Better Days and Other Stories

Serenity #2

by Joss Whedon

Serenity: Better Days, from Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, follows everyone's favorite space cowboys in an action-packed adventure where the crew takes on a heist that promises a big payoff. But when someone is taken captive, the gang must put aside their enduring differences and work together, at the risk of losing their cash prize.

Joss Whedon is joined by a great roster of writers, including comedian Patton Oswalt, Dr. Horrible and The Shepherd's Tale cowriter Zack Whedon, and Jim Krueger (Avengers/Invaders), in this special expanded edition!

This volume includes the miniseries Serenity: Better Days, the short stories "Serenity: The Other Half" and the previously uncollected "Serenity: Downtime," and the one-shot Serenity: Float Out.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Comic Book

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Joss Whedon (born Joseph Hill Whedon) is an American screenwriter, executive producer, film and television director, comic book writer, occasional composer, and actor, and the founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures.

He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003)', 'Angel (1999–2004)', 'Firefly (2002)' and its film follow-up 'Serenity (2005)', and 'Dollhouse (2009–2010)', as well as the web-series' 'Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)'. Whedon co-wrote and produced the horror film 'The Cabin in the Woods (2012)', and wrote and directed the film adaptation of Marvel's 'The Avengers (2012)', the third highest-grossing film of all time.

Many of Whedon's projects have cult status and his work is notable for portraying strong female characters and a belief in equality.

credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Whedon

Reviews

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

A heist for once goes right and everyone is basking in their newfound fortune. Thing is, trouble always finds them threatening their lucrative take!

Another enjoyable look at the misadventures of the Serenity crew!

[Sr3yas · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume of Serenity!

This volume contains one main arc spanning three chapters and three short stories.

The main arc, 'Better days' is just as crazy as a good firefly episode with hunters, a lot of bullets and a mix of western.

I really enjoyed the three short stories because they managed to capture something unique in each one. While one story captured the fun and mysterious side of serenity, another delivered an action packed story! The last one, 'float out' is the first story the writers published which happens after the movie and spotlights everyone's favorite pilot, Wash! So awesome!

[Cyndi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still adore Serenity and her crew! The art in this book is perfect and the story moves along in the series. In ‘Better Days’ our group is accused of terrorism. In ‘The Other Half’ River discovers the bad guy they captured is leading them into a trap. She takes care of it quickly in her usual way. Then in ‘Downtime’ our group is waiting out a snowstorm. They find ways to fill their time. Wash and Zoe in the dark and River ‘knocking over snowmen.’ The last story, ‘Float Out’ is an homage to Wash. Three men are joining together to ‘find a job, find a crew, keep flying.’ They are naming their ship Jetwash in memory of the best pilot any of them had ever seen. They each share a story of his exploits while toasting to their new enterprise.
Excellent stories!!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm loving these graphic novels, it's nice to see these characters developed a little more, even if River is still as complex as ever. Better Days was a great story; all the others were interesting I just think the artwork was lacking in them; though more Wash was good to see.

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of stories from various points in the timeline of Joss Whedon's Firefly universe. I liked this better than The Shepherd's Tale -- it's still quite vignettey, with Better Days (which I've already read) being the plottiest story, but most of the art is really good and it has some awesome moments. Simon treating Jayne for an STD, for example... It goes exactly as you would imagine, with their flirting bickering and Jayne being an idiot.

The last story is set after Serenity, and confirms some headcanon of mine, but otherwise I wasn't too impressed -- it didn't seem strongly enough connected to canon, except in the last couple of pages.

Enjoyable, though, and worth picking up for the obsessive Browncoats among us. (If you don't know who Browncoats are, don't bother.)

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always welcome the chance to spend time with the Firefly gang. The stories had different artists and authors, but the collection flowed together nicely and had a nice Whedony zing.
Reading these is a nice way to fill the void left by the show.

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume in the Serenity graphic novels this one contains the story Better Days as well as a collection of other single issue stories. Spread out from before Firefly to after Serenity this adds a lot more to the Firefly universe.

Namely that River is fucked up and that Wash will always be the best character.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 4 out of 5]

For us, the Browncoats, these graphic novels have been unalloyed treasure. The backstories and nuanced relationships they reveal, the action and humour, most importantly the dollops of Firefly that they feed us long after the last episode has been telecast— all make them memorable in all sense.
This volume, containing the following episodes, was no exception~
1. Better Days followed by Afterword
2. The Other Half
3. Downtime
4. Float Out
Like supercharged particles these stories, especially the graphics and terse dialogues, drive us towards the end.
Only bad thing about this book? It ends too soon.
But before that happens, you get some ride!
Recommended.

