Rival Smugglers

Alternate Title: The Smugglers Brothers

NEW PRINT SIZES IN THE STORE! I might have some prints of this comic with me at SDCC. If you would like a print and you won’t be at SDCC, you can click the “Buy A Print” button beneath the comic [or click HERE] and select from either 8.5×11″ for $15 or 11×17″ for $25. They are printed on SUPER nice matte stock and ready to be framed.

The Fancy Sketch Drive ends TODAY Wednesday 7/11/12! I will be turning it off as soon as I leave for San Diego, around 2pm central time. 

San Diego Comic-Con is right now! I will be hanging out at booth 1332 with Blind Ferret. Check my Twitter for signing times and availability. More info HERE.

Grammar Dalek Shirts will go on presale after I get back from SDCC.

I was going run some of the Fancy Sketch Drive sketches as filler while I was away at SDCC, but at the last minute I got inspired to post a colored and be-backgrounded version of the original art I did for the Edmonton, Alberta chapter of Can’t Stop the Serenity 2012. Apparently the drawing raised over $100 for Equality Now. Pretty shiny.

COMMENTERS: I don’t really think the Star Wars and Firefly universes would crossover well, but I was having a conversation recently that (with a little rule bending) the Avatar and Firefly universes could co-exist. What other sci-fi or fantasy ‘verses would mesh nicely together? I bet Blade Runner takes place 40, maybe 50 years before Fifth Element.

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68 Comments

  1. Whenever I watch movies I always like to imagine if they co-existed with other movies… The easy one is of course superhero movies, but I think the Alien Quadrilogy could easily be a precursor to firefly… With the alien/human crossbreed that Ripley is in resurrection ending up being the Reavers…

    I do it even more with TV though… Whenever someone is having computer problems I always think they should call Moss or Roy from the IT crowd, When they're trying to track someone in CSI I wonder why they don't call the FBI sniper guy from Numb3rs…

    • Sorry to be a crazy Browncoat about this, but Alien and Firefly universes absolutely do not make sense together. There are no aliens in the Firefly universe, and the Reavers are human, as was explained in the movie. After the shit-storm that was Prometheus, you can just keep anything Ridley Scott away from my Firefly!

      • Hate to break this to you… watch Serenity again (the episode, not the movie). The Wayland-Yutani logo is present in the episode. There's no xenomorphs in the majority of the Alien universe either, just that one planet and anywhere else they got taken by The Company's goons.

        • Oh please. There's one little similar-looking logo in one tiny scene. Big friggen deal. Joss co-wrote Alien 4 so he put a little nod to that in the show (if that's even what it is! I can't tell on my tv and even screen-shots of it don't have enough detail to be certain).

          The Xenomorphs can't be the Reavers because Reavers are human, it's just that simple. There is a (pseudo) scientific explanation for the reavers given in the movie, so trying to justify this as link to the Alien universe is like trying to invalidate Serenity – and no real fan would ever do that. Ok, I know I'm taking this waaaaaay to seriously, but come on: there's no reasonable justification for it. Let it go.

          • I didn't say the part about the xenomorphs, I had nothing to do with that insanity. I'm just saying that there's not many xenomorphs in the Alien universe so there's nothing really stopping the two universes intermingling other than a lot of time between them (firefly being a fair bit later)

  2. I've always found Enterprise more palatable (and the end of Quantum Leap less depressing) if Beckett's last leap was into Archer. It explains why he's so clueless early on!

    • I just want to see the story where he jumps into Roberta Lincoln, and is thrown for a loop when Gary Seven figures out who he is because Isis can see him.

  3. I'm not the one to come up with it, but I thought it was pretty cool when I read that with all of the cross-pollination between Robert Howard and H.P. Lovecraft, Conan is considered part of the Cthulhu Mythos by many.
    I also recently found out that not the 80's cartoon versions of not only Transformers and G.I. Joe share a universe, but JEM of all things coexists with them as well.

    • Oh yeah, wasn't it mainly that that reporter showed up in all three series? Hector Ramirez? I also seem to remember that whenever they needed a middle-eastern country, it would be the hi-lariously named "Karbomya."

      • Transformers and GI Joe were linked by Cobra Commander showing up out of uniform in an episode of season…. 3? of Transformers where three autobots' minds were transferred into human bodies. He was voiced by the same actor as Starscream so the voice was instantly recognisable, and at the very end of the episode he announced something to do with Cobra.

        • yeah, I think they had more crossover in the old marvel comics. Didn't Cobra build Megatron's 2nd body, the one that turned into an M1 Abrams Tank?

    • Conan and Cthulhu crossover is basically canon. It was not an accident, they wrote in hints on purpose.

  4. Man, at first I thought you were talking about crossing over the Firefly universe with Avatar: the Last Airbender, which sounded awesome. Then I realized you were talking about crossing over with the giant smurfs. My version has much more interesting possibilities.

