Firefly #2: The Things We Do for Love

I swear I can hear Nathan Fillion’s voice as Mal while reading this.

This story is a great mixture of humor and drama sprinkled with the perfect touch of action, because ultimately, the action isn’t necessarily important to the story.  It serves as a plot device only– a setting to show the effects of war and, most importantly, just how each of them deal with war in their own ways.

Mal is clearly shaken by Serenity Valley.  Through flashbacks we see the horrors he had to endure.  The colors from Marcelo Costa provide a striking contrast, especially since we go from the black night to suddenly see bright fires of war.  He’s tired of war and it shows.

Zoe is a little harder to read, but she’s kept mostly in shadows which is a great choice artistically.  The few times we see her in the light, she’s hiding the hurt and guilt of her actions during the war.  It’s a great contrast between her and Mal.  Both lost a little of themselves at the Battle of Serenity Valley  and now that they have to confront their pasts and being called war criminals, both are dealing with it in their own ways.

On the other hand, Jayne is actually excited, having gained a little respect for Mal (Mal, of course, doesn’t want that kind of respect).  The Doctor and Shepherd are shook up by this new development, but whereas the shepherd displays understanding, the doctor is concerned.  You can tell this isn’t a crew that had been together very long.

And the love that Zoe and Walsh share just melts your heart.  They’re willing to shoot each other to keep the other one from walking into danger.  Seriously, I laughed out loud at this which is something I don’t do very often (and yet the last comic to make me do that was the previous issue).

Pak just demonstrates that he absolutely gets these characters.  They each have their own distinct voices and while we haven’t seen much of Inara or Kaylee, I have complete faith that he will handle those two just as well as he’s handled the rest.  It’s funny because Pak admitted that before getting this job he’d never watched Firefly, but you’d never know that by how alive the characters are.