Review: Those Left Behind (Serenity)

WRITER: JOSS WHEDON, BRETT MATHEWS
ARTIST: WILL CONRAD
COVER ARTIST: ADAM HUGHES

This is the TPB (trade paperback), Those Left Behind (Serenity)which takes place chronologically after Firefly the TV series and before Serenity the movie. All take place in the "Firefly" universe created by Joss Whedon of Buffy fame.

I wanted to like this more than I did. To me it felt more like a means to an end (the end being connecting the dots of what happened before the movie) than a well-thought out story on it's own merit.

Of course, Whedon and Mathews insert their humor into the writing, but not enough to make up for the lackluster story. There are no revelations here. It feels like a mediocre episode of Firefly.

The artwork really saved this book from being a complete failure. All the variant covers from the single issues are featured in between the stories, and they are really wonderful. Will Conrad's pencilling is right on, and Laura Martin is really my favorite colorist. I first got to know her work in Ruse; she does the best fabric I've seen in a comic book.

In all, I wouldn't miss this being a fan of Firefly/Serenity just to "complete" the story. But if I weren't I'd skip it.