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An entertaining, if all too brief, escapade with the crew of Serenity. Presumably set sometime during the days of "Firefly," when all the characters we know and love are on board, this story finds the crew pulling off a heist and being the first guinea pigs to come up against a new, sophisticated, automatic anti-theft/crime-prevention device. They do manage to outwit it, and when they go to sell what's left of it, the cache they are sent to retrieve as payment ends up being far more money than they ever expected. So, interspersed with the rest of the story, as they are being chased down by the makers of the anti-crime machine and Mal or Zoe is being tracked down as a "dust devil" terrorist after the war ended, we also get to see the various dreams of how the different crew members would like to spend their share of the money-- sometimes serious, sometimes joking just to get a reaction, and sometimes downright strange..

The artwork is generally gorgeous but I found it a little uneven, because there were a few points where I wasn't quite sure for a moment or two who a particular character was supposed to be-- usually it was a matter of context or not enough detail, and I eventually figured it out from the story or dialogue-- but it made me realize [again] how much you lose, when you go from actors who all give life to their characters with their voice and bearing, in addition to the way they look.

The "dream" sections when the various characters are telling what they'd want to do with the money are all pretty entertaining, and it seems like it probably gave the artists some more interesting things to portray than they might otherwise get to draw in the serenity-verse. River's fantasy, particularly, is quite strange-- but what makes it fit perfectly is Zoe's wry response (I can just hear her saying it) that now her idea is taken.

The other interesting detail is that somehow, by the end of the story, the money has somehow been stolen. The only one who catches on is Inara-- she notices that Mal never shared what he wanted to do with the money, and guesses that having his crew leave him is the last thing he wants. It's well-written and subtle, but quite clear and insightful into Mal, at the same time.

Title:	Serenity: Better Days
Author:	Joss Whedon; art by Brett Mathews, Will Conrad, and Adam Hughes
Date published:	2008
Genre:	Science Fiction / Graphic Novel
Series:	Firefly/Serenity-verse
Number of pages:	80

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I've been waiting a while for the latest Whedon/Cassaday X-Men, and it seemed too short and ends with a cliff-hanger-- so it doesn't seem like enough. But I still enjoyed it. We finally get to find out why Emma Frost is double-dealing on the X-men, and get to see Kitty in action.

Emma's been secretly working for the Hellfire Club-- although there's a twist at the end that changes all of this, and I didn't feel like I knew enough about the Hellfire Club and Cassandra Nova to get it. But it's pretty interesting the way Emma is able to neutralize pretty much all of the X-Men (through dreams or mental constraints).

Some interesting interactions between Emma and Scott; I especially liked when he comes around and helps save the day. We finally find out that Colossus is the one destined to destroy the Breakworld (seems like that storyline has been hanging around for a while, so it will be nice to see what comes of it).

The artwork, as usual, is gorgeous. And there's even some bits of conversation in foreign languages, which made me miss Firefly a bit (and wonder where I can find translations).

Title:	Astonishing X-Men Volume 3: Torn
Author:	Joss Whedon (artwork by John Cassaday)
Date published:	2007
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	Astonishing X-Men
Number of pages:	152

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This comic book is a brief arc (published as three issues last fall), set between the end of Firefly (the TV series) and Serenity (the movie). The book collects all of the nine variant covers (one for each of the main characters), and adds a lovely introduction by Nathan Fillion, who is a comic book fan himself. The artwork is beautiful, the dialogue feels and sounds like a Firefly episode, and there are enough twists and insights to keep the story entertaining. We discover that Dobson isn't all that dead, and get to see that the men with "hands of blue" also have blue-covered chests, too. We also get to see Inara preparing to leave Serenity (and Mal postponing their arrival at her departure point), and see the moment when Book recognizes that he needs to leave Serenity as well.

This is a quick read; it' a bit too short to feel like a full episode of Firefly, but it's still a lot of fun, and I'll take my Firefly/Serenity in any form I can get it. The artwork is nice; it seems a little tricky to have to draw a comic book to look like the actors we know and love in these roles. Most of the time the drawn characters are convincing, but every now and then they look a little bit off-- I suspect this is because they don't look quite like I imagine the actors would at that moment, or with a particular facial expression. Still, there are some wondeful pages as well-- especially some great depictions of Serenity herself. I love that they also incorporated the Chinese dialogue into the comic book, and only wonder where I can find a site that translates it for me.

Title:	Serenity: Those Left Behind
Author:	Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews; artwork by Will Conrad
Date published:	2006
Genre:	Science Fiction / Graphic Novel
Number of pages:	104

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The highly-anticipated (at least by me and G.) follow-up to X-Men: Dangerous lived up to my expectations. It deals with the aftermath of the "mutant cure", specifically in the life of Wing, a young flying mutant who was injected with the serum in the last volume. The Fantastic Four also make an appearance, and it was fun to see those characters interacting. But most important and fascinating is Whedon's notion of the Danger Room coming to life-- and what outcome might result from an Artificial Intelligence devoted entirely to violence.

Whedon's writing continues to be subtle and funny-- hinting at more than one traitor in the midst of the X-Men, highlighting the differences between the characters as they are fighting. I love the moment when, after long and involved monologues by a few other characters, Wolverine's one thought is "I really like beer."

