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Dark Horse Comics published it. It bridged the gap between the Firefly TV series and the Serenity film.
I've been unable to find any issues, but I did learn that (among other things) a few loose threads (such as the Men with Hands of Blue) were addressed.
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I read it. the Hands of Blue guys were addressed. It was three comics, that basically added up to one episode of the TV show. How much spoiling do you want? And you should probably add spoilers to the thread title before we get started. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I only read them once, on a car trip, in September, so I'm not going to be able to give you everything. But I'll do the best I can until Chris or someone comes along and fills in the details. (And corrects me on what I goof up.)
The books open with Mal, Zoe, and Jayne pulling a heist in a small town while Book is preaching a sermon in the local church as a distraction. Unfortunately, when they get to where the money is supposed to be, there's another group of bad guys there first who gets the drop on them. They're outnumbered, and give up the loot. Then the lead bad guy tells Mal to give up his gun. Mal refuses, and they fight it out. They get away, with the gun, but without the money, and the fight has alerted the townspeople to what's up.
Book steals a big, fun looking vehicle and tears through and rescues them in the nick of time. There's a big chase scene, that climaxes with Wash & the others on Serenity pulling down a watertower in front of the townspeople and Mal & the rest getting away.
I'll do this in multiple posts. Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Back on Serenity Mal and Book get into a fight. Mal throws the fact that Book stole the vehicle in his face, and Book almost decks him. This is when Book decides he has to leave Serenity. Mal tries to make nice, and tells him everything is okay. Book tells him it's not okay, because he doesn't like the person he is becoming, the fact that he was so close to getting into a fight with Mal, and that his mind is made up. I'm not sure precisely when in the next sequence of events, but they drop Book on Haven.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Foreshadowing: The Hands of Blue guys approach a ramshackle structure being guarded by a disposable villian-type. They want to talk to whoever's inside, the villian doesn't want to let them. They win. The guy inside -- and this is a part I'm a bit fuzzy on, but I think this is it -- is the Alliance guy from the pilot episode, who was on Serenity. I don't remember his name, I'm sorry. Turns out he didn't really die, he's got a lot of metal in him now, horribly disfigured, and holding a huge grudge against Mal. He doesn't want to play along with Blue Hand guys, but they convince him they have a plan that will allow him his revenge, but need the help of him and his men to carry it off. He agrees.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Mal & crew go back to meet up with Fanty and Mingo, who set them up on the job that didn't work out. Nobody is happy.
Drat, I really don't remember the details even as well as I thought I did. This is going to be pretty sketchy, I'm sorry.
They end up leaving with another job, a pretty risky one. There's supposed to be something of value on a ship floating in the midst of a bunch of wreckage from a big battle between the Browncoats and the Alliance. Some members of the crew are skeptical, but they decide to do it. Everyone is uneasy as they approach the coordinates, and there is discussion about the history of the battle that took place there.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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Ah, I skipped that they have dropped off Inara at the chapterhouse, too. She is no longer aboard at this point.
Mal, Zoe, and Jayne go to get the payoff. They can't find it. Then the aforementioned bad guy is there, it's a trap. Hands of Blue set it up with Fanty & Mingo to send them there. Bad guy and his minions attack the away team while Hands of Blue guys are trying to get on Serenity and get River.
Wash does some fancy flying, and the others do some fancy fighting, and they manage to kill the bad guy and everyone back on Serenity, but now Hands of Blue are there, too. I can't remember how it all works out, but it ends with Hands of Blue going out the back door into space, like was going to happen to Jayne at the end of Ariel.
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That should give you the basics, until someone who actually has them comes along in the morning. They were a fun little read, and pretty well drawn. The over all impression from the books was of things getting tighter for the crew, everything getting leaner, and the sadness/tension of Book and Inara leaving. I think it did a very good job of setting up the somewhat changed dynamics we saw at the beginning of Serenity.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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The only part I'd add is that it was through Badger that Mal got the new risky job that turned out to be a trap. I'm not sure, but I think that Badger knew it was a trap when he gave the job to Mal.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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I'm quite sure it was Badger, and that was when they resolved to never deal with him again. I was sad to see Badger go, I always kinda liked him.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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Also of note is that we learned that it's not only the hand of the Hands of Blue guys that are blue. Their entire arms/backs are blue, too. Whatever significance that may have, I have no clue.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Will the trade paperback have any features that the comics don't? Or is it just a convenient collection of the comic books?
Posts: 3546 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Has it ever been revealed what Book's past might have been?
I've just become introduced to this series (via the movie) and I love it, but I was curious as to Book's association with the alliance. I figured he was a bigwig or sorts who did something wrong, and is now a shepherd to atone for it, but that's just me...
Posts: 325 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Book's past and connection with the Alliance was never revealed
Clues were planted through out the episodes that he may not even have been a genuine Shepherd...but not enough to confirm what his true story was.
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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