Better Days is the second three-part comic book series in the Firefly/Serenity 'verse issued by Dark Horse Comics. It might not be the last, as there are reports of another round, this time focusing on the back-story of just one character, Shepherd Book, titled The Shepherd's Tale, with a planned publication date later in 2008, or early 2009. The three small comics that make up Better Days appeared between the months of March and May 2008. In truth it should have been called Firefly: Better Days, as the tale takes place prior to the events in the Serenity movie, but for the sake of consistency and marking, these books now fall under the Serenity label.

The story opens with a heist in progress, much like the opening of the movie, Serenity. Mal and his crew appear to be hitting a museum, which triggers a smart robotic drone in pursuit. The owners of this drone are using this heist to demonstrate their new technologically advanced, mechanical guard-dog, and the news looks bad for the would-be robbers. In a nice twist, it seems that the actual target was the drone itself, and thus the crew earn a nice bonus and a vicious and vindictive enemy in one swoop.

From their heist of this drone, the crew literally stumble upon a huge payout in cash, and find themselves wealthy beyond their dreams. For some of the crew, this is a wondrous opportunity to dream of life away from the ship, but for others this is bad news indeed. Poor Mal Reynolds. One can almost sense him cringing with despair at the prospect of losing his crew, one by one, as they plan their new lives of leisure and wealth. Several pages are dedicated to the crew's varied musings and dreams about how they plan to spend their money.

But luck has a way of turning on this hapless crew. A side plot involves a fierce Alliance soldier, who having just availed himself of Inara's delectable companion services, mentions to her that he is hunting former Browncoat terrorists, who went by the name of Dust Devils. Inara's sense of fear and logic leads her to believe Mal might have been one of these Dust Devils, that her client is hunting Mal, and perhaps along these same lines we all fall into that trap, too.

The two hunters converge on the crew, currently enjoying a moment of R & R on a vacation planet, before splitting the cash and probably parting ways. As Mal is captured, the true Dust Devil stands up and urges a rescue attempt. In a sense, this switcheroo should not really have come as a surprise to readers familiar with the characters. Rather than give away the identity of this Dust Devil, I'd prefer to leave this to the readers to discover on their own. The rescue itself seems a little anti-climactic, but the sad surprise awaits the crew upon their return. Instead of everything most of them dreamed and fantasized about, as sense of déjû vu settles around the ending. Still, future adventures await the Serenity's crew; the events in the movie lie ahead in the not too distant future.

Comic books as a genre sometimes create problems in how the reader has to interpret events, intentions, and the action. There were three or four scenes where nothing quite made sense, scenes that lacked any transition such that I had to re-read those panels multiple times without quite understanding why things happened in that sequence.

Long-time fans of Joss Whedon's sf universe, with its blend of wild west action, space opera, and Dickensian characters may experience some solace and enjoyment from this comic book. Although it does not advance any story lines from the TV series or movie, the fact that all characters return in full glory abates somewhat the bitter loss of two main characters in the movie. The artwork is nicely rendered, and dialog is such that the characters virtually come to life in the pages.

The comic book industry is rich and vibrant. Much like the printed page industry, it has experienced ups and down throughout the years. Comic books tend to be dominated by the superheroes, cranked out non-stop by the mega-publishers Marvel and DC Comics. Beyond Superman and Batman, Spider-man and Hellboy, there lies a vast and fertile field of smaller characters and stories. Some emerge from TV, others end up on the big screen. As long as there are Whedon fans these Serenity comic books will sell, and probably sell briskly. If we can't have another movie or TV show, these small gems will keep some hope alive.