With Jayne charged with the possibility that his son is still alive on Earth That Was, the group coalesced around the plan to rescue Simon and find an available portal to take Jayne back to Earth That Was. You probably already figured this out, but there are… complications to that plan. When has it ever been simple with this crew? They’re the Grey’s Anatomy of space opera, I guess.

This issue is all about tightening up the loose ends to bring us to the bumper issue finale. Not that any of that is bad at all. Jayne and Owen have some really great moments together, and there is a major tie-in to the previous run with the Earth that Was, which I assume may come back in to play soon. On top of that, there’s really the matter about the line-up of the crew across the timelines. We’ve seen such a disparate cast, and often with not a great explanation for it between this timeline and the “Brand New ‘Verse” sitch. At the end of this issue, we’re right set for a great showdown, which may either send some characters off or, perhaps, they may go in some new directions.

David M. Booher’s run on this series has felt both authentic, as well as new to the ‘verse. It has that old Western feel with a lot of the tropes, but on so many levels, he’s giving these characters a lot of nuances on top of that. Simon being a hero, Mal being a motivator, Kaylee taking much more leadership, there has been a lot of character progression for them. On top of that, Jayne becoming a dad and taking some responsibilities for that, that’s a LOT of character progression.

The art by Simona Di Gianfelice is excellent in this issue. There is so much character, nuance, and feeling between Jayne and Owen in their scenes together. The color work by Francesco Segala Gloria Martinelli works so well with the artwork. The warmth of the colors between the scenes of Jayne and his son imbue such an unspoken love. As per yoosh, Jim Campbell’s lettering delivers the goods. It’s clean, it’s easy to read, and it delivers so much nuance when you don’t think a “silent” medium can.

With a big finale to go, I’m so excited to see where our BDH go. But more importantly, I care about where Jayne will go, since this series has mostly been his story.

Creative Team: David M. Booher (writer), Simona Di Gianfelice (art), Francesco Segala, Gloria Martinelli (colorists), Jim Campbell (letterer)
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
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