Serenity: Those Left Behind by Joss Whedon, Brett Matthews and Will Conrad

Shepherd Book is preaching in church, giving a sermon in a border town. But he's only there to provide a distraction for the Firefly crew, who either stand by in the ship, or, in the case of Mal, Zoe, and Jayne, have a standoff with a fellow criminal named Ott.

Ott and his men have the drop on Mal, but Mal is pointing his gun right back at Ott. Ott demands the payload, and Mal agrees to save the lives of his crew. But when Ott demands Mal's gun as well, Mal appears to give in, talking about how the Gun is the one thing he carried away from the War, aside from Zoe. But at the last minute, he drop-kicks it into Ott's face, breaking some of the man's teeth.

A firefight breaks out, and Ott and his men manage to escape, after alerting the whole town to the heist. Chased by the town, Mal and his crew arrange a distraction from Kaylee and Wash, and tell Wash to get ready to leave. Roaring towards the ship in a transport stolen by Shepherd Book, the crew get away barely in time- the distraction being the toppling of the Town's entire water tower.

Meanwhile, Dobson, who Mal shot in the first episode of the show, is contacted by the two men with Blue Hands, who want him to take out Mal and capture Simon and River Tam. Seeing as how he's now missing an eye and considers himself barely human because of his prosthetic replacement, he's more than happy to do so... he even has a plan, but needs Alliance clearance to make it work.

Returning to Persephone, Badger contacts them about another job. Mal takes no chances, gassing Badger's bodyguards and then shooting them before taking Badger on board. After a quick liftoff, Badger is telling Mal about the battle of Sturgis, which apparently left behind a significant treasure on board the ships, because the entire thing was over money. Mal accepts the job and kicks Badger off his ship.

But his refusal to take Inara to her next job after he promised to do so leads to a physical confrontation with Shepherd Book, and both Book and Inara leaving the ship. But first there's a battle with Dobson and the Hands of Blue. But can Mal and the Tams survive a confrontation with their own personal enemies?

This was actually the first three-issue series released by Dark Horse, back in 2006, and while I liked it, I didn't think it was quite as good as "Better Days". This is a much darker story, and while I still enjoyed it, I missed the lighter, funnier moments from the second graphic novel. Mainly, this story seems to be a lot about revenge and betrayal, and is very gritty and dark.

But, as always, each character gets their chance to shine, from Zoe and Wash and Jayne, all the way through to River, Simon and Kaylee. The only difference here is that these shining moments are usually violent ones, But we get to see the end of the men with Blue Hands as adversaries (and see that the blue fabric extends over their chests and torsos as well) and the arrival of the Operative, with a different style of sword and wearing it differently. Also, we discover that the hands aren't part of the Alliance, but independent contractors. and they are definitely killed (we see their bodies have been reduced to ashy bones by the Serenity's drivewash).

This comic series apparently is intended to bridge the gap between the end of the series, and the beginning of the movie, because it sets up the beginning of the movie so well, and even though I didn't like the grittiness of this particular story, it better suited the tone of the movie rather than that of the series. So I think you could call it "transitional" in more that one way or sense of the word.

Another wonderful comic series, but it seems at this point, there won't be any more. but considering there were two years between this one and "Better Days", maybe in a year or two... who knows?

I recommend this graphic novel highly as well, but be warned that it comes closer in tone to the move than the television series. But again, it bridges the gap, and for those who loved the series and the movie, we can always hope for more.