Serenity: Float Out is the newest Serenity comic. It’s a one-shot telling that attempts to tell a bit of the backstory of Wash. The story was written by comedian Patton Oswalt, and the art was done by Patric Reynolds. While it wasn’t bad, it definitely wasn’t up to par with the previous Serenity comics. Only fans who care about seeing everything should really bother with it.

 
In Float Out, three people are buying a new ship that they’re naming after Wash. They struggle to find something to say about Wash during the floating-out ceremony and decide to reminisce about Wash instead. Each of the three tells a story about Wash. While I want to hear about Wash, I don’t know these three other characters, and I don’t care about them. We’re never really told much about them. Each story is nothing more than telling us what we already know about Wash, such as the fact that he’s a good pilot. To make it worse, each story is only a couple pages. Float Out would have been better as a mini-series, with each story being a separate issue. This would have allowed more characterization of both Wash and the story-teller. The only actual bit of forward-moving plot occurs on the very last page. I won’t spoil it, but it’s an interesting addition to the Firefly story.
The Serenity comics seem to be going downhill. I haven’t read The Other Half yet; maybe that would change my opinion. The first mini-series did a great job of wrapping up the series. In fact, it bothers me that there are big Firefly fans that would watch Serenity without reading those three comics first. The second mini-series wasn’t as good but still told an interesting story, even if it was a prequel that didn’t truly add to the previously told story. Float Out wasn’t much more than a nod to Wash. I want an overall story that leads somewhere. Prequels are fine, but a one-shot that doesn’t offer a new look as a character is kind of boring. I am looking forward to The Shepherd’s Tale, but (I assume that) it’s going to give actual insight into Book. I’d also like to see the Firefly saga move forward rather than always looking backward. The last page of Float Out at least implies that they want to move forward, which makes me happy. Float Out definitely won’t win anyone over to Firefly/Serenity, but fans who want the whole experience should read it. It’s not bad, but it just doesn’t add. Fans who don’t mind missing a little can skip it without regret.

After reading Avengers Disassembled and Captain America & the Falcon, I decided to finish up Captain America volume 4. I really liked it! The first arc had a very dark look to it and was about Captain America dealing with 9/11. It’s a little odd how 9/11 is a big deal in a universe that’s filled with supervillians. I haven’t actually read much of Marvel, so maybe no villian has actually succeeded in causing damage of 9/11’s magnitude.
Anyways, Captain America has to deal with the war on terror while not being used to this type of war. He also finds out (although isn’t positive about it) that the US government froze him on purpose because they were worried that he’d stop the bombing of Japan.
The coolest part of Captain America volume 4 was the last arc before Disassembled: Captain America is found in the ocean and taken to New Berlin (previously New York City) after Nazy Germany wins the war in an alternate timeline. He ends up contributing to an uprising before getting sent back in time to be discovered in the correct timeline. Seeing a Nazy controlled United States was really interesting. I wish there were more comics set in that timeline.

I read Secret War (Nick Fury’s Secret War) recently. I enjoyed it, but I ended up having to flip back through it because I got a little confused. I feel bad for the people who read the six issue volume over the original run of 21 months. I really like Fury, so I was happy to see him get a lot of attention, but it had less SHIELD interaction than I hoped. The ending was a bit of a cliffhanger though, and I have no idea where to turn next to find the answers for which I’m looking.

I don’t usually write much about comics, but I recently started reading Marvel. To prepare for reading the Civil War arc, I went back to Disassembled, which consists of the following:

• Avengers (#500-503)
• Avengers Finale
• Captain America (v.4) (#29-32)
• Captain America and the Falcon (#5-7)
• Fantastic Four (v.1) (#517-519)
• Iron Man (v.3) (#84-89)
• Spectacular Spider-Man (#15-20)
• Thor (1998) – Ragnarok (#80-85)

I read it in release order, which I think was the wrong way to read it. The consensus I’ve seen on the Internet while trying to decide what to read is to use release order, but that’s really like watching 5 tv shows at a time while switching back and forth. Sure, it works while they’re airing, but if I’m watching the episodes on DVD, I’d rather watch a show straight through.

