Whedonesque : Comments on 7425 : Serenity #2 out today.

I'm going on my lunch break, which is 2 hours after they open. If its gone by then, I'll probably cry.

Excellent, Simon.

BTW, issue 1 sold out everywhere I tried in Toronto. Fortunately, I bought them on the first day.

I was in America when the first issue came out and could not get to a comic book store for love or money. The following Tuesday when I was back in Belfast, went to my local store and was very pleased to see that there was about 5 copies of the Mal issue left. By the next day, they were all gone.

Simon | August 03, 11:48 CET

I'll have to search, I mean check our one comic store to see if they have it in.

kishi | August 03, 11:58 CET

I just put my order in with TFAW.com for the whole series & all covers. And I don't even like comics. I tell myself it's an investment.

Caroline | August 03, 13:36 CET

Must fit this in after work.

Definitely don't want the Kaylee cover. It's not bad, it's just that I think it looks the least like the actor out of these three. It's just way too young-looking and not as Jewel Staite as it could be. Also, I see lots of Chen's covers for Runaways, so I appreciate her work but I'm not craving it terribly at the moment.

It comes down to the Book and Zoe covers. The Book cover looks incredible, but I like the mood of the Zoe piece. I also like that the placement of the Serenity title and logo is different for the Zoe cover, it's not behind the character's head like in the other two. Also, while I was fine with it for the covers to issue #1, I don't like all that white space anymore. There's too much of it in the Kaylee and Book covers, while Zoe fills up too much of the page for there to be a lot of it in her cover. I think I just talked myself into a decision--the Zoe cover is it.

Kris | August 03, 13:45 CET

Thats's the spirit :).

I'm going for the Kaylee cover, has a Norman Rockwell feel to it. And I adore that kind of Americana. Saying that, the Book one is incredibly original. Captures his inner mystery.

Simon | August 03, 14:11 CET

I'm picking mine up in an hour. In my smallish yet collegy town, they were off shelves in one day last month. :)

April | August 03, 16:01 CET

I agree on the Kaylee cover not looking enough like Jewel for my liking so I'm going for the Book cover. Each to his own though - I'm buying a copies for a couple of my friends, one of whom is French and he want's the Kaylee cover.

It's odd because if you'd asked me which I'd be getting before seeing them it would definitely have been Inara of the last 3 and Kaylee of this set. (I got Mal instead).
The 1st issue sold out by sunday in the 2 comic shops we have in Manchester but they don't go onsale until thursday here so I shall be heading over tomorrow.

Paul_Rocks | August 03, 16:09 CET

Wow, I'm really impressed that they got these out so soon, I thought it wouldn't be until the end of the month. Personally I think the Kaylee cover is very beautiful, and the Book cover is very dramatic; the only one I don't like is the Zoe cover (I don't think it looks like our beautiful Gina Torres). But I'll have to own all three anyway.

embers | August 03, 17:08 CET

I like the River cover a lot. Especially with her holding the gun.

SpikeBad | August 03, 17:20 CET

The only cover I'm not fond of is the Inara one. Doesn't look like or capture the feel of Inara at all to me. I love the Kaylee cover and that's the one I'm getting. And for the last comic I'm getting River.

Caroline, I'm not a comics person either but couldn't pass up on these! I liked the first issue but it was so short! Just makes me want more!!

Firefly Flanatic | August 03, 18:12 CET

All three covers look great so I'm going to see what they have at the comic book store and decide. For the first issue I was hoping to get the Cassaday cover with Mal, but they had already sold out of those covers and had to settle for the Hitch cover with Jayne.

For issue #3 I think I might reserve a copy of the Middleton cover with River with the store as it is by far my favorite cover.

Matt_Fabb | August 03, 18:28 CET

Planning on heading to the comic shop sometime this afternoon. I'm planning on getting the Zoe cover, so they'd better have it in or I'll be very put out.

evilhandissues | August 03, 19:13 CET

I was at Border’s book store last night and I thought there was no harm in checking if they still had “Serenity” #1 issue and they did (“Astonishing X-Men” is the first comic book purchase I have ever made and thankfully I can pick them up at Border’s --being a chick who knows virtually nothing about comics makes a trip to the comic store a bit intimidating). Good for me, but it’s a little worrisome that no one else had snatched them up because I think there were four issues left after I got mime, all with Mal on the cover.
If I have a choice on #2, I think I'll pick Zoe because all the white negative space on all the others bothers me. However, I do like the one of Book--serene and mysterious.

bloodflowers | August 03, 20:27 CET

Firefly Flanatic - I did not like the Inara variant either, but I had to buy it since I named my daughter Inara ;-) Too bad, too, because with such a beautiful character to try and reproduce, they could have done a fantastic job.

Genia | August 03, 20:34 CET

Good grief, I just called my favourite comic dealer in Toronto to make sure it was in and he said it was already sold out! Arghhh! I've got to run . . .

