Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse

Serenity #5

by Chris Roberson, Georges Jeanty (Illustrations), Karl Story (Illustrations)

Tough times haven’t ended for Mal Reynolds and his crew aboard the Serenity. When a call for help to find a missing friend takes them to an Alliance post on the Outer Rim, they encounter a new force building strength to fight the battle of the Browncoats—soon leading the crewmembers to question their individual values…Discovering that their friend is in Alliance custody and that an Alliance Operative is on the way, Mal concentrates his energy on the problem at hand and strikes an uneasy partnership for a daring rescue. But this is only the beginning of the story. Success will be when the Serenity’s crew makes it off this planet alive and all accounted for…

Georges Jeanty (Buffy Season 8, Season 9, Serenity) returns to the ’verse!

iZombie creator Chris Roberson writes the continuing adventures of Mal and the crew.

Follows the film Serenity, and the comics series Serenity: Leaves on the Wind.

Executive Producer Joss Whedon!

Collects: Serenity No Power in the ’Verse #1-6, and Free Comic Book Day 2016 “Serenity: The Warrior and the Wind”

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Science Fiction, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Fantasy, Adventure

152 pages, Hardcover

First published August 8, 2017

About the author

Chris Roberson is the co-creator with artist Michael Allred of iZombie, the basis of the hit CW television series, and the writer of several New York Times best-selling Cinderella miniseries set in the world of Bill Willingham’s Fables. He is also the co-creator of Edison Rex with artist Dennis Culver, and the co-writer of Hellboy and the B.P.R.D, Witchfinder, Rise of the Black Flame, and other titles set in the world of Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. In addition to his numerous comics projects, Roberson has written more than a dozen novels and three dozen short stories. He lives with a teenager, two cats, and far too many books in Portland, Oregon.

Reviews

[Sarah Churchill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wash 😭😭😭 still too soon!

The first story, "No Power in the 'Verse" reads like a full episode, though apart from me feeling really bad for Jayne (who saw that coming?!) I could honestly take it or leave it.

"The Warrior and the Wind" is a bedtime story told by River, that's basically a short fairytale version of the crew. And Wash. Poor Wash... It's adorable and the artwork is perfect. I'd love for this to be published as a standalone short story with illustrations *ahem Chris Riddell*

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story was good but the art wasn’t top shelf. This is supposedly set after the Serenity movie. Our gang is still moving about the universe. Mal and Inara are together. She is a former companion. Simon and Kaylee are struggling at keeping their relationship together. Zoe is a single mother trying to keep her baby safe in an unsafe world. Meanwhile River is piloting the ship while evading groups that want to take her back under the control of the alliance.
Lots of excitement with things blowing up and fights happening. And we still miss Wash.
The added story at the end sells it, though, “The Warrior and the Wind” River is telling baby, Emma a bedtime story about her parents and the crew that is just so adorable! 😊

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a standard episode of Firefly. George Jeanty's art is so-so. His characters don't always look like the characters from the show and hence it's sometimes hard to tell who's who. He did a lot better job when he was drawing Buffy.

Received an advance copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

[Mel (Epic Reading) · Rating 4 out of 5]

While Chris Roberson has done a brilliant job capturing the accents and talk of each character; I was still disappointed in No Power in the 'Verse. Overall it feels like it's not a stand-alone story (even though it was published as one). Clearly this was/is a set-up for the next wave of Firefly comics. Which would be fine if it was the end of a season and we only waited 4-6 months for the next comics. Instead this was published LONG before the next set of Firefly comics would hit the shelf. And while I do have those comics waiting for me (as I read this so late) that doesn't remove my frustration from expecting a 6-shot to be its own entity.
However it's still better than (pretty much) every Buffy comic ever made from Season 8 forward. Although that isn't saying much. I keep wondering if Joss Whedon and his universes are just too outdated to carry forward these days. That or I'm just getting old (I was a teen when Buffy was originally aired on TV). I seem to want so much more from reading content (novels or comics) these days.
The biggest saving grace here? It's only 6 comics long and you can knock it off pretty quick.

