I really like these images. I got a kick out of River's. As I scrolled down the page and took in her disarming pose, little did I suspect a canon hanging off her left hand. Snicker. (Whoops, sorry, I'm very anti-gun but hey, in this case I'll make an exception.)

However, speaking of canons, I did not like the gun in Simon's hand. Simon's a thinker and taker of punches. Could have drawn an image presenting him a little more thoughtfully.

Thank god Wash is gunless. Nice play of sunlight on his face, showing off his demeanour.

Wicked stuff though.

Salute to purplehazel for the link!

[ edited by Drifter on 2005-05-18 08:35 ]

Drifter | May 18, 10:34 CET

Fav of the 3? River.

Got to say I'm disappointed with the Simon cover. That doesn't look or feel the least bit like him. :(

NickSeng | May 18, 10:45 CET

I like'm! Some more than others, sure, but it's a nice array of different styles.

I think that even though not every likeness is as good as the others, that the personalities have mostly been captured nicely in choice of pose, lighting, etc. Not sure Simon should've been given the gun though. Mal, Zoey and Jayne, sure, but not Simon.

Overall, kewl beans. Hopefully the inside art matches.

EdDantes | May 18, 11:29 CET

Simon says Simon should have the gun.

That is a great Wash cover btw. Possibly the best of the lot.

Simon | May 18, 11:40 CET

Can the River cover be more beautiful? It almost matches how beautiful Summer is in real life. Almost.

IrrationaliTV | May 18, 11:41 CET

I don't know, Simon. I think the Jayne cover is just as good. It looks just like Adam to me.

God, I adore Summer's dress in that picture. So beautiful.

electricspacegirl | May 18, 11:48 CET

Well for me, the Wash cover has a strong Norman Rockwell feel to it. And since I adore that style of classic Americana art, it just works for me on so many levels.

Summer's dress is very cool, I agree :).

Simon | May 18, 11:53 CET

I'm not a fan of the Simon one. He looks too tough. To me, the best is still Kaylee. I thought the artist captured her brilliantly.

Aurra | May 18, 12:10 CET

Aside from Kaylee looking all of about 12 on her cover, it does capture her cheerfulness pretty well.

River is great, though her hair looks more full and healthy than it ever did when they had it looking stringy and unkept on the series (and from what I can see in the trailers, it sometimes looks just as stressed). As Drifter pointed out, it was neat to scroll down the pic and see the gun River was holding, didn't expect that.

The Simon pic...well, they got the eyes right, which are really important. There's even a sort of lizard-like look to the skin surrounding them (especially underneath), which is appropriate since Simon was originally made out to be sorta sinister in the pilot and I believe someone (maybe Joss) even described him as "reptilian" in manner. The gun is all wrong though. He looks thicker-bodied than he really is too, though that could just be due to the puffyness of his shirt. It's just kind of a bland pic. Disappointing, since Simon was the character I was most interested in seeing drawn.

The Wash cover is perfect! So perfect. It was a bit...I dunno. Jarring or embarrassing-for-the-actor or something, to see that kind of expression on a comic book cover. It's just so dopey and awkward. But it's spot-on for the character, I'm glad they did it.

I think it's Jayne (July), Zoe (August), Wash (September) for me, if I only go for one cover each month. I'll be very tempted by River, Book, and maybe Mal as well though. Kaylee, Inara, and Simon I could afford to take a pass on.

Of course, it'll only be fair to give these a chance to get title and possibly backgrounds added in before passing final judgement. They could improve or degrade depending.

Kris | May 18, 14:01 CET

I think 'Simon' looks like Sean Maher, but I don't think the gun poise is right for the character.

Wash, Mal & Jayne are probably my favourites just from a point of style.

I will probably try getting them all though - not wanting to leave any out.

The Do That Girl | May 18, 15:25 CET

Kris - I agree with you. Since I will only be buying one copy of each tt's going to be Jayne, Zoe and Walsh for me too.

Passion | May 18, 15:25 CET

Ooh shiny, I think River is my new favourite of the lot. Will definitely be getting her as my 3rd issue cover - still somewhat undecided for the other 2...

Paul_Rocks | May 18, 15:32 CET

Lenil Yu's art just get stranger and stranger as times goes by. He used to be better. His Simon cover, is just I don't know how to describe strange.

Loved the Wash cover, but River's is definetely the most gorgeous piece, not only from this batch, but one of the best covers of the whole Limited Series.

