The Secrets of Firefly's Shepherd Book Will Finally Be Revealed

Logan Westbrook

Transform, Roll Out, Etc
Feb 21, 2008
17,672
0
0
The Secrets of Firefly's Shepherd Book Will Finally Be Revealed


Shepherd Book, possibly the most mysterious character on Joss Whedon's ill-fated space-western Firefly [http://www.amazon.com/Firefly-Complete-Blu-ray-Nathan-Fillion/dp/B001EN71CW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1278969246&sr=1-1] is to star in in a comic book that will finally let us in on his past.

A character with a mysterious past is hardly a new idea for Joss Whedon, by Firefly's Shepherd Book was a particularly good one. Played by Ron Glass, the Shepherd - the term used for men of the cloth on the show - clearly had not been a God's servant all his life, and some pretty high-level connections with the Alliance. What made the mystery extra-potent however was that the show got cancelled, and we never got to find out what his mysterious past actually was.

All that is about to change though, as a new comic book, entitled The Shepherd's Tale, is coming out that will finally cast some light on the preacher's colorful life. The book is written by Zack Whedon, and based on a detailed scene-by-scene outline from brother Joss.

Zack Whedon said about the book: "You will see Book's full trajectory... How he became the man he was in the show and who he was previous to that. It takes you deep into his past. You really get to see the entire evolution of this man ... Book specifically is a great character to do the origin of because we know so little about it in the show, the little hints that we get are so enticing and his history is very... complicated. It's an intricate set of circumstances that created the man we meet in the show so that is very fun to explore."

The Shepherd's Tale comes out in November, as a hardcover graphic novel.

Source: io9 [http://io9.com/5492302/finally-the-secrets-of-fireflys-shepherd-book-will-be-told]


Permalink
 

Jared

The British Paladin
Jul 14, 2009
5,630
0
0
laryri said:
He's a former operative. Calling it now.
Same, lol. Or at least some kind of member of the government.

Its nice to see people strill doing stuff with Firefly!
 

j0frenzy

New member
Dec 26, 2008
958
0
0
laryri said:
He's a former operative. Calling it now.
I was going to go with former soldier for the Alliance, but same idea.
I don't really see what the big deal is. I find it kind of interesting and realistic that we don't know who he really is. You guys don't know who I am. That just how life works.
 
Aug 25, 2009
4,611
0
0
Former Operative, yeah I don't see any other way to get round this one. Possibly having him be one of the senate or something...

The real trouble is, I have read several fanfictions about this (of course, fanfic writers love this guy) and no matter how abdly or well written they were, nothing that Joss comes up with could either be new or shocking to me. He needed to do this book sooner.
 

Outright Villainy

New member
Jan 19, 2010
4,334
0
0
MelasZepheos said:
Former Operative, yeah I don't see any other way to get round this one. Possibly having him be one of the senate or something...

The real trouble is, I have read several fanfictions about this (of course, fanfic writers love this guy) and no matter how abdly or well written they were, nothing that Joss comes up with could either be new or shocking to me. He needed to do this book sooner.
Well I haven't read any fan fiction but I know what you're on about. I'm hoping for a curveball of some sort that he wasn't and operative and was a spy or something.

At any rate, it sounds like it'll have to be a lot longer to get a good tale out of this, which is good, the other comics were painfully short and episodic, and particularly in Those left behind the conclusions with the 'Hands of blue' was clearly rushed, and a very weak blend of weaksauce.
Here's hopeing they actually use the comic medium well is what I'm trying to say.
 

N_of_the_dead

New member
Apr 2, 2008
423
0
0
I always figured book as a retired operative or had a high rank in the alliance brass, i can definitely see a curve ball coming though, will definitely buy
 

MR T3D

New member
Feb 21, 2009
1,424
0
0
the movie does suggest he was an OPERATOR.
it would be interesting to see what circumstances lead to his change of heart.
 

Lukeje

New member
Feb 6, 2008
4,048
0
0
Nooo! The mystery associated with Book made the character. If you explain it, then he loses that mystery.
 

Slycne

Tank Ninja
Feb 19, 2006
3,422
0
0
MelasZepheos said:
Former Operative, yeah I don't see any other way to get round this one. Possibly having him be one of the senate or something...

The real trouble is, I have read several fanfictions about this (of course, fanfic writers love this guy) and no matter how abdly or well written they were, nothing that Joss comes up with could either be new or shocking to me. He needed to do this book sooner.
See I don't see it that way at all, the shock has never been there. You quickly find out that Shepard Book was someone of high connections and processes a unusually high amount of knowledge when it comes to criminal activity and weapons. It's the journey that could be interesting not the destination.
 

commasplice

New member
Dec 24, 2009
469
0
0
Lukeje said:
Nooo! The mystery associated with Book made the character. If you explain it, then he loses that mystery.
JLrep said:
Stupid. Book is good because he retains his mystery.
I disagree. Basically, what you're saying is that taking that single dimension of mystery around his character and extrapolating it would somehow lessen the character as a whole, but that makes no sense. If his mysteriousness is what defines the character and makes him interesting, then doesn't that mean that he's honestly not a very interesting character to begin with? If the only reason we care about him is because we don't know anything about him, he's more or less expendable anyway.
 

IrrelevantTangent

New member
Oct 4, 2008
2,424
0
0
laryri said:
He's a former operative. Calling it now.
That would explain a lot. From everything I've seen he knows a lot about how the Alliance operates and some of the stuff he knew about the Operative in Serenity was very telling.

Can't wait to see whether that theory'll be proven true...even if it means waiting 'till November to find out.
 

AgentNein

New member
Jun 14, 2008
1,476
0
0
laryri said:
He's a former operative. Calling it now.
Haha, yeah I called this back when Serenity came out. Seems fairly obvious to me, there were so many weird parallels between him and The Operative. Especially that by the end of Serenity (spoilers) The Operative had 'lost his faith in his world', which I could see leading to him becoming a man of the cloth as well?