[Lost Planet Airman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent story but makes some rather aggressive changes to Serenity's crew and relationships.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

God, I miss Firefly so much.

I love the idea that such a diverse group of people (personality-wise) can have conflict but ultimately get along and truly care about each other. So many other series try to do this and fail because the characters aren't actually different from each other. In Firefly all the characters have fundamentally different world views and they duke it out regularly. Nothing gets left unsaid and conflicts are resolved quickly because they confront every problem head on and they're very honest with each other about what they think. It's great. I can't get enough.

The art is a little confusing at points because it will be a close up of someone's face and I had to look to other frames for the collar of a shirt or something to tell me who's face it's supposed to be. A few times I just couldn't figure it out. There isn't a lot of consistency in face shape or other physical qualities, BUT there is a good amount of detail and I appreciate that.

[Ashley (gotbookcitement) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Firefly, but I was a little disappointed by this comic. It just wasn't everything I wanted it to be. No offense to the main artist, but the art really didn't capture the characters very well. I really noticed it with all the girls, they didn't look like them. The worst capture was probably River, followed by Kaylee, and Inara. Even Zoe didn't look exactly right. Mal 10% of the time looked like himself, the other 90% was just weak, it just wasn't even close for most of the characters. I'm not saying the artist was bad, but he did not capture these iconic characters for me. Other comics in this series have done a much better job of making the Firefly crew look like the Firefly crew.
The overall story was just kind of meh too. It seemed like everybody was mad at one another. All the relationships were going through turmoil. It just wasn't a happy time on the ship, they didn't feel like the family they are.
I've also heard that there will be no more comics in this series after this. I think it'd been bought out by someone else. So there will be no continuation to this story arc, and this Volume ends on a cliffhanger/call to action note.
The only thing that saved this for me was the addition of The Warrior and the Wind, which was a little bonus story at the end. It was beautiful. It gave me all the feels. I liked the art style of it. It was River telling a fairytale to Zoe's baby about how Zoe and Wash met, and just Wash's legacy. It was the best thing out of the whole Volume.
I love Firefly, but I just felt very meh about this Volume in the series. It didn't give me that feeling that I wanted and the visuals weren't up to par for me.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3.5/5
Not as Shiny as I wanted it to be.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I could say I loved this. I really, really do. Firefly is probably my favorite TV series, but these comics that continue the story from the series and the film, Serenity, leave me more disappointed than I really want to admit. The characters, which were so rich in the series, are just cardboard cut-and-paste versions of their former selves; and while the story is progressing, the characters aren't. This will probably be my last Serenity mini-series. It's not horrible, it's just not captivating enough to keep me interested. Although if the publisher waits another year for another mini-series I may have forgotten by then how un-moved I was by this one. 

[TJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this, but at some point they need to stop ending these with "the end" because it's so not the end! I was a bit frustrated with where they left off the relationships of Mal/Inara and Zoe/River. If this was "the end" there should have been some positive reconnection between them, and the relationship drama between Kaylee and Simon was a continuous thing throughout this book, but it was never really dealt with, oddly. I expected to see a certain bounty hunter in this book once more, but was let down. And the mention of a red haired companion excited me, but was just a tease. The Mal/Inara revelation at the end was... fine and I guess interesting, but I when the hell are they going to acknowledge that Inara is dying of frikkin cancer?! Previous comics heavily indicated they'd tell that story eventually, but I'm still waiting. I thought this book was building up to that, finally, but nah. I'm starting to think it's been forgotten. So while this was a well done book, it suffers from not paying off things it should have in order for the inevitable next one to. Stop with "the end"s until it's actually the end! Also, why isn't this book labeled "5" on the side? What was the point of numbering all of the Serenity volumes up until this one? 4.5/5 stars.

[Jenny (Reading Envy) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is for super fans of Firefly, and crave another cycle of adventure. Also some River backstory that is pretty interesting, and seeing Zoe with the baby!

I also realized that Chris Roberson is the same guy who works on iZombie, a silly zombie show that I like watching.

Thanks to Edelweiss for access to this a bit early. It comes out as a collected volume in August.

