Comic book review: ‘Serenity: Better Days - Vol 1′

I vaguely remember buying a comic book once a long time ago as a kid, but I have zero idea what it was or if it even really happened. So without knowing for sure, my recent purchase of Serenity: Better Days could very likely be the first time I ever walked into a comic book store (Atomic Comics) and bought a brand new comic.

I personally find that pretty sad, but also a blast in that I’ve suddenly got into a whole new world of media that I hadn’t explored before. I’ve recently posted reviews on Y: The Last Man, and The Dark Knight Returns, and I’m currently reading Watchmen. And while those are still comics, I read them in their graphic novel book form instead of the first releases in the flimsy but awesome comic book medium.

Watchmen is a stinking loooong graphic novel, so in the middle of it I took a break to check out the new Serenity: Better Days - Volume 1 comic, which is the first of a three part series.

It’s pretty amazing to me how comics vary in size and scope. Watchmen so far is a masterpiece of writing and plot, and it surprised me how long it’s taken me to just break the half-way point. In contrast, Better Days was a $2.99 comic book and took me all of 15-20 minutes to complete.

Better Days was a must-read for me though, because coupled with my newfound love of graphic novels, the entire world of Serenity created by Joss Whedon is one of my passions.

If you are a fan of the Firefly television series, you know how often things go right for the crew. Which is to say, hardly ever. Even when things look good, out of nowhere bad luck will strike. They are always low on cash, low on food and perpetually a few days away from running out of gas.

So with that being the norm, it was wonderful to read the first part of Better Days and get a glimpse of things going RIGHT for the crew of Firefly. The story in Volume 1 revolves around the theft of a super flying security robot and the resulting goldmine that lands in their laps because of it.

All the characters are there from the TV series, mainly because the plot of Better Days takes place before the movie Serenity and the first comic, Those We Left Behind.

Everyone is drawn to resemble the actors that played them and Will Conrad’s art is spot-on. The writing and humor are exactly what you’d expect from everyone and I had a few good laughs while reading.

A great first volume, looking forward to the final two, which should be out in April and then May.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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Comics
book reviews, firefly, joss whedon, serenity better days, serenity those left behind