Firefly #25 Review

Writer: Greg Pak / Artist: Pius Bak / Boom! Studios I haven’t been keeping current with the Firefly comic but #25 made a big marketing push. This was a “perfect jumping on point for new fans” with “New characters, new enemies, and a new verse” that promised to continue the adventures of our favorite space Western crew with a time skip. I figured I owed it to myself as a fan of the cult classic and a bigger fan of Greg Pak’s sci-fi work. And the moment the first page eases me with “a few years down the line” and we slowly see the new status quo and how the crew dynamics have changed, I find myself very confident in the return.

Pak knows how to write an ensemble well, and the Firefly crew is in very good hands as he slowly weaves Zoe, Jayne, River, Simon, and Kaylee back into the forefront. We get hints of has become of Captain Reynolds in the intervening and friendly reminders of the events of the series and movie that all feel natural. As we see the slightly older, slightly more tired characters move in the universe and acclimate to a mysterious group of bounty hunters given chase, there is a hard won nostalgia that is satisfying to watch unfold as we see how the years have let the cast grow. It’s hard to continue a story that never had a proper ending, but Pak is more than up to the task, especially with the help of Pius Bak’s artwork. The same beautiful setpieces that characterized the original and updated designs for the character work beautifully, and Bak captures and …