  5. Firefly plus the REAL Avatar, (i.e. The Last Airbender) would be phenomenal. Please don't befoul Firefly by blending it with that James Cameron ego-fest.

  6. A space-based SF franchise with no aliens, and armies of psychotic killing machines with a thing for body-mod? Until I'm explicitly told otherwise, I choose to believe that Firefly was *intended* to take place in the same universe as Red Dwarf. Just wait til Lister finally guides the small rouge one back to Earth-that-was…

  7. He-man and star wars could prolly have some cross over,

    I wonder how much of the whedonverse happends in the same universe. like what happens when Faith runs in to dollhouse? Is there a slayer or active slayers in Firefly? how do demons and other supernatural beings fit in? do they like space? or are attached particual planets, is earth the only planet that has demons and such?

    don't know why i am stuck on firefly, but firefly could firefly and battlestar work together? Finally broke the cycle?

    • I once read a fan-fic where the 2 freedom fighters that helped Simon free River were Angel and Spike. Since we've never seen any of the people Simon got to help him, I assume it's true.

  8. Oddly enough, Battlestar Galactica probably would have ended better if they had landed on the Planet of the Apes. I'm a big fan of shared universes, and I think there are a lot of Sci-fi fans out there who have a soft spot for them, So on that note (and on the note of Firefly), I've always wondered why Whedon doesn't just take the universe of Firefly, and write in a new story. It could pick up where Serenity left off, with the Alliance trying desperately to rebuild their empire and influence. He could even do the show from the perspective of Alliance members who survived the battle with the reavers and are now trying to bring what they see as order to a verse that they don't believe can survive without them. The time lapse would even justify the occasional appearance of now older Firefly cast members.

    • Normally I tend to tune out the people who decry the BSG ending. As a non-hater, I've found that that's one of the least winnable of all the completely unwinnable arguments that can be had on the internet. You, however, have suggested a solution that actually improves the finale on every imaginable level.

      Although, in a sense, they did land on the Planet of the Apes, just, like 200,000 years early…

      • How awesome would it be if, despite appearances, the cycle was not, indeed broken, just delayed by the ascendency of the apes. Visualize it with me:

        Ape Cylons

  9. When I reached the end of Battlestar Galactica, I kind of felt like Firefly was a prequel to Galactica. "Earth that Was" as the Cylon Earth, with all of the planets and moons named after Greek themed things in both cases, it seemed like the Alliance was made up of the 12 colonies of Kobol. Which is fascinating to me, because it puts Firefly in the distant past rather than the future.

    • Which gives us an Ancient Egypt on Earth That Was as well as a future Ancient Egypt… They probably left out the scene of Head Baltar and Head Six staring at a papyrus scroll in front of a pyramid and exclaiming "All this has happened before…" on the grounds that it would confuse all the fans too much.

  10. Thanks Joel. I always thought it would be cool if Blade Runner was a prequel to Avatar (It fits, look at the Earth scenes at the beginning of Avatar. Plus sequels are rarely as good as the original movie), now I have to shoe-horn The Fifth Elelement in too?

  11. Terminator the Matrix and Dune (terminator and matrix taking place at the same time isn't THAT much of a stretch and a lot of people forget that in DUNE there was the Butlarian Jihad which was a war between humans and AI machines several millennia before the first book

    though i will concee that you could swap terminator for blade runner or I robot

    • Much the same, except that G'kar would have tragically died, and Dr. Franklin would have wiped out on his motorbike and broken his neck or something. Also there would have randomly been a bunch of monks singing somewhere. Probably Down Below or something. And all the women characters would have been well-developed characters who kicked ass on a regular basis. Did I mention that Marcus would have a romantic and tragic death too?

      –Dammit, now I want a musical episode for B5. XD

  12. Pretty sure the Avatar universe is the same galaxy where Star Wars already happened… or will be happening. Depends on how circular "time" is.

    But the same people who name things "Death Stars" could be hunting "unobtainium". (Never saw the Death Star kill any stars…) The weird blue creatures could be descended from or ancestors of Ewoks.

    • If Futurama's any indication, the stars will burn out and all matter will break down at the end of the universe, followed by another Big Bang.

  13. Blade Runner, Prometheus, Alien, Predator, and Firefly all exist in the same universe, maybe Terminator too.

    After the events of Blade Runner, the Tyrell Corporation collapses due to the death of Eldon Tyrell and it creates a power vacuum. Two other massive corporation, Blue Sun and Weyland Yutani, battle each other for supremacy.

    Weyland Yutani manages to steal most of Tyrell's tech and uses the research on the Replicants to create their androids, gaining the upper hand in the conflict.

    Blue Sun loses, gets kicked off the earth, leading to creation of the Firefly universe. All that stuff about humans fleeing earth because of resource shortages is a lie.

    When Blue Sun fled the earth, it took large numbers of Replicants along to use as workers. When they arrived at the Firefly solar system, they used Replicants as laborers to terraform and build the newly colonized worlds. After the core worlds were built, the Replicants were moved to the border worlds to colonize them. That's when the Replicants rebelled and tried to gain independence from the Alliance.

