Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #1 Review

It feels redundant to start this review off by saying I love Firefly. Of course I do. I’m sure all of the incredible writers for The GCE and most of our amazing and loyal nerdy readers love Firefly. It’s basically cliché number one of being a nerd. And I’m not going to say that I’ve signed countless online petitions for the return of the show, or that I have posted on social networks making jokes about how short lived the series was compared to some other shows (Just saying, Jersey Shore went six seasons). You have already assumed this about me, because I am a nerd and loving Firefly is in my genetic code. There is however, another nerd cliché that flows through my genetic code as much as my receding hairline and my aversion to cats: loving comic books.

First and foremost, I’m a TV junkie. I’ve seen at least one episode of almost every show you can throw at me. Mad Men is a perfectly okay television show, but I couldn’t get through season 1. I love television. But when it comes to Firefly, I will take it where I can get it. In this case, it’s the new series from Zack Whedon and Georges Jeanty, Serenity. Today I’m going to give you guys a spoiler free review of the first issue, Leaves on the Wind.

Leaves on the Wind takes place a few months after the events of the film Serenity. It’s not clear exactly how long, but let’s say less than nine months. If you’ve read the 2010 one-shot Float Out, you’ll get that. Our beloved crew is dealing with the loss of crew members and they’re on the run from the law after the events of the film. Down and seemingly defeated, they drift at the far reaches of the ‘verse, planning their next move. But whispers of a new rebellion are spreading and the Browncoats need a leader. Our big damn hero. Malcolm Reynolds.

It is very clear that Zack has inherited some of his family’s incredible writing skills. His television writing career speaks for itself, and he is definitely an incredible comic book writer. He writes the characters we already know and love perfectly, and picks up the story so naturally. The first issue gets us excited with a few reveals, but leaves enough to the imagination to keep us reading.

I’ll clarify before I start to review the artwork that I am not an artist. I always feel weird reviewing the art in comic books when I know full well that I could not do any better. I can usually recognize bad art though, and in this case I didn’t pick up on that. I think it’s beautifully drawn. I can’t give you many details about what I love or hate about it, but I can tell what is happening in every panel and it reads easy. I can say that I like the art inside the book more than the cover art, but I don’t necessarily dislike the cover either. I realize there are many variant covers, so to clarify I read the Dos Santos cover (pictured above).

As a comic book fan, I loved this book. As a Firefly fan, I loved this book. Sure, I would have preferred to see it on my television portrayed by a certain ragtag team of actors, but this has definitely helped to fill the void that Firefly left when Fox did the unthinkable. I look forward to the next five issues and I hope it turns into something bigger. An ongoing series would be great because as much as one season and a movie wasn’t enough to tell this story, I don’t think any number of comics will ever be enough for me either. I want to read about Captain Reynolds and his crew until the day I die.

You can’t take the sky from me.