Book Review: Serenity Vol. 4: Leaves on the Wind by Zack Whedon et al.

Serenity Volume 4: Leaves on the Wind written by Zack Whedon, art by Georges Jeanty, Karl Story, and Laura Martin

Leaves on the Wind picks up the story of Serenity's crew after the events of the movie (so if you haven't seen the movie, don't keep reading because there are spoilers aplenty ahead). Captain Mal is on the run from the Alliance who are upset about the revelations about the Reavers. That revelation has started up a new resistance movement that wants Malcolm Reynolds to lead them. Various groups are searching for Serenity. To complicate matters, Zoe is pregnant and has complications after birth that require more than ship's doctor Simon can handle. They get her to a hospital ship but not before they are discovered and Zoe is left a captive of the Alliance. Mal wants to get her back, which opens a whole other set of problems for the crew.

The story is interesting enough but wasn't entirely satisfying to me. The dialogue wasn't up to the Whedon standard for snappiness. I really disliked Wash's death in the movie and have only grown to loathe it more on subsequent viewings. This story reopened that wound. The Alliance has turned into an "over the top" villain with no nuance or sympathy. Usually Whedon villains have more character or believability. The story started out strong but floundered.

So far the only really good comic book story of Serenity has been The Shepherd's Tale. I always hope for more stuff like that.