Has anyone read the comic book ?(spoilers?)

POSTED BY: nakedandarticulate
UPDATED: Friday, July 15, 2005 16:47
VIEWED: 8981
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SIKKUKUT

Thursday, July 14, 2005 8:31 AM

Mal? I think Mal looks perfect. Book is also spot-on, Kaylee looks good, and everybody else is good enough except for Wash. He just doesn't look right.

I completely agree that this is analogous to a first act and the three together will be like an episode. An extra episode of Firefly is nothing to sneeze at, even if it comes in comic book form.

I really liked it on my first pass. Didn't think too much about its quality per se, when its mere existence causes me to tingle with joy. Perhaps I will be more contemplative after reading it again.

The main impression it left me with, though, was of overwhelming shortness. I always forget that about single issues of comic books... they're so short!

Yah, I'm really looking forward to #2 and starting to wonder how many media this story will be spread over by the time it's through. We've already got TV, comics, and a movie telling discrete parts of an overarching story, and that's awesome. What's next? Novels? Radio dramas? Interpretive dance?

____________________________
Is it September yet?

DUCESTECUM

Thursday, July 14, 2005 10:32 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SuicidalDuckling:
Quote:
Originally posted by DucesTecum:

If that was the The Great Escape on Broadway. Sorry about that. My bad. And you don't see me online, because I never have anything to say.

I'm confused...

If you called the Great Escape, then the Serenity comics I bought were the last ones they had. In my defense, I bought them at 11 am, so it looks like they didn't order enough to me. If GE isn't the comic shop, then...ummm...never mind.

OH! Now I get it (sometimes you have to paint me a picture).

But in this case, I'm the stupid one.

I don't know what store my buddy called about the comics (I'm a little old for comics and therefore would not know where to find one) but I'm buying these because they are FIREFLY!!! One is never too old for Firefly. Anyway, nice to know there are other Nashville Browncoats around. Will you be attending the opening night of Serenity? My buddy and I were trying to figure out what kind of costume we might wear and I said I'm too fat to be any of the characters and he said I could go as a companion and of course I laughed and said Yeah did ya ever see a FAT companion?

"And I'm thinking you weren't burdened with an over-abundance of schooling." Mal, Train Job

GWEK

Thursday, July 14, 2005 1:31 PM

Thought the comic was decent, but was hoping for a little more, I guess. I agree with the folks who said that the mini-series will be the equivalent of an episode, and I guess I was sort of hoping, on some level, that each ISSUE would be equivalent to an episode.

Having said that, the characterization was great. I could hear the actors speaking when I read it. All in all, it reminded me a little of the Train Job: decent set-up, mediocre plot, but excellent characters and dialogue.

LUCYFERSAM

Thursday, July 14, 2005 2:38 PM

It would be impossible to fit an entire episode into a single issue of a staderd format comic book. In most comics an "episode" is typically 3-6 issues long, so it is reasonable to assume that the 3 issues together will constitute one episode. Overall, I thought it was quite good as an introductory issue, a d am looking forward to the next one.

- lucyfersam

TOMANTA

Thursday, July 14, 2005 3:00 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by lucyfersam:
It would be impossible to fit an entire episode into a single issue of a staderd format comic book. In most comics an "episode" is typically 3-6 issues long, so it is reasonable to assume that the 3 issues together will constitute one episode. Overall, I thought it was quite good as an introductory issue, a d am looking forward to the next one.

Agreed... plus, did anyone notice one of the voiceover show introductions on the inside cover? How cool is that?

"Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government."

GWEK

Thursday, July 14, 2005 3:20 PM

Logic be damned! It's been so long since we've had new Firefly material that I wanted more! More, more, more!

GWEK

Thursday, July 14, 2005 3:23 PM

And, for the record, a movie adaptation is typically 4-6 issues. Since a movie is roughly 3 times the length of an individual TV episode, it would be quite possible to squeeze an episode into a single issue (particularly if it were a longer issue).

Before the age of the mini-series and graphic novel, they fit whole, complete stories into a single 22-page issue all the time!

BLACKOUTNIGHTS

Thursday, July 14, 2005 4:31 PM

I read an interesting article about a week or so ago about how the comic book industry continues to struggle even though the comic moves (a-la Spidey, Batman, Fantastic Four) are doing well.

Interestingly enough, they traced it back to the early 80's when Marvel, in all their wisdom, decided to make a few of their books Direct Only — meaning if you didn't subscribe to it, you'd have to visit your friendly neighborhood comic specialty shop to buy it.

I remember this move well, as I was a big fanboy of Moon Knight. They went Direct Only at about issue #17, and I had to subscribe because there were no comic shops in my rural community.

Anyhow, the article said the move began the transition making comics not available to the mass market, hence kids began losing interest and they haven't been able to recover. It's been a while since I last read a comic book, probably 5-6 years. Every once in a while I'll pick one up just to see what's happening in the market, but the stories...the stories have been lacking.

