by Christal Kennedy, Reporter

Our favorite Browncoats are back on a new adventure in Firefly: Return To The Earth That Was – Part 1 TPB from Boom! Studios. The team is now divided, with Zoe and Kaylee as captains of their crews and Mal currently a leaf on the wind. Secrets will be revealed as the crew find themselves stranded on a mysterious planet with ties to their past.

Official Synopsis:
BOOM! Studios, along with visionary writer and director Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Avengers), presents an all-new era of the pop culture phenomenon Firefly, as one of the most demanded stories in the franchise’s history is revealed for the first time! Focusing on family, loyalty, identity, and the price of redemption, writer Greg Pak (Mech Cadet Yu, Totally Awesome Hulk) and artist Dan McDaid (Judge Dredd: Mega City Zero) take you back to the battleground where Mal’s journey began—the War of Unification!

Creative Team:
Creator: Joss Whedon
Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Pius Bak, Ethan Young & Simona Di Gianfelice
Colorists: Marcelo Costa, Joana LaFuente & Francesco Segala
Lettering: Jim Campbell
Cover: Nimit Malavia

Things have definitely changed for our heroes. Zoe continues her quest to find a safe place to raise her daughter, and we learn more about Kaylee’s new role as Captain of the Serenity. True to form, trouble always seems to find them…bounty hunters on their tails and the team rallies to find out who sent them and why.  But nothing can prepare Zoe for the blast from her past she runs into along the way, making us wonder if they are friend or foe? Mal is notably absent at the beginning of this story, still reeling from the events in Blue Sun Rising. The crew needs to band together to outrun the scores of people hunting them and they need Mal’s help.  But when they find him…will he be the Captain they need him to be to win the newest fight for their lives?

The colors and artwork of this volume keep in style with the post-apocalyptic world we have known since the TV series first aired. The only time we see a true use of lighter and brighter colors are in the scenes on the planet where Zoe is trying to build a home for her crew, which gives us a feeling of hope only to be brought back into the darkness and struggles that the Independents have lived in since the war. Fans of Firefly will be happy to get answers about Earth, and it is exciting to see the crew in this new environment.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Firefly: Return to The Earth That Was – Part One – 4 out of 5 pretty floral bonnets.

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