Yeah, if we’re supposed to enjoy this new miniseries, then I’m begging Dark Horse to stow these horrible covers. Not only are they completely out of character for the series, they’re also drawn terribly, and bear no likenesses to any of the characters. The cover to issue two has Book and Jayne smoking cigars and buddying it up, while Inara is lying there with a hand fan. It’s ugly, the colors are awful, and adds a camp that this show was never big on. It’s all supposed to be attached to form a fold out of the group raking in the money, but it’s just an eye sore. I’d take cheesy stock promotional photos as covers, over these any time of the week.
As for “Better Days” issue 2, it engages in some of that same clunky foreshadowing I talked about in the first issue, but somehow it’s much better. I forgave the goofy fantasy sequences that never happened in the original series, because there’s a very sweet moment where Wash fantasizes about a life of wealth with Zoe, and–it’s quite touching and tragic to consider. Meanwhile, the crew steep themselves in heavy fantasizing about their lives as rich folks, now that they have their pay and potentially pricey loot aboard, and writers Whedon and Matthews prefer to look behind the criminal element to explore what they actually want beyond Serenity.
It’s all as you’d expect from each character, but it’s a nice change of pace, and gives the crew a complexity toe expand on. One of the more humorous moments involves the women of Serenity going over their dream life with their riches, and the visual representation of River’s fantasy is typical of her character sanity and lack thereof. It’s nonsensical, unusual, and utterly hysterical. There’s a group of special ops on Mal’s tail, not to mention the mythical Dust Devil’s, a group of skilled soldiers who draw a flashback to the war time of Zoe and the Captain all leading into what’s assumedly a showdown we can look forward to.
The art is much more up to par, this time around with panels that looks absolutely stunning and hearken back to “Firefly” as I remember it. However, I really wish I was loving this mini-series, but I don’t think it’s too much to ask that it be like the original show or the movie. There’s no quirky dialogue, no snappy comebacks, no chemistry. You were always wondering what would happen next in the past, and now there’s just too much pussyfooting and unnecessary padding that fills the pages. Not to mention the dialogue is so forced and dull. I wish this was a great sequel to “Those Left Behind,” but alas, it’s just good enough.