The New Year Brings More Serenity

-- thelinster from AfterEllen.com

When the Buffy the Vampire Slayer  Season 8 comic turned out to be so true to the television series — and so much fun — many Joss Whedon fans dared to hope that more of his canceled shows would continue in graphic form. Angel fans got their wish in November (with mixed reviews) and now comes confirmation that a new Serenity comic will be published in March 2008.

Serenity: Better Days is a three-issue series set between the end of Firefly and the 2005 Serenity feature film — the same setting as Serenity: Those Left Behind, which was published in 2005.

The hardcover version of the first series was released in November as a collectors' edition, with a new cover by Adam Hughes. The oversized collection includes pinups from a variety of guest artists and behind-the-scenes original material developed especially for this edition. So, take note if you have a Firefly fan on your gift list. (If you are the Firefly fan on your list, feel free to print out this post, highlight this paragraph and send it to Santa.)

Better Days takes a look at the early years of the Firefly crew and how the gang deals with newfound wealth after they pull off their first successful heist. The creative team from Those Left Behind returns, with Brett Matthews as Whedon's co-writer, Will Conrad as artist and Hughes as cover artist.

In an interview with Publishers Weekly, Whedon explains why the graphic version of Firefly/Serenity is more of a challenge than Buffy.

"It's easy with Buffy in a way because it's a pop idea, it could have been a comic book before it was a movie. Serenity doesn't really lend itself to that in the same way. You can tell fun, compelling stories about it, but you have sort of an ensemble drama that you're making into a comic book, so you have to find stories that are gonna move in a different rhythm than Buffy stories."

Whedon also said he is very possessive of Serenity.

"If something's going to be said about Serenity, it's going to be said by me. It's too close to me still. It's the child that never got to grow up and go to college."

That's good news for fans, because it means that even though we might have to wait awhile in between Serenity stories, the ones we do get will be Whedon's. And that's always worth waiting for. 

Is a new Serenity comic series good news for you? What other Whedon stories would you like to see in graphic form?