FIREFLY #10, out this week from Boom! Studios is a strong reminder that, for many, the battle never ends. The Browncoats may have lost during the Battle at Serenity Valley – but they never lost their hearts or their determination.
***SPOILER WARNING***
The latest series of Firefly has been doing their best to weave the fans an all-new tale about our favorite characters. Of course, there’s a bit of a challenge here, since they only have so much time to work with. If you’ve seen the Serenity movie, then you know the exact reason why they can’t just throw tales on after that point.
Despite this limitation, the series has found a way to continue the feud between the Browncoats and the Alliance. More than that, they’ve succeeded in making the whole situation even more complicated than ever before. Suddenly, this seems less like a battle of good versus evil and more a battle of two opposing sides. Though naturally, most fans know which side they would prefer to support.
If there’s one thing this series has been able to make clear, it’s that time changes everyone. And sometimes being left to stew in your loses – seeing what the other side has done with their victory, is the worst medicine out there.
And that is why things have come to such a head in Firefly #10. The Browncoats were quick to jump into a war for the sake of Mal’s life. But they were a lot slower about putting down the idea of another war, even when given the orders to do exactly that. It shouldn’t be surprising to see this happen. But it is.
Greg Pak has done an excellent job of weaving this story together for us. It’s not every day a hardcore fan can look at this beloved series and admit that maybe the Browncoats aren’t acting too altruistically (for the moment, at least). And even now, that’s still a tough admission to make. But that just proves that Pak has done something unique with this plot.
The crew of the Firefly is still split up, and sometimes that results in their best work. At other times? It creates chaos. Only time will tell which way this plot will go. What we do know is that there are still several threads of this plot that need to be brought back around.
This arc has been focused on Mal and Zoe more than the rest of the crew, but every now and then, it has managed to sneak in a moment or two for everyone else. And that is appreciated – It feels like every member of the Firefly crew has his or her own fandom. So we never want to see any of them neglected.
The conclusion to this issue is a twist that most fans will not see coming. It’s an emotional and shocking spin, and perhaps it is something that we should have expected to see someday in the series. After all, it’s precisely Mal’s luck.
Firefly #10 had plenty of dramatic moments that needed to be fit within the pages. For starters – Serenity Valley had to be portrayed. And we can all agree that showing a beautiful setting with so much emotional weight cannot be an easy task.
This issue also had dozens of characters to portray, and from three sides of a brewing war. Drawing unnamed characters in a manner that would make it clear what side they are on is easier said than done though it helps that they all have their distinct styles.
Together Dan McDaid (pencils and ink), Joana Lafuente (colors), and Jim Campbell (letters) were able to create a series of striking images. The landscapes were undoubtedly a highlight in this issue, but so were many of the expressions given. The rougher quality of the artwork is a perfect match for Firefly, and this issue shows us why.
Firefly #10 is an explosive issue, with many of the split plots coming together. While the shit hasn’t quite hit the fan, it’s clear that we’re only seconds away from that happening. The real question is, how much worse is it going to get before it gets better?
