 years later.

angeliclestat | June 05, 12:37 CET

Yeah, I finally got around to this and was disappointed for basically all of the reasons everyone else listed. I expected Patton Oswalt to be a better storyteller, the stories themselves were choppy/confusing, the new characters were uninteresting, etc.

But I unreservedly loved the final few pages with Zoe appearing. I mean, I don't know how she got there or knew that was going on, but I don't care. That was beautiful. I definitely shed some tears.

I don't know. It definitely wasn't bad. Whoever said B/B- above pretty much hit the nail on the head. And obviously, I wouldn't ever not buy a Serenity comic, so they've still got me for life.

UnpluggedCrazy | June 10, 08:39 CET

June 03 2010