[E.W. Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts great and ends with a bang, bit the middle is long and middling, and the art is subpar throughout.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just when things were getting interesting. We'll never know what Dark Horse comics had planned for SERENITY after LEAVES ON THE WIND and NO POWER IN THE 'VERSE because their license to produce Firefly comics has been lifted by 20th Century Fox. Fox has since passed this license to BOOM! comics. Except, Disney is buying all of the non-Fox news portion of Fox media so that means that Boom! is undoubtedly soon going to be replaced by Marvel. Which means that anything BOOM! comics does is going to be a minor issue.

The one thing which is a bright spot about this whole musical chairs is it's entirely possible Disney, once it has the rights for Firefly would be interested in doing their own TV show version and 20 years later they would still be plausibly willing to do movies (I know Adam Baldwin isn't doing anything else and Nathan Fillon wanted to buy it for Netflix). Okay, maybe I'm just crazy here but I still think its possible.

Mind you, I do think NO POWER IN THE VERSE was setting up a new status quo but there's a decent argument it wasn't going in the right direction. The premise is Mal gets unwittingly roped into a scheme of some unreconstructed Browncoats who have since gone for terrorism against the Alliance versus submission or running away. River is still being hunted by her deranged band of sisters who want her to drink the Operative Kool-Aid. Mal is also trying to rescue the girl I kinda remember from LEAVES ON THE WIND but don't honestly care about.

The set up at the end of the book is for Mal to start Rebel Alliancing against the Alliance and, well, that was never what the story of Firefly was about. I blame Joss to an extent for this because he is incapable of writing a government that doesn't deserve to be overthrown. Serenity the movie really established the Alliance as irredeemable. Still, I wanted the protagonists to be criminals and not heroes (unless they really had to be).

Overall, this is an enjoyable comic but like Season Six Buffy forming a new universe after sex with Angel, the weirdness of comics was making Firefly a bit too off-kilter.

8/10

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

This feels like a second-rate episode of the TV series, and only half the story. I don't know why it's listed as 152 pages. That's just the first story. With the backup tale and cover gallery, it's actually closer to 172. I want that page count, Goodreads!

The art is middling. Sometimes it was hard to tell which character was which, with Kaylee, River and Inara especially difficult to tell apart. Good thing Jayne has a Van Dyke beard.

So you can skip this, unless you are a Firefly completist. I only read it because I stumbled across it at the library.

[Christian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Georges Jeanty was a pretty reliably decent comics artist at some point in time, right? What exactly happened there? Maybe he's burned out on Whedon stuff and should go illustrate something he believes in, because he's gotten pretty bad. There were many times that I couldn't even tell who was talking. Speaking of things that were good once, Serenity comics were good once, weren't they? Did I just have lower standards? I barely remember Leaves on the Wind which didn't help in my appreciation of this, but I do remember really enjoying the other three books; at least they felt like they were written for a reason other than because people would buy it.

The story is that the Serenity crew leaves to help one of the other girls who were experimented on with River. They had ran into them in Leaves on the Wind, that's about all I remember from it. Shenanigans ensue and characters repeat gags from Firefly episodes in the hopes that nostalgia will make you like this. The worst crime it commits though is being really boring. I don't like it. I wanted to like it. The last comic issue at the end was nice, but that doesn't really make it worth it.
It would have to be incredible for that to happen.

UPDATE: I reread it after having read Leaves on the Wind. It was better, but still not very good, but at least it made a bit more sense.

The final issue is really good though! It's a story about how Zoe and Wash met, and is rather touching. Maybe just find a copy of it somehow?

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars, bumped up to 4 out of love for the series.

Whenever I get the chance to return to Firefly, I'll take it. And there is a lot here that recalls why the show was so good--in the characters, the setting, the dialogue. And beyond nostalgia for the show, there is some fun, adventure storytelling here as well--in both the main story and the bonus episode included at the end.

On the downside, however, without the Whedons handling the writing, the dialogue sometimes feels like someone mimicking the voices of these characters, rather than the characters themselves speaking. The art isn't always the best. And some of the characterization throughout feels as though it revisits conflicts that had seemingly been resolved previously.

