Finally! Shepherd Book's Tale!

Three years in the making, Dark Horse announced today that “Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale” will dock in stores this November. An original hardcover graphic novel co-written by series creator Joss Whedon and his brother, “Terminator” and “Dr. Horrible” writer Zack Whedon, and illustrated by Chris Samnee, “The Shepherd’s Tale” will reveal the intricate backstory of Derrial “Shepherd” Book, the soft-spoken preacher with a dark past.

Shepherd Book, played by Ron Glass on both the television series “Firefly” and the subsequent film “Serenity” was presented to fans as a man of faith who frequently clashed with Mal Reynolds, captain of the Serenity space vessel upon which Book found himself a resident. The Shepherd, though - in the series, a synonym for preacher or priest - displayed formidable martial arts training unbecoming of his profession and appeared to hold some authority with the Alliance, the galactic government against which the Serenity’s crew once fought a losing war.

CBR News spoke with Chris Samnee, artist of “The Shepherd’s Tale,” and editor Scott Allie about the graphic novel and the future of “Serenity.”

As editor of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8,” fans might imagine that this new “Serenity” project originated in the course of Allie’s ongoing discussions with Joss Whedon, either with Whedon pitching or Allie asking when he might have another “Serenity” story ready. As it turns out, such was not the case. “This is a weird one,” Allie told CBR. “Ron Glass [who played Shepherd Book] was going on some ‘Serenity’ fundraiser cruise. He knew that, as usual, they were gonna be asking him the whole damn time about Book’s back story, how he came to be who he is - one of the big mysteries of the show and the film. So he emailed Joss, said, ‘What the hell, gimme something to tell them.’ Joss wrote back, and copied me, saying that we were gonna do a graphic novel answering all the questions. That is literally how I found out.”

…more

Three years in the making, Dark Horse announced today that “Serenity: The Shepherd’s Tale” will dock in stores this November. An original hardcover graphic novel co-written by series creator Joss Whedon and his brother, “Terminator” and “Dr. Horrible” writer Zack Whedon, and illustrated by Chris Samnee, “The Shepherd’s Tale” will reveal the intricate backstory of Derrial “Shepherd” Book, the soft-spoken preacher with a dark past. The publisher has also announced a “Serenity” one-shot by Patton Oswalt and Patric Reynolds, which is expected to ship in June.

Shepherd Book, played by Ron Glass on both the television series “Firefly” and the subsequent film “Serenity/” was presented to fans as a man of faith who frequently clashed with Mal Reynolds, captain of the Serenity space vessel upon which Book found himself a resident. The Shepherd, though - in the series, a synonym for preacher or priest - displayed formidable martial arts training unbecoming of his profession and appeared to hold some authority with the Alliance, the galactic government against which the Serenity’s crew once fought a losing war.

CBR News spoke with Chris Samnee, artist of “The Shepherd’s Tale,” and editor Scott Allie about the graphic novel and the future of “Serenity.”

As editor of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8,” fans might imagine that this new “Serenity” project originated in the course of Allie’s ongoing discussions with Joss Whedon, either with Whedon pitching or Allie asking when he might have another “Serenity” story ready. As it turns out, such was not the case. “This is a weird one,” Allie told CBR. “Ron Glass [who played Shepherd Book] was going on some ‘Serenity’ fundraiser cruise. He knew that, as usual, they were gonna be asking him the whole damn time about Book’s back story, how he came to be who he is - one of the big mysteries of the show and the film. So he emailed Joss, said, ‘What the hell, gimme something to tell them.’ Joss wrote back, and copied me, saying that we were gonna do a graphic novel answering all the questions. That is literally how I found out.”

…more