 
Avengers and Avengers Finale, collectively called Avengers Disassembled, was very entertaining even though I wasn’t familiar with the Avengers. I didn’t even know who was on the team, and I still don’t really know much about a lot of the characters. The two characters I most recognized were Iron Man and Captain America. I never cared for Captain America, but after reading some of the comics, I found him to be very interesting. He’s more well-rounded than I though, dealing with the complicated issue of fighting for an ideal that politicians don’t necessarily represent. Anyways, Avengers Disassembled is about Avengers falling apart as they’re all individually attacked around the same time.
Captain America & The Falcon gave a closer look at those two characters. The issues that were part of Disassembled were only 3 of a 14 issue volume. While they stood on their own well enough to be entertaining, I later went back and read all 14 consecutively to get the full story. It was much better that way. Captain America and the Falcon seem to have that good cop / bad cop thing going a bit. I didn’t think about it until now, but that’s also a bit stereotypical given that Captain America is white and the Falcon is black. In this volume the Falcon ends up on the run from the law and plays dirty in an attempt to clear his name. Captain America deals with his own problems as well as his conflicting loyalties. I really enjoyed it, and it definitely solidified Captain America in my mind as a superhero worth following.
The issues of Captain America v4 pitted Captain America against HYDRA. It gave a look at Captain America’s off time a bit more, and the pieces that fit with the rest of Disassembled were cool, but it wasn’t extraordinary or anything.
The Disassembled arc of Fantastic Four picked up at a decent spot but ended rather abruptly. I enjoyed the FF movies but had never read any of their comics. I liked them a lot, however in these issues New York doesn’t like the Fantastic Four, and I don’t know why. I’d like to go back and read a bit more Fantastic Four, or at least read past where I stopped, to see how their story actually ends.
I really enjoyed Iron Man Disassembled, in which Tony can’t figure out why he acted like he was drunk despite not having taken a drink. Things get weirder as the reader witnesses him murdering civilians. Of course, Iron Man wants to know what’s happening, and things really come together by the end.
Thor seemed kind of odd. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely seemed out of place with the rest of the Marvel Universe. In this arc, Thor has to deal with Ragnarok. While some other Avengers enter the story in minor roles, for the most part Thor’s story doesn’t connect with the rest. This arc is primarily mythological, which of course is interesting to me, but it really clashed with the rest of what I was reading.
Spectacular Spider-Man Disassembled was the most complete story of the side-stories to Avengers Disassembled. It didn’t require me to know anything that happened previously, and it had a clear ending. Spider-Man meets a woman named the Queen who can control insects and some humans. Eventually Spider-Man begins to go through strange transformations and comes out of the arc with new powers. I enjoyed it greatly, but the art style was a bit deformed or grotesque (although that might be a bit of a strong description).
The complete Disassembled arc was very fun. While I didn’t know all the characters, it wasn’t too hard to jump into the story. Now I have a decent grasp of a variety of characters, so it’s given me a way to hook into the rest of the Marvel Universe. Now I plan to read/finish some of the volumes that I already read pieces of for Disassembled before I work my way into House of M.

Linh-Nam introduced me to a webcomic called Questionable Content (that he learned about from William). He described it as Love Hina but more realistic and with anthropomorphic computers, nerdiness, and indie music.
That’s pretty accurate.
I really like this one.

Penny Arcade has an entertaining strip involving Storm Troopers. It’s especially appropriate given the recent demo of The Force Unleashed.

Exploits of a Mom has to be the best one.

Kepler.
T-Shirts.
Hitler.
Donner.
Pillar.
Hyphen.
Old Drawing.
Love.
Schrodinger.
Want.
Hobby.
Why do you love me?
Graduation.
Valentine – Heart.
So funny.

Sonic and Tails comic on Slackerz.