So, I didn't love this as much as I hoped I would, but it's great to see these characters in action again, and there is a lot to enjoy here--particularly for those who are already fans of the series.

[Bethany Witemeyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

No Power in the 'Verse: 4/5
The Warrior and the Wind: 4.5/5

I enjoyed both of these stories. No Power in the 'Verse answered several questions that were raised in Leaves on the Wind and wrapped up its plot nicely. However, there are still several questions left unanswered, so I'm interested to see how that gets handled for the franchise since this is the last entry in this particular comic run. The Warrior and the Wind was just so fun and cute! A nice break from the drama of the other stories.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again. I just love seeing my Serenity family. The story seemed to drag a little but I just thought to myself, "Would you enjoy this if it were an episode of Firefly?" and the answer was yes. Yes, I would. I'm honestly a little sad now that I don't have any new Firefly content to consume so I will probably just rewatch the series and movie and reread these comics until the end of time.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the story, but the interior art makes River and Kaylee almost indistinguishable from one other. Even if the artist couldn’t get the faces right, how hard would it be to give Kaylee red hair? It’s medium brown in most of the panels.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the extra story at the end, The Warrior and the Wind, River telling Wash and Zoe’s child how her parents met and how the crew came together as if she were telling a fairy tale. Lovely.

I liked the main story, but I was bummed to be left with so many loose ends by the time it wrapped. The artwork was fantastic, especially the cover art and in the bonus story.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this is about as bland and inconsequential as licensed, work-for-hire storytelling gets. The artist almost captures the likenesses and the writer sort of knows the spirit of the characters, so if you just need a whiff of a Firefly fix, this'll hold you over until something better comes along.

Or you could just watch the show again...

[Nightstar · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

The story was interesting overall, and the pacing was certainly better than the previous volume, but it still didn't *quite* capture the adventure and chemistry of the cast and tv show. However, the short story at the end did leave me with a better impression of this volume than I would have had were it absent. It was really charming and did a far better job as tribute to Wash than one of the previous short stories, and it really captured the humor and fun of the show. Overall, a pretty interesting story that left me wanting to know more of what happens next, but still something I'd rather read in a novel/see in the original show.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse is really a lost opportunity. It took a great premise and crammed way too much story into too short of a format. This would've been a great story if it had the room to breathe. Imagine if it was spread out over 13 episodes of a TV series, each episode building up to the eventual climax and cliffhanger of the finale. But instead, it's like 13 hours of television was crammed into a two-hour movie, except the comic version of that analogy. Some characters are well written and in character, but others feel off. None of them get enough time spent on them to feature any true character development. Things have changed massively in the Firefly universe in the comic, but the characters barely seem any different. Even Jayne's arc feels shortchanged. It's a mess of a graphic novel, and that's a shame, really.

Full review on my blog.

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mal and the gang are misbehaving again, and it's good fun! 😎

[James Biser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting follow up to the Firefly and Serenity stories. The crew has made a number of families. There are now children aboard the ship and relationships have changed in huge ways.

[Sarah Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was mostly good but the art just wasn't up to my expectations. Anything in the background seemed like the artist didn't put any effort into it.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well conceived and executed tale that gives a glimpse of how things might have gone had the series continued, broadening the storylines and deepening the characters.

[itchy · Rating 4 out of 5]

p54: Then no power in the 'verse will stop us...

Such a dysfunctional team.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a very good episode of Firefly. I can't say that's exactly the highest praise, since you might expect a six-issue series to go a bit more in depth into the Serenity universe than a standard episode. But, much like a standard episode, No Power in the Verse is fast and fun and, obviously, the characters are all wonderful to hang out with. And it's not all fluff - Mal has to make some tough decisions regarding just how far he's willing to go with a rebirthed Browncoats sect in their efforts to make the Alliance hurt. Plus, there's the classic River sideplot that just seems to get in the way of everything else.

[kaitlphere · Rating 4 out of 5]

I missed the episodic feeling of Firefly and Serenity up to this point. There's a real intense Big Story feeling to it now that makes me pretty worried for the next trade. I also hate that the wonderful Crew Family feeling has been torn apart.

