Whedonesque Mobile : Comments on 16306 : (SPOILER) The Shepherd's Tale.

I changed your link to the original source.

Simon | May 12, 18:10 CET

Sounds interesting.

Can't wait to see a cover.

SuperTim | May 12, 18:13 CET

Shiny. This is canonical I assume?

Vortigun | May 12, 18:27 CET

That must have been some good soup.

Sunfire | May 12, 18:37 CET

Probably chicken, there's really nothing it can't do.

Saje | May 12, 18:44 CET

Didn't we already know most of this? Excepting the soup I think :)

zeitgeist | May 12, 18:50 CET

I did have some divine chicken soup once. But really, nothing beats pho. It's truly existential.

But I expect there was something else in Book's bowl.

ETA: Yeah, I think this is all stuff he's said before at cons that's been linked here. I'm pretty sure the soup bowl thing has been said before.

[ edited by Sunfire on 2008-05-12 15:52 ]

Sunfire | May 12, 18:51 CET

None of that felt really new to me. Yeah, maybe the soup thing, but that seems like a usual "gag" to just make a joke :)

Garim | May 12, 18:53 CET

Soup? Thats definitly an.....interesting detail.

Yay for more 'verse comics :)

shpedoinkel | May 12, 18:53 CET

I think the "soup bowl" reference may actually be a Buddhist thing, soup being a simple but sustaining meal and the way to enlightenment often being presented as simplicity of thought and action.

For instance:

In Chinese folklore, it is said a person must drink a bowl of soup before rebirth. It causes one to lose all previous memory.

Saje | May 12, 19:19 CET

Didn't we already know most of this? Excepting the soup I think :)

Including the soup. We've definitely done this; it's all been known since November.

theonetruebix | May 12, 19:33 CET

Actually since December, since that's when the Browncoat Cruise happened. And that's when Ron first leaked all the details about the comic, it's name and yes, even something about soup.

danregal | May 12, 19:38 CET

Yeah, you're right I went digging and saw the soup even, that was just my lack of brainpower this morning :)

zeitgeist | May 12, 19:40 CET

I think numbering the items from 1-4 is new though.

Saje | May 12, 19:44 CET

What's funny is that the list posted at the link above is pretty much word for word what Ron told us on the cruise. Seems like he is very happy to finally have something to say, but he hasn't gotten any new information since. So he's sticking to the talking points and that's it. He'll probably repeat this at every convention he attends until the comic comes out.

danregal | May 12, 19:46 CET

Yeah, I think it's all bits of the same tune. The bad cop stuff wasn't in this one though. And we still don't know which part of him is ~~roboticized~~ artificial in some way.

Sunfire | May 12, 19:48 CET

In Chinese folklore, it is said a person must drink a bowl of soup ... It causes one to lose all previous memory.

Well, that explains a lot. I need to stop drinking so much soup. (If only I can remember that).

barboo | May 12, 19:52 CET

Who are you people? (had soup for lunch)

zeitgeist | May 12, 19:53 CET

Or did you ?

Saje | May 12, 20:03 CET

The bad cop stuff wasn't in this one though.

Yeah, that one never came from Ron. It came after Nathan called Joss at Serenity LA to ask if Morena could reveal Inara's secret, and Joss said no but she could reveal Book's.

theonetruebix | May 12, 20:05 CET

Saje, friend man, I love you.

That is all.

gossi | May 12, 21:02 CET

While all of it wasn't new in any way, every time I see anything about the comic I get a strange kind of happy. Part of me doesn't want to ever know Book's story, while another part of me has been clamoring for years to learn.

ChampBlankman | May 12, 21:22 CET

Well, I have clearly been drinking too much soup- Thai chicken if I can get it - as this was all news to me. Oddly, it all made sense, too.

MysticSlug | May 12, 22:05 CET

I always thought he was an operative.

Book: They�ll come at you sideways. It�s how they think. It�s how they move. Sidle up and smile. Hit you where you�re weak. Sort of man they're like to send believes hard. Kills and never asks why.

Mal: It's of interest to me how much you seem to know about that world.

Book: I wasn't born a Shepherd, Mal.

Mal: Have to tell me about that sometime.

Book: [Sighing] No, I don't.

quantumac | May 12, 22:36 CET

I think some of you may have been dipping into very special mushroom soup... not that I would know anything about that kindof soup... other than what I've read. In books... books about soup.

QuoterGal | May 12, 22:57 CET

I always thought he was an operative.

Me too. After seeing Serenity and how seeing how he seemed to know The Operative's tactics and then looking back on the show and remembering how he always seemed rather well versed in the thinking of a criminal mind, I thought he might have been an operative.

This is all new to me, actually. I'm terribly excited for this comic to come out.

HowlingLupe | May 12, 22:59 CET

Well, i'd disagree with you QuoterGal if there were a me to do the doing and not just an instance of the great cosmic we. Plus, OMG, like, dude, is that your fuckin' hand ?

Yeah Operative is a popular belief quantumac/HowlingLupe. I reckon he was higher up though, someone that deployed Operatives and so knew what they were capable of (or, best of both worlds, he started out as an Op and moved up from the "ranks"). Not long until we actually know though, woot ;).

Saje, friend man, I love you.

Cheers bud ;). If it were up to the Beatles, that'd be all i'd need - biology, unfortunately, is a bit more stringent in its requirements. Stupid biology.

Saje | May 12, 23:05 CET

He'll probably repeat this at every convention he attends until the comic comes out.

Have I been drinking too much soup or do we not know yet when that will be?

Vague That Up | May 12, 23:10 CET

Well, the TPB for Better Days will be out in October. I don't think Dark Horse will release it before then. We might be looking at a similar release pattern as Better Days, so March 2009? But anywhere from November on is possible.

danregal | May 12, 23:30 CET

They've said they're hoping the first of the miniseries would be published by the end of 2008. Which to my mind (on no real authority whatsoever other than mild scheduling pessimism) suggests early 2009. Dark Horse has been good about not promising what they can't deliver, and since they've qualified their optimism, I expect end of 2008 might not be possible in the end.

Sunfire | May 13, 00:08 CET

Here's hoping for some pre-view pages at Comic Con.

And I don't remember any of that. But I also don't drink soup. I'm in a paradox.

korkster | May 13, 02:02 CET

Didn't we already know most of this? Excepting the soup I think :)
Including the soup. We've definitely done this; it's all been known since November.
theonetruebix

This has all been known before. This will all be known again.

I think some of you may have been dipping into very special mushroom soup... not that I would know anything about that kindof soup... other than what I've read. In books... books about soup.

I drank some mushroom soup once and spent the next six hours watching my hand move.

Ohh colliding nonrealities.

barboo | May 13, 03:00 CET

barboo - You mean like this?

Notice the comments. :)

danregal | May 13, 03:33 CET

This is really old news...

BrownCoat_Tabz | May 13, 04:00 CET

There's an old Conan story called God in the Bowl, but until we see the comic for ourselves, I don't think any comparisons can be made.

archon | May 13, 05:18 CET

This is indeed old news, first spilled here on Whedonesque (The news, not the soup) right after the Browncoat Cruise.

I should know...
*he said mischieviously, without spilling a drop of his soup*.

TDBrown | May 13, 06:03 CET

I've never read a book about soup. I read one about salt. Does that count?

jcs | May 13, 06:08 CET

Actually, the way I remember it the first time around:

"Book is best known for his greatest failure."

Now it's:

"Book's greatest victory was his worst defeat."

'Victory' is new to me. I can't wait to read this.

Succatash | May 13, 06:14 CET

May 12 2008