Serenity: Those Left Behind

~by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews
~art by Will Conrad

Serenity: Those Left Behind contains the first three issues of what may be a continuing comic series set in the Firefly/Serenity 'Verse. To me, it seems to be set up very much like a Firefly episode, jumping right into the action and story line. These three comics form a bridge between the Firefly television series and Serenity, doing a nice job of explaining how the crew got to the point we find them in the movie. The art is great (mostly) without being exceptional, likewise with the story itself. Overall, the book is great fun, although very short. A definite read for fans.

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Serenity: The Official Visual Companion

~by Joss Whedon

I will admit it now: I am a huge Firefly/Serenity fan.

That being said: The Official Visual Companion was a little disappointing and very satisfying at the same time. Being a "visual" companion, it had plenty of shiny photographs. Most of the text was made up of the original shooting script (the final release of the movie remained very close to the original script), and an interview with Joss Whedon, the creator and writer. (If you happen to watch the movie with commentary, you will recognize some of the same material.) Also included was a handful of vignettes about lighting, music, costuming, etc. I found the book to be very interesting, and gorgeous to look at, however, I wish there were more vignettes covered in greater detail.

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