Drifter | August 03, 21:15 CET

Drifter, you're kidding me. Scarrrry.

dottikin | August 03, 21:26 CET

I've got mine on order already but since the Comic book store near me(Comics N' More) is donating copies to our Cdn. Browncoats Fan Table at SFX, I think it behooves me to go buy from them. Drifter, check the Beguiling. They still had Jayne covers 2 weeks later. That where I got some when I realized what an opportunity it was, what with Adam Baldwin coming to SFX.

Lioness | August 03, 21:38 CET

i ordered mine(from 258west) but i since it would be a few days to arrive,I called 2 comic shops near my workplace--guess what---sold out!!!!!! I keep thinking of Mal saying-"No.....they ain't gonna see this comin' " The world has no idea what is upon them :)

nakedandarticulate | August 03, 21:42 CET

Got my copies at lunch today from Forbidden Planet in New York. All three covers, but it looked like they were just about sold out of them, same as last time. If anyone is planning on going there for copies, go soon.

hobgadling | August 03, 21:52 CET

Good grief, I just called my favourite comic dealer in Toronto to make sure it was in and he said it was already sold out! Arghhh! I've got to run . . .

The second issue of most comic book series, especially mini-series have a bit of a drop off in sales. This is partly because there's collectors who pick up the first issue just to collect, but also because there's always readers who gave the first issue a try and didn't like it and don't pick up the second issue. This does not always hold true, but that's the popular tend and as a result most comic book stores order less of a second issue, than the first issue, as they have to have their orders in before the first issue goes on sale. The result is that any time a comic book series becomes a surprise hit, the second issue is often harder to find than the first issue because there's actually fewer copies of the second issue available.

So yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if issue 2 sells out faster than issue one, as there's likely to be less copies of #2 than there is #1. By the third issue orders should be adjusted with plenty more issues of #3 available.

Matt_Fabb | August 03, 21:54 CET

Even with a one issue per customer limit, the comic shop in my area was down to a single copy when I dropped by at lunch.

Shakespeare | August 03, 22:25 CET

I was able to get all three covers at my local store. But I was there at 11.10...just ten minutes after opening. I was even able to chat up the clerk for a little while about the series. He, like most of his regular Wednesday morning customers, was surprised and taken aback by my (female) presence in the store. What Whedon has done to me!

blutortu | August 03, 23:03 CET

I'm also not a fan of comics but I've been getting Fray, Astonishing X-men, Angel & Serenity. My local comics store (Hole in the Wall books) is great - they let me "subscribe" which means they hold copies for me until I can pick them up. The owner (a woman by the way) left me a note a few weeks ago anticipating that I'd want the Spike one shot. She's figured out that I love all things Whedon :)

gingeriffic | August 03, 23:13 CET

I just called The Comic Shop here in Vancouver to make sure that my copies are in; yessir, they're waiting for me! I'm all with the 'woo hoo' here! These folks are great, thanks to samatwitch for pointing me in their direction. I couldn't decide between the Zoe cover or the Book cover (sorry, just not digging on the Kaylee one this time), so I didn't choose, I ordered them both.
gingeriffic, you gotta love stores that do that! When I lived in Victoria, I had a file set up with Curious Comics, primarily for Fray but I ended up getting Tales of The Slayers as well. When Tales of The Vampires began, they too started adding it to my file in the (correct) assumption that I'd want that too. I even got a Christmas card one year!

gorramit | August 03, 23:36 CET

Holy crap! Hole in the Wall is still in Falls Church?
Awesome, I used to shop there when I was in high school,now I'm living in NY. Small world is it, gingeriffic? :)

[ edited by SoddingNancyTribe on 2005-08-04 00:34 ]

nakedandarticulate | August 03, 23:37 CET

I just picked up the Kaylee and Book variants from Heroes Aren't Hard To Find here in Charlotte and just now finished reading the issue. Loved that Badger made a appearance. I already knew about the alliance fed guy so that wasn't a surprise but I loved that he's all obsessed with Mal. I spent a few minutes looking at the big picture of his room with all the KILL REYNOLDS stuff in it. Thats so Joss. And how wicked was it when Book slugged Mal? Not sure if we're supposed to spoiler things from the comic but just in case.

Oh and I picked up the first issue of Astonishing X-Men. Great stuff. I should've gotten it sooner but I'm waiting for the paperback.

[ edited by eddy on 2005-08-03 22:11 ]

eddy | August 04, 00:10 CET

Thankfully, I put Serenity on my pull list months ago, so I didn't have to worry about getting a copy. Although when I went in to pick up my copy this afternoon (there were none on the shelf; just enough for those with files at the store), I asked if I could pick out the cover I wanted (Tim Bradstreet's Book) but all the guy had yet to file were Zoe's and Kaylee's. So he actually went into another guy's file, pulled out a copy with the Book cover and let me have that one. And that is why I love my comic book store (that and the 20% discount).

WindTheFrog | August 04, 00:13 CET

Went to the comics store closest to me; got there just as it opened. The very nice salesperson had set aside a copy of #2 for me, despite my not having asked, and it was the only spare copy he had. All his copies had already been reserved. So, he was sold out as soon as he opened. I ran into April at the store, and we went to another store, where we bought full sets. When we left, that store had only six copies left (beyond the reserved copies). Needless to say, I reserved copies of #3.

