Spirits On The Mind — Reviewing ‘Firefly: The Fall Guys’ #4

Welcome to the town of Beloved, where ghosts of the past and present are the theme of the night’s activities. As Serenity’s crew scrambles to capture those who can clear their names, the Hamner of the Alliance continues to drop on everyone.

It’s a mad dash for survival in Firefly: The Fall Guys #4 from Sam Humphries, Jordi Pérez, Francesco Segala, Gloria Martinelli, and Jim Campbell.

Half of the fun with any story with the crew of Serenity is just how bonkers they are, bouncing off one another, finding the absurdity even in the direst circumstances. Humphries nails this tonal uniqueness, throwing some of his own flair into the mix. There is a ton going on in this issue, lots of moving parts, characters detailing motivations, dealing with demons, and plenty of gun-slinging action and fascist power moves. None of it feels cramped or rushed, the pacing on point allowing everything in the room to breathe.

Every time Pérez draws these characters and the world they inhabit, it brings a smile. Everything has that right amount of gritty roughness to fit the rundown sci-fi Western sphere of influence upon which the original series was built. A lot of sharp edges married with a clean sort of smooth/slick sheen on top. Characters resemble what we see in the mind but are not exact duplicates. Spirit is captured within their emotive faces, as action just glides across the page as if it’s about to soar off into the heavens itself.

Pairing that with the colors of Segala and Martinelli is always a solid match. Part of the aforementioned roughness comes from the heavily shadowed and weighty color palette choices. Many of the colors are very muted or almost washed out, giving things a worn-out sort of appearance. Everything here takes place at night and the lighting aspects speak to that, feeling oppressively dark and heavy as they should.

All the quipping and bouncing back and forth, as well as the utterly delightful character caption intros, are energetic and lively. That’s because Campbell has such a deft hand with lettering, really letting every voice sing on their own but collectively as well. Personality and personal energy are crackling with each letter, bubbling emotions and volume changes crystal clear at all times.

Firefly: The Fall Guys #4 is now available from BOOM! Studios.