Danger is a wonderful character and a great villain; a perfect enemy for the X-Men since she knows their weaknesses so intimately. The plot for her freedom is so carefully and perfectly thought out to take advantage of the X-Men's reactions. The interaction with Xavier is also fascinating with a hint of mystery. This is a character I hope we will get to see again, at some point.

Title:	Astonishing X-Men Volume 2: Dangerous
Author:	Joss Whedon
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Series:	Astonishing X-Men
Number of pages:	144

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I am enough of a fan of Joss Whedon's work in any medium to pick up almost anything he writes, so I managed to find the Comic Book section of my local Borders and purchase this volume, which collects the first 6 issues of Whedon's "Astonishing X-Men". It's amazing how easily he is able to weave together so many different plot threads-- particularly the idea that being a mutant is some kind of a disease which can now be cured, a cure which was funded and intended to be used for intergalactic political ends. Added to this are the mixed loyalties of people within and without the X-Men organization, and each character's own problems and memories.

I am not an expert on the X-Men at all, and mostly only know about them from the movies and the PlayStation games (which are quite good). So, it was fascinating to find out more about the characters I'd heard of, as well as meeting new ones (to me), such as the enigmatic Emma Frost and the very appealing Shadowcat (and, of course, the delightful interplay between them). Also interesting is the emotional reaction to the "cure" by the different characters-- such as Beast, who no longer looks human and who is tormented by the possibility of regaining his humanity and losing his fur.

Well-written and beautifully drawn. Plenty of witty dialog to amuse, along with and fascinating plot that leaves you wanting more at the end of the volume.

Title:	Astonishing X-Men Volume 1: Gifted
Author:	Joss Whedon; artwork by John Cassaday
Date published:	2004
Genre:	Graphic Novel
Number of pages:	152
Notes:	Repeat reading.

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I don't know if I have ever read a novelization of a movie before (when I see a movie based on a book, I usually try to read the book first), but I am enough of a fan of Joss Whedon's "Firefly" and "Serenity" that I wanted to read DeCandido's novelization of the movie. It was an enjoyable experience, and this is a story worth experiencing more than once-- of danger and adventure, a young girl experimented on and turned into a fighter and a psychic, an unnamed assassin, and a captain who has lost his faith in God finding something to believe in.

Early on, I wasn't too sure about reading a novelization of a movie that I've already seen-- many of the chapters are almost exact descriptions of scenes in the movie, with the same dialogue and everything, although with some insights into the thoughts of the characters (which is, I suppose, exactly what a novelization of a movie should be). Having all of the dialogue written down is nice, because I missed some of the lines when I saw the movie in the theater-- particularly those lines just after someone says something hilarious, and the entire audience is laughing. Here, some parts of the story are supplemented with history revealed in the TV series, but as the book goes on, there are more and more extra components: lines that didn't make it into the movie, back stories for characters like Mr. Universe, scenes that we didn't get to see-- including the destruction of Haven, which gives even more support to the theory that Book must have once been an Operative himself. The book is written from third-person perspective, but each scene is sort of filtered through a particular character's consciousness, jumping around from person to person for various scenes, which adds some nice variety and insight.

Sometimes, I wasn't sure if the lines or the story would have the same effect if I hadn't seen the movie first, and in particular I'm uncertain whether or not the humor would be conveyed-- many of the lines are so great because of the way the actors deliver them. However, even after seeing the movie twice in the theater, reading the culmination of the story was still an incredibly moving experience.

I love Mal's line at the end, and the insight that all of the characters (but specifically Wash) each love Serenity in their own way.

Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughtta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.

Title:	Serenity
Author:	Keith R. A. DeCandido (based on the motion picture screenplay by Joss Whedon)
Date published:	2005
Genre:	Science Fiction
Number of pages:	260

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I don't read many comic books, but I am a big enough fan of Joss Whedon's work in other media that I thought it was worth giving Fray a try-- and it is well-worth the time. It doesn't take a long time to read, but it may take longer to process and think through the fascinating world and characters that Whedon (with the help of the visual artists, of course) have created here.

Melaka Fray is a street-savvy "grabber" who fetches (steals) things for a price. She lives in the darker part of the city, where the poor people live, and where mutated or deformed humans are common. There are vampires around ("lurks", in the street slang-- Fray doesn't even know them by the term "vampire"), but there hasn't been a Slayer for centuries-- so when the need for a new slayer arises and Fray is the chosen one, she doesn't get a lot of help. As was often the case for Buffy, there are always personal complications in the fight against vampires, and this story is no exception to that rule. I like that Fray is drawn fairly realistically (and not as some juvenile fantasy of what a woman might look like), and I also like the fact that she has a very particular and distinct style (there are some pencil sketches reproduced at the end of the book, and it is fun to see Fray next to Buffy).

One thing I wondered about is how Fray's world fits in with the end of the Buffy TV series, because at the end of the series they changed the rules about slayers-- and this seems to predate that rule-change, in a way. The story does reference a huge battle involving the last slayer, which banished all the demons (although if that is the case, why are there still vampires in the slums?). I suppose if it has been centuries since there have been any slayers, and even the watchers are a little bit crazy, there is a little bit of leeway for how the rules might apply to Fray-- after all, she doesn't seem like the type to follow them, anyway.

Title:	Fray
Author:	Joss Whedon
Date published:	2003
Genre:	Science Fiction / Horror
Series:	part of the Slayerverse
Number of pages:	216
Notes:	This is a graphic novel.

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