[kaitlphere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I occasionally had a difficult time determining what was happening, especially when the action was focused on the antagonists. I loved seeing everyone's dreams, especially River's.

[Tzurky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now this is what I’m talking about. Every one of these stories had meaning and heft. They were not only entertaining on their own, but brought us closer to the characters and let us see different sides of them. A lot of action, a lot of humor and a lot of heart. Exactly what I love about the series.

[Jonathan Maas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good. I am not super acquainted with Serenity, and could get into this. A lot of fun!

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mentioned my love of Firefly/Serenity last time, when I reviewed Those Left Behind, didn’t I? Anyway, if you’ve not checked it out yet you really should. Better Days is the second collection of Serenity comics, featuring a three-issue miniseries and (if you get the second-edition hardcover) three other hard-to-find tales to boot.

Most of this volume is set either during the television series or in the interim between the show and Those Left Behind, based on the characters present and their relationships. Better Days finds our favorite crew of ne’er-do-wells knee-deep in a heist, just like a thousand times before. Except this time…this time they strike it rich. Our crew can handle misfortune just fine, they do that all the time. But success? Success just might be the death of them…. As with the previous miniseries, this one felt like it was ripped from the screen, almost like it was supposed to be an episode of the show. The writing was spot on, and the art was awesome. The Other Half is a short little tale featuring our heroes attempting to transport a fugitive to meet his friends…while Reavers try and eat their faces. Again, the dialogue was stellar, and the central focus on River was a nice change. Downtime is another short episode, this time following our cast as they attempt to wait out a snowstorm keeping them from taking off. Difficult as it is to pull off in a story this short, every character gets at least a moment to shine. The art isn’t quite as pretty this time out, being a bit more impressionistic, but I enjoyed the tale nevertheless. Finally, and most heart-breakingly, Float Out is a one-shot tale set after the film and featuring the friends of a certain fallen character toasting their memories of him. I’ll refrain from further discussion in the interest of avoiding spoilers for those who’ve yet to see it, but that final page might just make you tear up all over again at the demise of [REDACTED]….

CONTENT: Mild profanity, unless you can read Mandarin Chinese. Then I imagine it would be R-rated. Strong violence. Occasional sexual content consistent with the show.

[Eglathren]

I loved the precociously cancelled Firefly series so much when I was younger that I really wanted to read the comics, just so I could have more from the characters I felt like were my friends and who had been taken away too soon (especially those 2 who die in the movie Serenity).

Unfortunately, this isn't quite the same thing, and the direction the writing is taking, although interesting, doesn't feel like home anymore and thus my willingness to read more work by widely known abusive misogynist Joss Whedon is non-existent. Maybe I'll give the Buffy comics a try, if that.

[Elise · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this volume as much as the others, probably because it really isn't a cohesive volume like the others. That said there are some great stories in here and some really tugged my heartstrings. And when it comes to more content from the Serenity 'verse I will literally take whatever I can get XD

[T. Renee Doty · Rating 4 out of 5]

These small stories are all very heartwarming. Even though it reads like a string of a slice of the crews life, the writing was so good I just loved reading it.

[itchy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looks as good as the tv show.

[Lucas · Rating 2 out of 5]

É um conjunto de histórias individuais. Dá a sensação de episódios da série o que é legal. Mas… não dá um sentimento de fechamento para nada. Apenas um monte de “monstros da semana”.

[Taha · Rating 5 out of 5]

[Chloe · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I have mentioned before, I am a huge fan of Firefly and I really enjoyed the graphic novel, Those Left Behind so I was eager to start the next one, Better Days And Other Stories.

As this volume contains multiple stories, I have decided to share my thoughts on each one individually as my opinions on them varied quite a bit.

The main story, Better Days, follows the crew of the Serenity on a heist where the payoff may be more than they were expecting. The plot was fast paced and thrilling, just the kind of story you would associate with Firefly. We also got to see some of the characters dreams, if they had the money to do anything they wanted, which were great fun. I particularly loved Jayne's dream and Wash's was just adorable. However, there were times when I was confused and I had very little idea of what was happening, which was quite frustrating as it would have been an amazing story, if I had a clearer picture of what was going on. The artwork in Better Days was great and all of the characters were unique and easy to identify. There was also a lovely afterword by Adam Baldwin that was an absolute delight to read.

