I can’t mention the Buffy series without talking about the ability of the artists. Spanning several different books across the studio line, each entry manages to deliver the characters consistently. Faith is drawn with the same look and appeal as when she was introduced in Buffy a few issues back.

In the Buffyverse, the Watcher Council often seemed an enemy greater than demons and vampires. Because they were so feared, Buffy was the only one to stand up to them. Therefore, it’s refreshing to see Anya as a former Watcher, defying members of the Council to their faces.

The Slayer Cycle has been a constant in all versions of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. One young woman is granted the power of the Slayer until she dies — at which point it passes on to the next one. But the new Slayerverse just revealed there are ways around that, and that a quietly vital Slayer used one such loophole.

The past always has a nasty tendency of catching up with you. No matter how far or fast you run, it’ll always be right behind you. It’s even true for space cowboys. But for some, the sins of the past are far heavier to bear than for others.

This issue sees Mal and his crew fire the final salvo in their battle with Blue Sun. Pressure mounts as the corporation tries to wrestle control of the Sector (and Galaxy!) for itself. Now, Mal just can’t let happen. He’s especially motivated: the company has used his own likeness to forge their robotic law enforcement robots to bring him down. As usual, though luck or stupidity, Mal remains (mostly) one-step ahead throughout Blue Sun Rising No. 1.

BOOM! Studios have announced a new Firefly series which will be set 20 years after the original series. Firefly: A Brand New Verse will follow…

It all comes to a head here, in Firefly: Blue Sun Rising #1. The crew on Serenity has gotten in over their heads on more than one occasion, and this time is no exception. Heck, even the stakes are something they’ve had to with before. It’s almost refreshing to see them tackling it all head on, once again.

Firefly #24 is set in a nebulous point in time, where the crew is still together (and alive), yet the Alliance seems to be out of the way, or at least not as strong as they have previously been. Unfortunately, that left a void that Blue Sun Corporation stepped into. There’s a new big bad here, and they’re just as bad if not worse.

Firefly: Watch How I Soar is a little bit of everything. It’s heartwarming, it,s heartbreaking. It is the past, and the future. Any fan of Wash will likely enjoy this collection, for the past it portrays, and the future that could have been

As soon as Willow set foot in Abhainn, she was unsettled and experienced strange things such as once standoffish witches turning warm and welcoming, watchful crows, and dreams. The fun of the series was trying to unpack the symbolism and mystery behind Aelara and Abhainn. I looked forward to how these symbols would be explained, thinking that perhaps it was all tied into how Aelara was manipulating Willow.