Firefly: Return to Earth That Was Vol. 3

Firefly (Collected Editions) #10

by Greg Pak, Simona Di Gianfelice (Illustrations)

Can the Serenity crew finally take care of the Alliance once and for all?

The crew of the Serenity is stretched too thin and in unfamiliar territory, but Kaylee has had enough. Despite being at odds with the Jefa, they’ll have to turn their attention toward a mutual threat, along with other factions. Meanwhile the Washbot continues to come into his own, as the various groups— our heroes, Earthers, plunderer workers, and others— will also learn how imperfect people can come together to build a community, and a sense of hope. But that hope may be short-lived, as they discover that the Alliance has built portals, and are coming to The-Earth-That-Was... in this new chapter of Firefly by New York Times best-selling writer Greg Pak (Darth Vader) and rising star artist Simona Di Gianfelice (Power Rangers). Collects Firefly #33-36.

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

128 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2022

About the author

Greg Pak is an award-winning Korean American comic book writer and filmmaker currently writing "Lawful" for BOOM and "Sam Wilson: Captain America" (with Evan Narcisse) for Marvel. Pak wrote the "Princess Who Saved Herself" children's book and the “Code Monkey Save World” graphic novel based on the songs of Jonathan Coulton and co-wrote (with Fred Van Lente) the acclaimed “Make Comics Like the Pros” how-to book. Pak's other work includes "Planet Hulk," "Darth Vader," "Mech Cadet Yu," "Ronin Island," "Action Comics," and "Magneto Testament."

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slogging mess of an ending to a terrible run. If you want pop psychology, terrible characterization and unrecognizable art, by all means, read. If you want to continue having good memories about the original series, for the love of God, stop.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The third Return to Earth That Was volume begins with a very confusing battle involving at least three sides, several of which are holding portions of the Firefly crew hostage. Or they're teaming up with the crew. Or something???

The outcome of the battle is: everyone leave Earth, toot suite. Fine! This arc turned dull as soon as it was revealed that multiple human parties were actually on "Earth That Was," removing the fascinating Planet of the Apes potential. The final pair of issues in this volume are filled with pleasant wrap-up chats that more closely resemble Firefly goodness. More of that going forward, please.

[iamjacsmusings · Rating 2 out of 5]

So that's how the Return to Earth That Was ends: not with a shiny bang but with a gorram whimper.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Characters still arent consistent, writing was ok, no chinese, very little of what made serenity. Greg pak did a terrible job with this. Thank God they are getting matt to do the newer ones because canto was amazing. Tried to be pc and peace and love and it didnt feel like firefly it felt like a cliche postmodern new age ending. Flat characters. Better than the other newer ones, but they need people to right the stories who are fans. This isnt what made us fall in love with serenity.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot to like with the last two parts but the first two, I couldn’t cared less about.

[Caity McPhe · Rating 2 out of 5]

You ........... the dog. I'm upset. -50 stars.

I still feel the characters are so off for the actual characters in Firefly.

It's drawn nicely enough, but eh.

[Angela Blount · Rating 1 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

Whelp...

The artwork saw a little improvement. But the characterization and plot, unfortunately, did not. I vacillated from frustration to visceral anger over how easy it was to forget this is supposed to be part of the Firefly series. It just feels like this wasn't written by someone who had any real love for this material, or these pre-existing characters.

We open with a confusing mess of a fight between three different sides. (Hard to keep track of things, given the added distortion of explosions and the accompanying bad lighting.) The pacing bogs down a lot through the middle, and all the way through almost to the very end--making this installment feel like the longest of the three by far. And the way they decide to destroy the portal... let's just say the reasoning is unconvincing.

Fair Warning: The dog dies. (No, I don't consider that to be spoilers.) And yes, it's the reason I rounded down on my rating. Because it's just as emotionally manipulative as you would expect.

Washbot deserves almost as much justice as the dog. He was badly underutilized and was never explored as a sentient being. And his resolving decision made zero sense for him.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a wet fart of an ending. I liked it, as sometimes there’s a little quiet comfort in the miasma of a wet fart. But wet fart this is nonetheless. In the second volume of this run, I ruefully estimated we’d see a reset with everyone of importance back in the known ‘verse and I didn’t have the heart to spell that out as meaning Washbot (Frankie, now) would be the sole person left behind. And our sweet coyote. But that’s how it shook out. Without a ton of major growth for the characters and a firm factory reset that basically erases the need to ever mention or refer to this run ever again. It feels so overly cautious as a narrative that I’m wishing, despite the “Quiet Year-style” finale that I did enjoy, that it took some risks and gave us some real closure for some of the characters. Something along the lines of “when you can’t run, you crawl, and when you can’t crawl…you find someone to carry you.” Something with a little finality.

[Lynne · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

[David Codd · Rating 4 out of 5]

a beautiful, if a tad rushed, end to Pak's brilliant run

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Grand decisions. Mal has a hard time. Conflict resolution and bowling balls for artifacts.