The Other Half is very short in comparison, following them in a quick getaway from Reavers. It was an interesting story, as we got to learn more about River as well as what she can do, which was great as there is so much about her that we still do not know. The art in this one was just like the first one, which I really liked however there were times when I was not entirely sure who was saying which pieces of dialogue so I would have loved for this to have been made slightly clearer.

Again, Downtime was a really short story which perhaps made it harder to enjoy. I was not a huge fan of the art style and I feel as though that distracted me from the actual story.

And finally we have Float Out. This one is more about some new characters reliving moments with, perhaps my favourite character in the series, Wash. I especially liked the ending but the flashbacks leading up to that point were actually a little boring and as with some of the previous stories, I was not a huge fan of the artwork.

Now, concerning the characters, I feel as though putting Kaylee, Inara and River on the cover allowed me to assume that these stories would be more about the female members of the crew but I was incorrect in this. Mal was brave and honorable as ever, and cute without even trying to be. Jayne was still humorous and some of his dialogue was particularly witty as well. Wash was adorable and so protective of Zoe, which was sweet. Speaking of Zoe, she was great, just like in the first volume and although we got to see more of her amazing fighting skills, I would never say no to more of her fantastic combat skills. I would have loved to have seen more of Kaylee and Simon, as they are so adorable together. River was pretty interesting in these stories, as we learned more about her and we also got to see her more badass streak but again, I do not feel as though this was quite enough. Like in Those Left Behind, some of the characters, such as Inara, Simon and even Book, did not get to do very much and I'm hoping we get to see more of them in a future graphic novel.

Better Days And Other Stories was a fun and interesting read, that was still enjoyable despite some minor complaints. I was not a huge fan of some of the art styles and the action within the stories was occasionally unclear. Looking back, I do not think that it was as good as the first volume and, to be honest, I do not think that it was quite as good as what an episode of the TV show would have been.

Rating - 4/5
★★★★

There is also a link to this review on my blog here!

[Luv · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, Mal just gives up the loot. Hmmm. Inara says it's sweet, someone else might say it's just plain selfish. Another great story regardless. Would love to see River's fantasy come to life. Lol

Got an ache in my heart for Wash's dream though (Like a leaf on the wind). God damned onions

[JR Simons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure how I fell about graphic novels. For me, the beauty of a novel is imagining the action in my head as it is described in the writing of a novel. I can still feel the rutted road jostling me about as I read the opening of Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities;" I can still smell Otik's Spiced Potatoes from the opening of Weiss and Hickman's "Dragons of Autumn Twilight;" and Salvatore's descriptions of Drizzt Do'urden's scimitar battles are as vivid in my head now as they ever were as when I first read them. However, a graphic novel takes that part of my imagination away from me by placing the action right there in front of me, and somehow, I feel a bit cheated, which makes these stories a bit less memorable for me.

[Carl Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see the Dark Horse one-offs published in a volume. Too bad it's a reprint of the previously-published "Better Days" instead of a standalone. "Better Days" is a good story with tight dialog and a good feel for the characters; it's probably my favorite of the three larger Dark Horse comics. "The Other Half" is a good action tale. The artwork in "Downtime" is inferior to the rest but the interplay between River and Book on its final page is good. "Float Out" is my favorite of the extras, and a fitting homage to Wash.

[Kelsey Hanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was interesting but didn't hold my attention as much as some of the other stories. Still it was interesting to see some of the returning characters. As before, the characters are all in character and strongly resemble the actors who portray them. The plots of these stories didn't interest me quite as much.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed these stories. I loved being transported back to the "Firefly" show and seeing some of the other stories that may have taken place between the other episodes. I especially liked seeing a little bit more of River in action (and Shep knowing her secret) and stories about Wash.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the world of Firefly/Serenity is one of the best for single issues of comics, and this shows it. It's hard to tell a complete, good story in just a single issue, but all of the single-issue stories here showed you can when you've got these great characters in this amazing world.

[Sara Forsberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really great collection of Serenity- stories, just little short vignettes of life onboard the ship. Great artwork, especially in "Better Days" and as usual a great set of characters.

[Sarah Churchill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much better than Vol.1, with the one-liners and character interactions I've been waiting for. And Wash! Ugh, Waaaash! D:

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

nice background on Wash. The rest was kind of more of the same which is to say, perfect for those of us desperately missing the show & material, but otherwise not particularly necessary.

[Norren · Rating 5 out of 5]

THEY SHOULD NOT HAVE DISCONTINUED THE FIREFLY SERIES!!!! I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT THIS BECOMING PART OF THE SHOW!!

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Firefly <3