Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
Several months ago, we let you know that Firefly Online was going to be A Thing. (The fact that I can’t find that post says something about my inability to tag my posts.)
Today at SDCC, we just got the news that the entire cast will reunite for the game, Alan Tudyk will be providing several roles, and Niska, one of the most terrifying of Mal’s personal nemeses, will also be returning. More details can be found at the Firefly Online website.
It’s New Comic Book Day, and Dark Horse seems to release everything at once, so naturally, all our reviews come out at once. Today, the last installment of Serenity: Leaves on the Wind releases and keeping things spoiler-free, here’s what I have to say:
Aw, comic, no.
I’m not going into the substandard art again, but if there’s been one thing I have enjoyed about this series, it’s been the writing–until now. And I understand that this comic is setting up for whatever the next Serenity comic mini-series is going to be, but the end of this comic very, very quickly took a turn for both 1) a (second) rehash of an old plotline and 2) a WTF spin on the level of Buffy Season Eight.
If you’ve bought the other five comics in the mini-series, buy this one to complete the set. But if the next mini-series continues off this arc, rather than telling stories like The Shepherd’s Tale or Better Days, I’d be just a little bit wary of investing money in it.
Action! Action action action action action! For all the set-up in Serenity #4, Serenity #5 is all action, and yes, you will need to go back and read the previous issue to catch up and understand exactly what is happening in this issue, because there is so much action switching between enough perspectives that it takes a read or two to figure things out.
Basically, though, this is where the excrement meets the cooling machinery. The crew (plus the Operative) has gone to rescue the other River-like girls, only to discover that they’ve been completely brainwashed, leaving River to fight them. And everything goes nuts here, until the end, when there’s a horrible realization that what’s left of the Browncoat resistance are those left on Serenity–because the Alliance has used all of this as a trap.
But Malcolm Reynolds has one thing he has left to do–and that’s to save Zoe. And he’s going to do whatever it takes.
Art – cue my normal complaints and my normal WOW about the cover. Writing – not up to its usual standards here, but that’s because this is action action OMG all the action. Still, comic writers are responsible, in part, for laying out the pages and the panels and what’s happening in them, and this was the first time I really wasn’t all that impressed. Still, overall, it’s a good story, and I’m not sure how all the ends are going to get tied up in one issue next month.
It’s that time again – Serenity #4 is out today, and the continuing tribulations of our heroes get ever worse.
My complaints about the art continue–I won’t repeat them again.
As far as the writing goes, this is not as good as previous issues–it’s transitional–our characters are having to get from here to there, and that’s understandable. It’s not particularly engaging, though there are certainly a couple of moments that will make you flip back a page to make sure that you did just see what you saw.
That said–I’m almost certain that you’re going to need this issue to get the next one. This one has left readers on one hell of a cliff-hanger–a couple, actually–so even if this one issue isn’t as fantastic as the others, you’re going to want to pick it up anyway.
And where Joss Whedon and Firefly is concerned, forget your ideas of what fandom can and cannot change and rejoice because they can’t stop the signal.
Dark Horse Comics just announced that their new comic series will pick up where the 2005 movie Serenity left off, with River Tam sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, and Zoe Washburn struggling to adjust to the death of her husband and the realization that she’ll be raising their soon-to-be-born child alone.
Buffy Season 8 artist George Jeanty has been announced as the artist, while the writer and the launch date are still up in the air.
I think this is just shiny.
Marvel.com just announced that Robert Downey Jr. has signed a two picture deal to return as Iron Man for Avengers 2 and 3. This is on the heels of rumors that RDJ had been balking at returning as Tony Stark due to pay concerns for his other Marvel co-stars.
It made the rounds this week that Fox started sending cease and desist orders to Etsy sellers who were producing their own version of the iconic ‘Jayne hat’ from Joss Whedon’s cult TV show Firefly. Both Ripple Junction, who now owns the license to make the hats and ThinkGeek, who sells them, denied any involvement in sending the C&D orders. ThinkGeek posted a blog entry attesting to as much.
While there’s not much that can be done for intrepid Firefly fans who want to sell their own versions of Jayne’s hat, ThinkGeek just announced that they have heard the outcry from fans and therefore will donate all proceeds from the sale of the official Jayne hat on sale at their website to Can’t Stop the Serenity, an organization that hosts charity screenings of Serenity in order to help support Equality Now, a worldwide charity that works to further the cause of human rights and end violence and discrimination against women around the world.
Four for you, ThinkGeek. You go, ThinkGeek.
I meant to blog this on Monday but, well, things happened.
Digital Spy sat down with Joss Whedon over the weekend to chat about, among other things, what he’d like to see in a standalone Star Wars film if he were hypothetically given the opportunity to direct one.* Long story short? He wouldn’t bring back the original characters for them and would move in a new and fresh direction.
*Could you imagine the fandom’s reaction to that?
Given that we’re Whedon and theater fans here, we’re very excited for his take on Much Ado About Nothing. Here’s the theatrical trailer!
Marvel golden boy Josh Whedon sat down with TV Line yesterday to discuss the upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D television series, explaining that it’s got a chance to be something different than what viewers are used to seeing on the airwaves these days.
I’m excited about the show because it’s a very hopeful show. It’s not about murder, and it’s not about crime, and it’s not people looking into their own belly buttons. It’s about people who are trying to help each other, and that’s one of the things I loved about comic books. They had costumes and the villains were cool [but] they stood for something, and I like doing a show that does that
As for film characters showing up the series? Well, Clark Gregg will be there, but don’t expect too much Maria Hill because her schedule will “permit very little.”
For more, head over to TV line and read their interview with Whedon.