CulturePulp.: 'Take My Love,' a bloody little 'Serenity' webcomic.

Click here to read the entire 3-page story at ComicsAlliance.

ComicsAlliance.com has posted "Take My Love" -- a "Serenity" webcomic that Mark Bourne, Bill Mudron and I re-drew for Dark Horse.

(io9 has now posted it, as well).

"Take My Love" was written by Mark Bourne as a tribute to the classic Looney Tunes cartoon "Duck Amuck." It's one of three scripts he submitted a few years back for "Serenity Tales" -- a site collecting fan-made comics about "Firefly" and "Serenity." (Mark adds: "I'd say that in addition to the hat-tip to 'Duck Amuck,' 'Take My Love' was my means of catharsis after Wash's death in the movie, which caught me utterly by surprise -- I felt as though a beloved character had been yanked away from me. So it was my way of giving Wash the last laugh. Nice to see dear ol' Book putting the button on the scene, as well.")

Be sure to check out "Yarn," another story Mark wrote for "Serenity Tales."

I'd launched "Serenity Tales" on a lark in early 2006 -- following a conversation at a party with my dear friend and fellow cartoonist Bill Mudron. We were talking about how impatient we were for more official Joss Whedon "Serenity" stories. We figured we'd make some totally apocryphal, totally unofficial fan comics for free while we waited. Just a fun way to celebrate Whedon's universe, which we both love.

(Bill went hog-wild with his submission, "The Black," which tells the story of a teenage Mal Reynolds and runs for 28 stunning pages.)

Anyway. Flash-forward to a couple of months ago. I get an e-mail from Dark Horse editor Scott Allie, whom I'm known and occasionally worked with for over 15 years. Scott was wondering if I'd be interested in doing a small, spoofy backup strip for the letter-column pages in Dark Horse's "Serenity" comics.

I knew Dark Horse was working on new books about Wash and Shepherd Book -- the two characters who bought the farm in the movie -- so I immediately pitched a full-color redraw of "Take My Love," because Mark's story comments in a funny way on "Serenity"'s rampant carnage.

Scott said he'd consider it. Mark was cool with revisiting the material. And so I recruited Bill Mudron (with whom I work on my comic strip "CulturePulp") to help us get the job done.

I laid out and penciled the first two-and-a-half pages. Bill inked everything. He also drew the big-reveal final panel from scratch in his own more figurative style -- and snuck in a few cool Easter eggs. (You can download a gigantic version of that final panel right here.) Bill also had WAY too much fun coloring all that blood.

Unfortunately, "Take My Love" ended up being too long for what ended up being the allotted space -- but we're happy to get it online, helping promote the upcoming "Serenity" books. (I've seen a fair bit of both books-in-progress at this point, and they're fantastic. I think fans are going to love them. A lot. They've got a funky/indie feel that really suits the "Firefly" universe.)

Since then, I've also written and drawn another, different backup comic that's much smaller (and nearly as cruel). It's slated to appear in the letters-column pages of "Serenity: Float Out" by Patton Oswalt and Patric Reynolds.

BTW, Bill is currently writing and drawing a graphic novel called "The Nintendo History System." It's awesome.
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'Firefly' Fan Webcomic Takes 'Serenity' Carnage to New Levels (ComicsAlliance.com)

Serenity Webcomic Delivers Laughs and Bloody Revenge (io9.com)