Firefly Special: Better Days

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When a job leaves Mal and his crew wealthy beyond their wildest dreams they take it as an opportunity to live out their fantasies, but the crew's bounty seems far less important when they learn that Mal's life is suddenly in danger.

Previous: Objects in Space

Firefly was a series that was cancelled long before its time, but through intense fan response Joss Whedon was eventually granted the opportunity to continue his franchise in the form of an expanded universe. Though it would be much preferred for his plots to play out on screen, Whedon takes the comic book format and uses it to close many threads that were merely hinted at in his short-lived space western.

This story takes the opportunity to expand on Inara's attraction to Mal, imagining Mal in place of her client as they have sex, leaving her more satisfied than she's been in a long while. While Sanda, her client, takes notice of her being somewhat absent during their activities, she instead changes the subject and opts to give him a massage, then made to listen to him describe his search for a terrorist sect with a great deal in common with Mal himself; as she hears him bad mouth the description of the man she secretly loves she gets progressively rougher in her massage until he stops talking, in her mind taking a small stand for Mal without actually having to admit her feelings aloud. Mal later spies Simon leaving Inara's shuttle, assuming that the two had had relations, and while Inara acknowledges Mal's jealousy of the situation, she refuses to elaborate on what transpired between she and Simon, stating that "Simon is [her] friend. He's also a doctor," elaborating that Mal's "heard all [he's] going to." Both Mal and Inara know that a relationship between them will be too difficult to make work given their current circumstances, but their desire to be together, and inability to verbalize their feelings in full, makes their relationship incredibly heartbreaking and authentic.

Mal is kidnapped under suspicion that he was a Dust Devil after the war, a group of terrorists calling themselves peacemakers shortly after the loss of the war. Zoë then reveals that it was she, and not Mal, who had been associated with them, and she makes no claims of having been justified in her actions, simply stating that she was a soldier still fighting the war, convinced from her time in the trenches that she was doing the right thing. Zoë's explanation here is interesting because she knows how terrible her deeds were, but she felt that they were necessary at the time, and it shows just how much she's grown since the war. She understands that the things she did weren't honorable, but there's still a hint that she would do the same thing again if put back into the shoes of her younger self.

As the crew discuss what they want to do with all the money they've made, River's fantasy is briefly shown to include a marriage to a fish-man while being surrounded by all kinds of outlandish creatures. While the gag is made funny through Zoë's brief commentary, it seems as though it's an effort to be quirky for the sake of making River stand out from the rest of the crew, to remind the reader that she's not always all there, but instead it only makes a mockery of the idea that she might genuinely be insane.

In the end, after having declared a war against all Dust Devils, Sanda leaves without as much as a threat against Mal and Zoë. It's understandable that he might give the crew of Serenity a little leeway in standing with him to bring down the man attacking both groups, but his grudge against Zoë is left unresolved, and it's such an abrupt close to his story that it feels incomplete.

Penciled by Will Conrad, the art in this issue is something of a mixed bag, and while the art itself is largely good, the likenesses of the actors are sometimes a little weak and the action is occasionally hard to follow. The sense of scope created in the landscape here is fantastic, though, and the designs of the world they land on, especially the spiraling freeway, really adds to the depth of the universe created in the series proper.

I appreciate the formatting as done by Scott Allie, having Mal repeatedly explaining his plan to his crew only to splice in a panel of the Operator telling his investors how his machine can adapt to those changes and continue to hunt Mal's people down. Jayne's confusion is very apparent as he takes aim at the ship only to have it explode before he fires a shot, and the confusion that follows is done very well. It's also interesting to see Book get so deeply involved in Zoë's mission here, first keeping an eye on the enemy's lookout without giving his own position away, and later jumping into the fray by slicing an android in half through use of a sword. Another good touch is the use of Mandarin script in place of profanity, allowing the book to keep much of the feel of the series itself.

Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews plot the script here, and the voices of the characters are absolutely spot-on. The crew briefly discuss their fantasies involving their windfall, providing an insight into their greater desires, including Jayne's want to buy a captaincy with an all-female crew, and Wash's desire to pilot a luxury liner and start a family with Zoë. Mal's discomfort with wealth is apparent when the crew rents a luxurious hotel suite, feeling that living in such splendor makes people forget where and who they are, and his later indifference to having lost all the money makes all the more sense as Inara notes that he's already living his dream, out on the edge of space with his ship and his family. Jayne is made to come to Simon for advice on how to act as a gentleman, because companions, unlike the typical whores that Jayne is used to, will not accept him until they respect him. This story is very faithful to the universe created by Whedon in the television series, and it makes for a good continuation of the characters and their stories.

The romantic tension between Mal and Inara continues to build in this story, though there's no hint here of her desire to leave the ship, which is somewhat strange. Book's backstory continues to be hinted at through his actions, and though he feels no desire to reveal his origins, he makes no efforts to hide his skills from the crew, potentially leading to the crew learning more about him in the future.

Next: The Other Half