the road to mal
The Serenity crew lick old war wounds in new Firefly prequel comic
Primarily set during the unification War, Boom! Studios’ new Firefly monthly takes the crew of Serenity back to their formative days. Written by Greg Pak and drawn by Dan McDaid with creator Joss Whedon acting as a story consultant, the first issue opens just after the television series left off before harking back through the years to chronicle how Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his first mate Zoe Washburne initially crossed interstellar paths
“Even more important than that is what Mal and Zoe actually did during the war,” says Pak. “They have some shared secrets that will be exposed during our series, with huge ramifications on all of the members of our cast. It’s a big, emotional story that plays out on multiple surprising levels and intertwines with a major crisis in the present time.”
With Pak revealing that, “Serenity itself is right there on page one of issue #1, in the middle of a massive crisis, as usual!”, all of the spaceship’s rebellious personnel will play a role in what unfolds. “You might see some other familiar faces or settings here and there,” he teases. “But the real thrill of this series is that we’re getting the green light to expand the Firefly universe by creating brand new characters with critical links to the past and present. We’re also going to new planets with new subcultures that explore different aspects of this amazing world that Joss and his collaborators created for us.”
Stressing that “we’re telling a war story, in many respects,” McDaid insists that being in a state of constant conflict has a physical toll on Mal and Zoe’s younger comic incarnations. “In some ways, they were older then, because they were exposed to horror on a daily basis,” he reasons. “They’re tired, hungry and on the edge, so War Malcolm is not quite the same man as Serenity Malcolm.” SJ
Firefly’s comic run starts on 14 November.