Funny -- the guy behind the counter at the second store asked, "What is the attraction of this space-western?" So, April and I launched into our best Serenity promo -- raving about Joss's writing, the humor, the characterizations, etc. Don't know whether we succeeded in getting his interest, or whether we looked like raving loonies, but he was certainly responding to an unexpected demand for the comics. Seems to have come out of the blue for him.

palehorse | August 04, 00:16 CET

As soon as I saw this thread this morning I called House of Secrets here in Burbank and reserved all three covers. There seemed to be plenty on the shelves when I went to pick mine up but, the clerk said they were going fast.

He said it took them two days to sell out of the first issue and expects this one to be about the same.

TamaraC | August 04, 00:29 CET

I just got back from the local comic book store, I was able to get all three covers, but they were the last issues of Serenity #2 he had ordered! He promised he would be getting a lot more of Serenity #3 because he doesn't like to sell out on the very first day. They look very sweet, now I must read them before eddy spoils me (I'm just kidding).

embers | August 04, 00:42 CET

Well, I went down to the comic store. They had a few copies of #1 sitting on the counter by the register, which I thought was odd. So I checked all the shelves, didn't see #2 anywhere. Asked the girl at the register, who went in the back to talk to the owner who said "yeah, they're here but I can't put them out yet."
Said he had to get them to all the subscribers and people who pre-ordered before he could give them to walk-ins. Hmmpf. This was 3:30 or so this afternoon, so it's not like they'd just come in. They'd had plenty of time to count out the reserved copies. But nooo. So I had to put my name down to have one held for me so I can make another trip downtown later to get it. They'd best have a copy for me later...

evilhandissues | August 04, 00:46 CET

All sold out. Last month I went there at around the same time and got issue #1 with no problem, but this time they're all gone and he has no idea when they'll get more because everything's on back order. Yipppeee for Serenity popularity. Boo 'cause I don't have a comic.

foreverwes | August 04, 01:25 CET

http://www.livejournal.com/users/kernelm/140616.html
My (sorta) translations again.

KernelM | August 04, 01:27 CET

I called the store I frequent (if you can call walking into a comic shop every two months that). They said they have five or six issues left, so since they close in about a half hour (and it takes me that long to drive there), I'm not gonna worry. I doubt they'll sell out of them in that time, I'd be very surprised. I'm always a little worried about Y: The Last Man though, the most recent issue of that came out today as well.

I should really ask about starting a pull list, I've been going to this place for almost a decade. But I recall reading something on the membership form about needing to subscribe to 10 ongoing series for them to start holding stuff for you, and that's why I never have.

Kris | August 04, 02:19 CET

The book sold out within two hours of it arriving at the three central Sydney stores. Thankfully I had the book, with Quesada's Zoe cover, on my standing order (Just as well I let them know early this week which cover i wanted, because they had none of those on the shelf, they all went to SO customers). The bloke behind me in the queue, though, was extremely frustrated. He offered me AU$35 for my copy (which I didn't take!)....

Anyone who likes this should check out Joss's Astonishing X-Men. There's a trade paperback of the first six issues out, which is easily available, the second trade should be out in a couple of months. Not only is it one of the best written comics out there, its drawn by one of the best artists in the industry (John Cassaday, who did the Mal cover). Also, there are cheap digest copies of the comic Joss generally calls his favourite, Runaways, which is possibly the best comic being published now, in my opinion. The writer, Brian K. Vaughan, is a huge Buffy fan and the comic has many of the best Buffy aspects to it.

sojourner | August 04, 02:39 CET

Woohoo! I got copies of #1 and #2 at Midtown Comics (NYC) this afternoon. They still had quite a stash of #1 issues with Jayne and Inara covers, but none of Mal (sob!). Of the #2 covers, they had only Book and Jayne covers. Of course, I got one of each, but, duh, didn't even think to ask if they had the other variants for restocking or behind the counter.

Best of all, at the checkout counter, the store clerk said to me, "So, Joss Whedon's your master now?" Heehee. Damn right he is!

punkinpuss | August 04, 06:58 CET

By the way, if anyone is looking for 'Serenity' #1 or #2 they still have both at Midtowncomics in NYC:
http://www.midtowncomics.com/
(I'm sorry I don't know how to do the link...), and they are happy to ship them to you.

[ edited by embers on 2005-08-04 07:53 ]

embers | August 04, 09:46 CET

In Toronto, the issue was sold out at Grey Region, 1,000,000 Comix and, at 3rd Quadrant, the owner only got nine on an order of 45 (15 each cover), he said. Everyone seemed to think they would get more of No. 2 next week, plus a reprinted first issue.

I would say that whatever you can get, you'd better get now.

Drifter | August 04, 11:25 CET

I've asked around locally about reprints for #1. I've heard everything now from the end of this week til sometime in September. For some reason, watching the growth of this franchise intrigues me and I feel like a proud parent.

April | August 04, 15:53 CET

August 03 2005