I read this graphic novel last night at Barnes and Noble while waiting for my friend to show up. It was short, about under 100 pages, mostly filled with gun fights and explosions. Yet, the experience was satisfying enough for me to seriously consider buying comics based on other canceled shows I enjoyed; specifically Futurama.

 In addition to superheroes graphic novels are a favorite medium of animated and/or science fiction TV shows that have been canceled. It’s a fact of life. In rarer instances the TV show isn’t canceled but the fan base is large enough to support the additional medium, for example The Simpsons have been publishing graphic novels since the early 1990s. Serenity, Vol. 1: Those Left Behind is a continuation of the Firefly TV series created by Joss Whedon that aired on Fox.

For anyone unfamiliar, Firefly was a show about a band of smuggler-gunmen who flew around in a spaceship named Serenity. Thematically it was a western in space– some of it worked for (dialogue and wardrobe) and some of it didn’t (repeater rifles and occasionally horses). They had a half season of adventures before Fox canned them and a follow-up movie that was a financial disappointment.

Honestly, I’ve always looked down my nose at these knock-offs. But it was nice to see Mal and the gang tearing it up in outer-space again. The storyline is a standard western heist accented by science fiction elements.

It’s not art and I won’t try to defend it, but in some ways the concept works better in the graphic medium than it did on TV. Things are just more forgiving. My advice is if you loved a show and watched it die check and see if the writers or creator release a series of graphic novels. While it won’t replace the time slot left in your heart it could be a pleasant surprise.

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