Firefly: The Unification War Deluxe Edition (Cover may vary)

Firstly, the art is reasonably good in terms of recognisable characters, apart from Wash and Jane. The addition of an inker after the first four issues vastly improves the artwork. Other than that, is excellent as far as the action and pacing goes, though still too cartoony – in a caricaturist style – for me to be really happy with it.There is a full cast here, and these seems to be some lack of cohesion among the crew, so this is set early in the TV continuity, after everybody is aboard but before they have become a ‘family’.One of the other Amazon reviewers complained about the characterisation, and I noticed the occasional bit of ‘off’ dialogue, but I put it down to it being early days for the crew.The plot of the first four issues (the first of three original volumes) is mostly an out-and-out western story, with wagon trains, frontier towns, bounty hunters and bandit gangs, but with spaceships and really big guns too.The second 'third' of the story is even more of an out-and-out western story, with all the trappings thereof - frontier towns, bounty hunters, disgruntled former Confederates (really – who else do you think these guys are?) and bandit gangs, but with spaceships and really big guns too.The final third of the book sees the plot move on to a full-on Sergio Leone western, as the brushfire war escalates into a full-blown rebellion, even bringing out Ma Reynolds to join in.There is much humour, both overt and character based. There are also flashbacks to the War, with scenes that are hard to follow due to the stylised artwork used for them, though it is effective for setting the mood of the flashbacks.