All that being said, the characters were entirely true to themselves throughout the volume. I love the new characters and I find the new villains entirely believable in this universe.

Also, the bonus issue at the end straight up made me cry and everyone who has seen Serenity should read it.

[Milan Pohl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Serenity: No Power in the 'Verse je druhou oficiální komiksovou minisérií (resp. komiksovou knihou, čtete-li vázanou reedici) odehrávající se po filmu Serenity. Od předchozí minisérie Leaves on the Wind uplynulo půl druhého roku; posádka Malcolma Reynoldse, rozšířená o malou Emmu, ovšem stále dělá to co vždycky: protlouká se, jak se dá, a snaží se při tom vyhýbat Alianci.

Začátek příběhu se opravdu čte jako klasická epizoda Firefly, sázky se ovšem brzy zvyšují. Posádka zjišťuje, že Bea (hnědokabátnice s modrými vlasy z minulé minisérie) se pohřešuje, a je třeba ji zachránit. Do děje vstupuje nejen Aliance včetně zvláštní agentky Kalisty (rovněž známé z minulého komiksu), ale také radikální vzbouřenecké hnutí, odhodlané skoncovat s Aliancí stůj co stůj - i za cenu velkých ztrát na životech civilistů...

Co se od minula výrazně zlepšilo, je kresba. Georges Jeanty evidentně našel svoji správnou polohu pro Firefly, vhodnou rovnováhu mezi vlastním stylem a zachycením charakteristického vzhledu jednotlivých postav - celkově jsou si mnohem podobnější a vypadají méně "dětsky" než v minulém příběhu, takže s Jeantym v úloze kreslíře už nemám problém, dokonce jsem za něj rád.

Scénář, jehož autorem je tentokrát Chris Roberson, je bohužel o něco slabší, než bych si přál. Postavy sice většinou mluví jako v seriálu - ale v tom je možná právě ta potíž, mluví tak až moc. Některé hlášky či situace jsou nejen parafrázovány, ale doslova zkopírovány. Kolikrát se dá udělat narážka na to, jestli vzal Jayne granáty, aniž by to začalo působit trapně? O kolik bylo vtipnější, když se Jaynův pletený svetr od maminky minule jen letmo objevil v jediném panelu, než když ho Jayne dostane poštou v téměř přesném a v podstatě zbytečném zopakování scény z The Message?

Postavy jako takové naštěstí Roberson vystihl dobře. Interakce mezi nimi působí tak, jak by měly (s výjimkou Kaylee, která celou dobu nedělá nic jiného než to, že se kvůli každé prkotině uráží na Simona), některé dialogy obohacují nejen příběh, ale i samotné protagonisty, posouvají je zajímavým směrem. To platí především pro samotné finále, kde vyplouvá na světlo velmi zásadní informace z historie jedné z hlavních postav, šokující zjištění, které možná posádkou do budoucna hodně zamává. Už kvůli tomu No Power in the 'Verse rozhodně stojí za přečtení.

Několik dalších, již drobnějších výhrad jde na adresu vydavatele. Dark Horse Comics obvykle odvádí při publikování souborných vydání dobrou práci, ale tentokrát se dopustil jedné poměrně zásadní chybky, navíc stejné jako minule: krátký bonusový příběh "The Warrior and the Wind" s úžasnou kresbou Stephena Byrna a kouzelným, doslova pohádkovým Robersonovým scénářem je začleněn až ZA hlavní příběh, přestože se prokazatelně odehrává PŘED ním (z narativního hlediska dává smysl jedině toto pořadí; ostatně původně tento krátký příběh vyšel před tím hlavním). Další rýpnutí míří na hřbet souborného vydání: proč z něj zmizelo číslo svazku? Všechny předchozí číslované byly, proč tenhle najednou není?

Navzdory dílčím výhradám se jedná o solidní pokračování Firefly/Serenity, jehož závěr vysloveně volá po dalším příběhu. Snad se ho brzy dočkáme. 80 %