Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale

I am happy to say that I liked Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale a lot more than Serenity, Vol 1: Those Left Behind. The Shepherd’s Tale seemed to have a more solid storyline, as if it were always meant for the series but never got the chance to come to fruition. All browncoats have an idea of Shepherd’s past, having worked with The Alliance, but the surprise for me came with the realization that Shepherd Book’s childhood was riddled with abuse and abandonment. Which led him to a life of murder, crime, and complete lack of remorse, before his quest for redemption. Also surprising to me was how he came about to be in The Alliance. I always assumed he was a conservative type born on a central planet, sort of like the Doc, who joined The Alliance with the belief that he was contributing to the greater good. And after having seen war first hand, became disillusioned towards the war effort and The Alliance cause in general. But, in The Shepherd’s Tale, he is a hardened criminal with a reputation for unrelenting violence, and agrees to infiltrate The Alliance for the browncoats. Since he has a criminal record and is probably wanted, he must steal the identity of a more astute citizen, and callously murders an innocent bystander and steals his identity, thus assuming the victims name, Derrial Book. While serving The Alliance, he gains a reputation as having a bloodthirst, and is seen abusing a woman from the independence while interrogating her. He climbs up the ranks and ultimately is held responsible for a decision that cost the lives of thousands of purple bellies, and is then unceremoniously discharged from service. He does not see the error in his ways, as his thirst for blood and violence was more important than the lives of his comrades. It’s at this point in the story that has serious issues for me. He goes from a high ranking general to a homeless alcoholic, occasionally incurring a beating from any purple belly he runs across that knows his name. It seems there was some missing storyline from his accusal, to his discharge, to his becoming a vagrant. Maybe it’s just the vagrant part that doesn’t sit right with me. All his life he’s been on his own, with the mentality of kill or be killed…. a survivor of the most sinister type. I just don’t see any reason he would all of a sudden become a pathetic derelict, especially since he never had the life-altering experience of realizing the error of his violent ways. There was no transition from murderous psycho to pathetic derelict. From that point on, the comic summarizes his religious epiphany while eating a bowl of soup, to his redemption at the Abbey, to his short time on Serenity, to his ultimate sacrifice on Haven… Only the storyline is in reverse order, starting with the attack on Haven from Serenity the movie.

Overall, I do recommend this comic to any fan of the series. It’s different and offers new storyline for the series, rather than regurgitating what’s already been told. This comic reveals a lot about a character that remained somewhat mysterious in the series and movie. We all knew that if the series had been given a longer life, more time would have been devoted to Shepherd’s story, which, for me, was one of the most unfortunate effects of the series cancellation. So now there is some new story to contemplate.