    Weyland Yutani controlled earth leads to Prometheus and Alien.

    Predator is connected to Prometheus/Alien because they are the enemy that the Engineers created the xenomorphs to fight. The Engineers turned on humanity because the Predators were also on earth and influenced human development.

    Terminator could be connected to everything because the events of the Sarah Connor Chronicles caused Skynet to change its strategy. After trying to change the timeline dozens, maybe hundreds of times, Skynet realizes that it is not feasible to destroy the human race. Instead, it decides to control humans through the creation of mega corporations. Weyland-Yutani, Tyrell, and Blue Sun all use computers built with the neural net processor chips and AI programs developed by Cyberdyne Systems. Weyland Yutani is mounting dangerous expeditions to study the xenomorphs, Engineers, and Predators because Skynet wants to gain access to all that advanced alien technology and it doesn't care if the humans get wiped out in the process. Although, this one is the biggest stretch.

  14. I wonder, which of the crew of the Serenity would have an equivalent on the Millenium Falcon? Malcom and Han are a no-brainer, but I think Chewbacca would be a mix of Kaylee (mechanic), Wash (pilot), and either Zoe or Jayne (loyal bruiser). What do you guys think?

      • Good point, now for a few more comparisons, flimsy as they may be:
        Shepherd Book = Obi Wan Kenobi (cool, wise old guy)
        Simon Tam = C-3PO (stuffy demeanor & codependence on most famous companion)
        River Tam = R2-D2 (multi-talented genius(so I've heard about River) who nobody know what the [Cantonese curse word] they're saying)
        I suppose they're also the Luke & Leia of the Firefly 'verse?

  15. Star Wars and Star Trek easily co-exist as wars is set in a whole other galaxy and both series have wacky space magic. Though Wars fans would not like the result if they cross over as there are 2-3 episodes of Trek where the entire bridge crew stand around laughing at silly backwards races that still use lasers and are no threat.

    I'm pretty sure Avatar and Alien take place in the same universe, large corporation trying to exploit alien resources through application of space marines.

  16. Is now a good time to remind everyone about the time STAR TREK and the X-MEN crossed over? That was the one where Spock Vulcan Neck-pinched Wolverine. Epic win.

  17. Just thought of another one: Would the 'verses of Buffy and Supernatural be compatible, or not because of how their respective monsters work?

    • Well, Harmony does show up as a vampire in Supernatural, but then again so does Tara. But the main reason they dont mix is the heavy Judeo-Christian theme to Supernatural and the Buffy-verse having more of a modern day D&D mythos to it.

  18. MASH, X-files and Arrested Development are already in a shared universe. MASH did a crossover with St. Elsewhere, which crossed over with Homicide:Life on the Streets which featured Detective Munch. Munch (who also starred in Law and Order: SVU) did crossovers with both Arrested Development and the X-files. There are a lot of other shows that can be included in this universe (such as Cheers and Wings).

  19. Imagine Doctor Who taking place in the same universe as Spaceballs.

    Feel free to rage at the sheer audacity of such a thing… Then tell me you would not watch that show. I dare you.

  20. It's not sci-fi but I'd love to see Dexter and Criminal Minds exist in the same universe. In a similar vein, I'd love to see a cross over between Castle and Bones – both feature characters who are authors working alongside law enforcement professionals. Plus I'd love to see Nathan Fillian and David Boreanaz competing for airspace 🙂

  21. In "Back to the Future, Part II," they travel to an alternate 1985 where everything is kinda scuzzy and Richard Nixon is still president. I like to think this is the "Watchmen" universe.

    The dystopian, disaffected, highly bureaucratic British governments of "Brazil" & "A Clockwork Orange" seem very similar.

    And I agree with the ones who suggest that "Alien" & "Avatar" are in the same universe.

  22. Is not one else pissed off about the fact that NEITHER OF THESE MEN ARE PIRATES? They are both SMUGGLERS.

    The difference is made extremely clear in the star wars universe if you follow Han's background. He hates being called a pirate. Pirates enslave people, like Chewie, who he saved from slavery.

    • Actually, yeah. It's been on my to do list to change nearly since the comic went up. It was just a wordplay mistake on my part and I never got around to changing it. By the time anyone reads this I will probably have changed it.

      • *breathes sigh of nerd relief*

        Sorry if I came off rude, I just get a little protective of my favourite characters :3

        • I realized the mistake as soon as I posted the comic but the only reason I didnt change it immediately is because it was based on an original piece of artwork that I had already titled. Looking back at the scan of the artwork, I dont think I actually wrote the title anywhere, so I guess there's no harm.

  23. Everybody needs to calm down and take a breath! Browncoats, xenomorphs, Trekker, Reavers, Cylons, Whedonites, Gorn lovers, Whovians, BTVS fans and to all other endless list of lovers of things that come from creative geniuses and the outer regions of space…can't we all just get along?

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