Sunday, November 7, 2010

Hast Thou Considered the Shepherd?


God bless Joss Whedon. Though his shows may be dead he lives forever in our hearts and in Dark Horse Comics, where his Buffy: Season 8 and Serenity/Firefly graphic novels are released unto an adoring public.

I, being a die-hard browncoat, picked up The Shepherds Tale on Wednesday. It's the long awaited backstory of Shepherd Book, the enigmatic preacher from the Serenity crew. It does a fantastic job telling the story of his life, right up to the point where he is killed on Haven in the movie. I'm not going to go into a lot of spoilers, but it's a very compelling story.

It's also got some great monologue. Book is very philisophical, and there is a fantastic point where he is talking about soup. It's honestly brilliant.

Book's story is told through vignettes, almost like they're flashing before his eyes as he passes away. They go further and further back in time until his childhood. The entire painful, violent, lonely, and abusive. At the end, Whedon reveals that part of the story is centered around "Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod?" by The Mountain Goats. For those of you familiar with the song, it explains a lot about the book's tone (no pun intended).

Firefly fans: It's a must-read
Everyone else: you could probably care less, so watch the show and become a Firefly fan.

Hast Thou Considered the Tetrapod- listen to this whilst reading.

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