Malcolm Reynolds Part 19: The Other Half – Web Comic (August, 2008)

Mal gets a bad feeling over a job and uses all of his available resources to see it through.

I don’t have this story, but you can read it online here. (You’ll just have to scroll to Issue 13.) It’s also reprinted in the Serenity: Better Days and Other Stories Trade Paperback.

Mal’s on a transport fighting off a Reaver attack along with Zoe and Jayne. The cargo they’re protecting is a man who hired them to take him to a specific location for a meeting. Inside the transport with the man are Simon - which is a good thing because the client/cargo is wounded - and River.

Along the way, Mal runs out of ammo and tries to knock a Reaver off the ship with his gun…which doesn’t work. Fortunately, Zoe saves Mal’s life by shooting the Reaver. Wash comes in with Serenity and shoots the Reaver ship out of the sky, but the client/cargo dies before they reach the rendezvous point. Mal decides to leave the body behind, but before boarding his ship, Mal tells River that he saw her drop a gun, and that he intentionally put her in with the client/cargo because the man paid Mal half the fee up front…which nobody ever does.

Notes of Interest:

1) Mal officially welcomes River to the crew in this story.

2) This is the first time Mal makes constructive use of River’s reading ability.

WTF? Moment: The Other Half is another web comic that could occur in several places within the Firefly/Serenity timeline. This website places this story after Those Left Behind and before the film. Again, some of the joys of being a dork are argument, debate and personal preference, but I place this story here for two reasons:

1) The argument can be made that since we don’t see or hear mention of Inara or Book at all, they must have left the ship already, which would put this story closer to the film. Here’s my counterpoint: There’s no mention of Kaylee at all either. We assume she’s on Serenity, since Wash obviously is, and I believe Book could be there too. Plus, there’s nothing saying Inara isn’t on the ship, and from the angle of the few shots we get of Serenity both shuttles could either be there or gone. If they’re both gone, Book could be using the other one – getting supplies or whatever.

2) The comment Mal makes here about getting a chance to earn their money strikes a stronger chord coming on the heels of Better Days.

WTF? Moment #2: If you look at Mal’s face when they learn the client/cargo is dead, he’s looking at Simon. Could he be checking Simon’s reaction to seeing his sister kill someone?