Firefly is widely considered to be one of the greatest TV shows ever cancelled. And then it was continued as a movie. Now, Serenity was not cancelled, but being a movie, it only lasted about 119 minutes.
As it happens, comic books are considerably cheaper to produce, so in the tradition of many other shows, Firefly has received various comic book adaptations. A few of these were side stories that fleshed out what the heroes got up to in between the end of the show and the start of the movie, and a few more fleshed out the Back Story of various characters. Now, the show has received a proper Revival in the form of a new comic series, Leaves On The Wind (similarly to Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel which received similar comic book relaunches).
Like the movie, the comics are named "Serenity" because Fox still owns the rights to the name "Firefly." This changed when Boom! studios took over, and post-2018 comics use the Firefly name. The final arc was again rebranded as All New Firefly. As of late 2022, the Boom! comics appear to be at an end, as nothing new has been announced.
This series contains examples of:
Launched in 2005 as a tie-in to Serenity. The crew is hired to recover lost treasure from the wreckage of a major space battle. This story ties off some loose ends from the series and introduces a few supporting characters for the movie.
- Back for the Dead: Dobson and the Hands of Blue.
- Derelict Graveyard: The site of a major space battle during the War.
- Double Tap: After shooting Dobson in the head (for the second time), Mal shoots him several more times, just to make sure.
- Eye Scream: Dobson gets shot in the other eye.
- Handicapped Badass: Dobson is alive and well, minus an eye.
- One Cast Member per Cover: This comic had three issues with three variant covers each, each depicting one of the nine Serenity crew members: Mal, Jayne, Inara, Zoe, Kaylee, Book, Simon, Wash, and River.
- No One Could Survive That!: As it turns out, Dobson survived after being shot in the head and left for dead.
- Room Full of Crazy: Dobson's room has messages like "KILL REYNOLDS" all over the place.
- Weaponized Exhaust: The Hands of Blue meet their end compliments of Serenity's afterburner.
Taking place before Those Left Behind, this story sees the crew finally catching a break, and they all discuss how they plan to spend their newfound fortunes, assuming it doesn't all blow up in their faces...
- Bridge Bunnies: Jayne's plan involves him buying a starship and crewing it with beautiful women.
- Call-Back: Simon is uncomfortable with raiding a Buddhist temple to recover some money hidden there, so Book suggests a donation to the temple, and Mal agrees. While they're digging out the money, a monk happens along. Mal indicates to Jayne that now's the time, so Jayne gives the monk a stack of cash. The monk gasps, "The Hero of Canton... He's real!" And so the legend grows...
- Cloud Cuckoolander: River, naturally; her plan for the money involves a human-sized fish wearing a tuxedo, among other things.
- Electrified Bathtub: Mal knocks a guy into a fountain, and the guy's gun (which has an on-board power source) electrocutes him.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Jayne clarifies that his ship, the Radiant Cobb, would be named for his mother, not himself.
- Hookers and Blow: How Shepard Book claims he will spend his cash. Then assures the stunned crew that he was just messing with them.
- Mecha-Mooks: The unnamed operator of the drone also has several combat robots he brings to bear against the crew. Because they're not alive Book is fine with hacking them apart.
- Tracking Device: The drone the crew snatch "was designed to expel microscopic tracking beacons upon unexpected shutdown or systems failure." This allows the drone operator to track the crew down.
- The Unnamed: The drone operator and the man Mal wants to sell the (stolen) drone to are never named.
The crew is being chased by Reavers, trying to get their client safely back to the ship so they can receive the other half of their fee (the client paid half up front.)
- Ambiguous Situation: Somebody killed the client. Very likely it was River, but it could have also been the Reavers.
- Batman Gambit: Mal suspects that the Client is out to stab him in the back. So he brings River and predicts that the situation will take care of itself.
- Chekhov's Gun: Mal makes a point that he always demands half up front, given the dangerous nature of their line of work. It is pointed out that nobody ever actually gives it to him. Which is how he knew the client was planning to betray them.
- Oh, Crap!: The client realizes that River is on to him.
- The Reveal: Mal brought River along because she could read minds, and could efficiently deal with the Client if he turned out to be an enemy.
- Spot the Thread: Nobody ever pays Mal half up front.
- Trojan Prisoner: The client hired them to transport him, planning to kill them and take their ship once he was aboard.
A group of strangers meet up to hold a memorial for Wash. None of them know each other, but all have worked with him in the past and share stories about his exploits and the debts they owe him.
- Ace Pilot: Wash. He could make ships do things they were never meant to do.
- The Cameo: Zoe turns up at the end of the story.
- The Reveal: Zoe is pregnant with Wash's child.
The Mysteries surrounding Shepherd Book's past are finally revealed.
- Abusive Parents: Book's father was a drunk who beat him.
- Anachronic Order: The comic starts with the unseen battle that killed Book in the movie. Each subsequent section jumps backwards a few years to show other important events in his life, and it closes with his childhood.
- Attack Its Weak Point: Book shoots down an Alliance gunship by doing this.
- Electronic Eye: Book volunteered to have one implanted when he was working with the Independents, which they would then use when he joined the Alliance military to learn secrets.
- Eye Scream: Some of the surgery for the above procedure is shown.
- No Honor Among Thieves: In his youth, Book committed crimes, and he's shown abandoning a fellow thief to be captured by the police after a job goes wrong.
River entertains Zoe and Wash's infant daughter with a bedtime story as the remaining crew (sans Inara) go out on a mission.
Tough times haven't ended for Mal Reynolds and his crew aboard the Serenity. When a call for help to find a missing friend takes them to an Alliance post on the Outer Rim, they encounter a new force building strength to fight the battle of the Browncoats—soon leading the crewmembers to question their individual values . . . Discovering that their friend is in Alliance custody and that an Alliance Operative is on the way, Mal concentrates his energy on the problem at hand and strikes an uneasy partnership for a daring rescue. But this is only the beginning of the story. Success will be when the Serenity's crew makes it off this planet alive and all accounted for . . .
- Badass Boast: Mal gives one when he says he's going to bring down the entire Alliance for what they've done.
- Big Bad: Kallista is an Operative of the Alliance and determined to get River back to join her.
- Breaking the Fellowship: A small one with the fact Zoe no longer trusts or wants River onboard the ship.
- Evil Counterpart: Kallista continues to be one of these to River.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The main conflict of the story is Mal being caught between them and the Alliance.
- The Peacekeepers prove to be more the former than the latter. Especially when they kill a large number of innocent civilians.