Which goes back to your point of a single story being told in an issue. My POV is that the whole market has become a soap opera. Tell your story in an issue or two, maybe introducing some elements for later issues, and move on. Werewolf By Night #'s32-33 are still some of my favorite books.

I haven't picked up the FF books, but maybe I'll do that soon. Three issues ain't so bad.

"You made a time machine ... out of a DeLorean?"

HELL'S KITTEN

Thursday, July 14, 2005 5:16 PM

First, I must preface this by saying that I am a comic book geek. (I blame my brother.) Skip this post if you don't wanna read me babble....

I was really looking forward to the Serenity comics, not only cuz I love Firefly, but also because I've read other comics Joss has written (Astonishing X-Men, Fray, Tales of the Vampire, etc.) and really enjoyed them. The first issue of Serenity, however, paled in comparison to his other work (it also paled in comparison to more prolific comic industry writers like Bendis, etc.). This is most likely because Joss didn't write it. I did take that into account, though, as I read it. It seemed a little awkward and disconnected at times, and the use of Chinese - while cute and novel to Firefly fans and old skool kids who enjoy reading jibberish as alien speke - was a little irksome. (I'm going to have to bring the comic to work to get it translated... heh....)

If I wasn't a fan of his or of the show, I wouldn't bother with the second issue, but maybe I just need to read it again when I'm in a better mood.

Don't be impressed if you hear that it sold out in comic shops. This is the first issue of a new mini-series, and even though Joss was invoved, these sorts of things aren't typically ordered in any large quantities because the store owners don't want to end up eating the cost of the left overs. Because of this, I strongly recommend that if you haven't pre-ordered issue #2 or #3 from either a website or a comic shop, you do so now; the second issues of new books are horribly under-ordered and therefore under-printed.

Quote:
Originally posted by lucyfersam:
It would be impossible to fit an entire episode into a single issue of a staderd format comic book. In most comics an "episode" is typically 3-6 issues long, so it is reasonable to assume that the 3 issues together will constitute one episode.

You've apparently never read Global Frequency or 100 Bullets or any of the other one-issues-is-a-complete-story comic books. Just as an example, the WB Global Frequency pilot was based pretty much on just the first single issue of the 12-issue run. (Not that I'm trying to plug that comic or pilot, but it was one hell of a series and show that I highly recommend buying (comics) and watching (unaired pilot). Hint, hint.) So, impossible it is not. It's just not typically the best business move; one of the main ideas in the industry is to have a multi-issue story arc in order to keep the readers coming back next month. And now that I re-read this, maybe I misunderstood you. Did you mean that you can't fit one TV episode into one comic issue, or that you couldn't get one TV episode out of one comic issue? Cuz if it's the former, then... nevermind...!

Quote:
Originally posted by BlackoutNights:
I read an interesting article about a week or so ago about how the comic book industry continues to struggle even though the comic moves (a-la Spidey, Batman, Fantastic Four) are doing well.

Interestingly enough, they traced it back to the early 80's when Marvel, in all their wisdom, decided to make a few of their books Direct Only — meaning if you didn't subscribe to it, you'd have to visit your friendly neighborhood comic specialty shop to buy it.

The comics industry has pretty much always struggled. I don't wanna continue to bore you with the industry tales of woe, so suffice it to say that the exceedingly narrow market does not support operations costs and publishing costs, not to mention talent costs. This is part of the reason comics pulled out of mainstream stores - they simply couldn't sell enough to justify the cost. They limited distribution / availability in such a way that the majority of their market would still have access to the stuff (comic shops and some book stores).

Um. That's all. I think I'm gonna go try to find a life now...

无党派人士

LUCYFERSAM

Thursday, July 14, 2005 6:01 PM

Quote:
]You've apparently never read Global Frequency or 100 Bullets or any of the other one-issues-is-a-complete-story comic books. Just as an example, the WB Global Frequency pilot was based pretty much on just the first single issue of the 12-issue run. (Not that I'm trying to plug that comic or pilot, but it was one hell of a series and show that I highly recommend buying (comics) and watching (unaired pilot). Hint, hint.)

Actually I've read both of those and watched said unaired pilot (I absolutely love Global Frequency and desprately wish they would air the pilot and do a full series, but for the time being recomend anyone to go find a bittorrent of the pilot and watch it). However, you may notice that there is a lot in the pilot that is not in the first issue it was based on, because there is more space to work with in the hour long pilot than in a single 22 page issue. The Serenity comic is trying to match the pacing and content of an episode of the series rather than pack an entire story into one issue. It is possible to pack the story from an episode into on 22 page issue, but not the whole epsiode. It seems to be a strong point of argument in some comic circles wether the slower pacing in books such as this is good or bad, I like both styles but feel Serenity is better served by the slower pacing than packing it all into on issue. You may wish there was more content per issue, but if there was there would undoubtably be complaints about not enough character time, not enough depth, etc.

- lucyfersam

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