A New FIREFLY Comic Series Has Been Announced and It Will Tell The Story of The Unification War
I've got some cool news for all you Firefly fans out there who have been wanting more stories from Joss Whedon's sci-fi universe! There's a new Firefly comic book series coming from Boom! Studios and it will explore the Unification War and what the characters like Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe Alleyne Washburne experienced during those battles!
I know this isn't the TV series return that everyone was hoping for, but at least we are getting some new stories that will dive into the history of the war that took place between the Alliance and the Independents. For those of you familiar with this war, you know that Mal and Zoe fought together on the losing side, and their experiences defined their characters throughout Firefly’s run.
Mal Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillion in the original series) always saw the space-faring life as an escape from his past battles, but the new series will find him and his loyal second-in-command Zoe (originally played by Gina Torres) hunted by Unificators, mercenaries deputized to hunt down war criminals.
The comic is being written by Greg Pak with art by Dan McDaid. Whedon is also on board and will serve as a consultant. In a statement with EW, Whedon said:
"It’s high time we got to see the full story of Mal and Zoe’s meeting and mission in the War of Unification — the good and bad that the pressure of war brings out in them, and the unforeseeable consequences."
Pak goes on to talk about the story saying:
"Our story will reveal key experiences for Mal and Zoe during the Unification War that you’ve never seen before. And we’ll introduce entirely new corners of the star system with characters, organizations, and subcultures that are absolutely true to all the world-building you know but absolutely brand-new at the same time.
"It’s a huge tribute to the creators of the original show that their rich, intriguing world and hilarious, compelling characters could inspire so many additional stories. We’ve gotten the incredible go-ahead to do something particularly special in this new series — we’re digging deep into the Unification War, the galaxy-shattering event that shaped so many of our central characters. Many of the show’s central themes revolve around the way everyday people handle the threat of tyranny, the trauma of war, and the danger of falling into villainy when resisting a world run by villains. We’re getting the chance to reveal essential truths about our heroes’ pasts and put them through experiences in the here and now that they’ve never fully dealt with before. As a fan of the show who adores these characters, I can’t wait."
Boom! Editor Jeanine Schaefer also talks about Boom! Studio acquiring the rights to Firefly, which have been with Dark Horse Comics for years:
"Firefly spoke to so many people at the time because of the themes it dealt with and the way it allowed characters to deal with them, and those themes are even more relevant today: found family, identity, and the emotional toll of resistance, to name a few. Our job is to craft stories that will be exciting and rewarding for Firefly fans that have been with these characters from the beginning, but also to introduce it to a new audience. We want to cement Firefly as a pop-culture touchstone, enduring yet modern, in the tradition of other perennial sci-fi epics that are still teaching us about ourselves."
Boom! Studios will is also be publishing a series of Firefly Legacy Edition collections, which will be a reprinting of the Dark Horse Comics Firefly stories.
Firefly #1 goes on sale in November and I'll definitely be reading the new series!