Well, now only Hughes cover for the TPB remains to be seen.

[ edited by Numfar PTB on 2005-05-18 13:40 ]

Numfar PTB | May 18, 15:39 CET

I was only planning on buying one for each series but now I think I am going to have to buy them all. I think I'll end up buying the complete set when it comes in one big book too!

Have to agree with Simon that Wash's seems like the best to me. I also love the Kaylee one with the exception that the hair seems too long but maybe her hair is longer in the movie? And Mal captures the essense of the character perfectly as does River's. Mal looks so hardened by life and River looks innocent at first glance but then there's just something about her that puts your spidey senses up (could be the gun!!). The only one I'm not too keen about is Inara's. She just looks too comic bookish whereas the rest of them seem to have a bit of a hardened edge to them.

Firefly Flanatic | May 18, 17:38 CET

I am only buying one of each set for myself: of this third set my favorite is Wash, of the second set I love the picture of Book, and in the first set I'm getting Jayne. But I've ordered different ones for some friends and family, I thought they would prefer: #1. Mal, #2. Kayley, and #3. River (I could be wrong about their preferences, but that is what they are getting). I still think that the most disappointing ones are Inara (too goofy), Zoe (too masculine, she actually has a very delicate jaw and chin), and Simon (I just can't like the gun slinger look...not in keeping in the character IMO).

But actually I think even the worst one (Inara) will look great at the comic book store!

embers | May 18, 18:11 CET

Just remember: when the series is collected in trade paperback, all of the covers will be included.

bookrats | May 18, 19:20 CET

This was the best monthly trio for me. I agree that Simon's pose is too, well, thrusting and macho, but I like his likeness. And River and Wash are terrific. Now I'll probably wind up buying all of them - just for completeness, - even though I really don't care for the Inara or Kaylee covers.

SoddingNancyTribe | May 18, 19:21 CET

I thought the Mal one was alright but the mouth and chin looked a little squashed, making his face look out of proportion. He looks a bit like a fish or something.

Inara looked a bit too cartoonish. But the colours are fantastic.

Jayne was awesome. Very good likeness, good pose, good lighting, good colouring.

The River one is pretty nice.

Wash's is pretty cool, I like the faux heroic pose and the whole style of it makes it look very impressive.

I don't like the Simon one. I can believe that he has a gun, after all he is desperate to protect his sister and is willing to use violence if he has to. I think it's the colours that ruin it for me- his nose and lips look strangely red.

Book's is nice.

Kaylee's does make her look very young but apart from that it is impressive.

I like the tone of the Zoe cover, the lighting and pose is fantastic, although I'm not too sure about whether the face looks like Gina Torres. I suppose it's meant to be dark, but from what I can see it doesn't look hugely like her.

The only ones I have any major reservations about are the Zoe, Simon and Mal covers. But I suppose it's too late for them to be changed.

Razor | May 18, 19:49 CET

Does anyone know if the trade paperback will be coming out before the movie? If it is, I might just wait to get that instead of all the others, especially if it will have all the covers in it. But thanks for the info bookrats, I probably won't get all of them then if all the covers are going to be in the tpb anyways. So my picks would be #1. Mal, #2. Kaylee and #3 would be a toss up between Wash & River (most likely River because she's my second favorite character after Mal).

Firefly Flanatic | May 18, 20:28 CET

Not really happy about any of these covers. The River one was too plain and boring, I didn't really like anything regarding the Simon one and the Wash one looks unfinished. Will probably pick up the Wash one though, it's not too bad. It's unfortunate cause five of the six covers presented before looked much better (exception is the Inara one)... Oh well, the covers ain't everything I guess...
So it's Mal, Kaylee and Wash then...

Djungelurban | May 18, 21:01 CET

I'm going to get Mal, Kaylee, and River. Then I'll get the graphic novel so I can have the rest. I really like the River one the best. She's so purdy there! I love River.

electricspacegirl | May 18, 22:13 CET

I think this is the best round of covers. I like all three of them. I think out of all the female crewmembers, River's likeness is the best. Simon does look way too confident with that gun, but again, the likeness is there. And, well, I just love the Wash cover. Although, if you compare it to some of Sean Phillips's other work (on Sleeper, for instance), it looks like it was drawn by a completely different artist.

WindTheFrog | May 19, 07:44 CET