Serenity : Those Left Behind

Title : Serenity : Those Left Behind
Author : Joss Whedon
ISBN : 1593074492
Publication Date January 2006

Plot - Mal leads a bunch of miscreant people on a mission in space.The beginning of the graphic novel sets up the kind of characterization for the people in this episode for what would seem merely like a comic book.  They are a bunch of criminals who are set out to steal some money from this organization that is in charge of the planetary system.  As their plans unwind and some other criminal element seizes the money from them, they end up having to run away on this planet because everyone blames them for the theft. 

The plot continues as they are offered another job to get some money from this large battle that had happened in space and money was supposedly never found there.  When they get there they discover that this plan was a trap, as it was intended for a particular person to hurt Mal (the captain of  Serenity), and for this other "governmental" element to take River and her Brother who are stowed away on this Spaceship.  Mal ends up getting these people out of harms way, but not before offending nearly everyone in the crew, and not being able to connect personally to someone he does love and care about.

--Review--
Being a fan of the Serenity TV Series by Joss Whedon, I was looking forward to reading the graphic novel based upon the Series.  The downfall of trying to create a graphic novel based upon a TV series is that unless you have watched the TV series, much of what is going on in that action of the story is lost.  No one would understand what a browncoat is, or who the men with the blue gloves are and why they are going after River and his brother.  While they seem like side plots to the individual graphic novel they are important story plots to the actual series.  The relationships between the characters also seem to have a little to be desired as you don't know who likes who or what or why?  And the character of the Shepherd always seems to be lurking in mystery, although that is something that the show left open as well.  For a fan of the series though, it is worth reading as I believe Whedon is trying to fill in the holes he left in the TV series and the resulting movie, even dealing with why and how the Shepherd leaves Serenity in the first place.  I hope that Whedon continues to develop this graphic novel series to complete with his TV series and movie.

Reader's Annotation - If  you were torn apart every which way by war, famine, and being an outlaw in almost every end of the planet, to whom would you turn?  Who would be your family?  Mal discovers his own family and what it really means to connect to people, to have no one who is left behind.

Information about the Author - Joss Whedon is a self styled third generation television writer, whose dad worked writing scripts for the Electric Company and the Golden Girls, and a grandfather who worked for the Donna Reed Show.  He began writing television scripts himself as he was able to edit for the Roseann Show.

He made his big break with writing the screenplay for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  It was originally made into a movie with which he had little control and was unhappy with the way it turned out.  As a result he ended up pitching the same idea to television who would then create the hit series.  It is this desire for control over his own projects that has lead him into many of his TV shows.  Serenity was originally a TV series that was released mid season and not picked up for the following season.  It got enough notoriety that he was eventually able to pitch Serenity as a movie which was released in 2005.

Curriculum Ties - How does one convert a movies into literature. Discuss the nature of films as literature.


Reading Level - Grade 9+

Book Talking Ideas - Comparing film versions of stories with their literature counterparts.  Why is the graphic novel a good place to convert films into?

Challenge Issues - A prostitute is an accepted lead profession in the story.

Handling Challenge Issues - Compare/Contrast time in Serenity with American westerns and the history of the development of the Old West.

Why Included - I included this because I love Joss Whedon and was interested in this novel because it was based upon the TV Show that I liked.