Page 1 gives a very brief summary of the exodus from
Earth-That-Was, stating that "At the end of a long-ago-era, the
two great powers of the Earth-That-Was joined together to
achieve what none could do alone." The two great powers are not
named here, but they were the United States and China, as
revealed in episodes of the Firefly TV series.
The "title" seen on page 2 ("Mysteries of
Earth-That-Was!") is actually the name of a virtual
reality sim being experienced by Emma and Lu from which they are
awakened on page 4. On page 12, Lu mentions the sim. This is the
first mention of "sims" as a form of entertainment in the
'Verse. Sims are accessed by placing a tiny device on the
forehead and they can be synched to allow multiple viewers to
experience the same sim together as if they were participants in
the story.
This issue reveals that Emma Washburn's middle name is Alleyne,
which is the same middle name as her mother, Zoe.
Even 20 years later, there is still at least one of Wash's toy
dinosaurs on the navigation console of Serenity, as
evidenced by the Stegosaurus on page 5.
On page 9, an Alliance Skyguard patrol refers to the incoming
Serenity as a Firefly-class G-82659. This is
the first mention of the Alliance Skyguard. According to several
Firefly-related sources, "G-82659" is the hull number
of Serenity.
Also on page 9, Emma remarks that Serenity is currently
smuggling a hold full of black market Iskellian. Iskellian
Technology Solutions is a corporation in the 'Verse that
manufacturers weapons and ships for the Alliance according to the
Serenity Role Playing Game.
Page 10 reveals that U.A.P. Statute 921-C covers the
unauthorized transport of Class A trade goods.
On page 10, Zoe swears in Chinese, but the word bubble is
actually written in Chinese characters, so I have no idea what
it says!
On page 12, Emma is excited about potentially
picking up the new Truthful Steadwives of Beylix Gap
sim at Blue Mart. Lu refers to that sim series as "trash". The
title seems to be a play on the various trashy reality TV series
of our own world going by the title of Real Housewives of...
(Beverly Hills, Orange County, New Jersey, etc.). Beylix is a
world of the 'Verse that was mentioned in
"Trash". Lu mentions another sim called Three Coin for a
Companion.
This is the first mention of Blue Mart in the 'Verse. It
most likely refers to a store owned and operated by the Blue Sun
Corporation, though there is a real world supermarket chain
called Blue
Mart in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
On page 12, Lu says something in Chinese.
Emma, Lu, and Salo visit a scrapyard called Skinny Sly's Ships
'N' Shiny.
On page 14, Lu makes an exclamation in Chinese.
Lu says that he and Emma used to play "Reavers and roughnecks".
This is probably a child's play scenario like "cowboys and
Indians" or "cops and robbers". He also finds a super-hero
action figure called Beaumonde; this was also the name of a
planet first seen in "Our Mrs.
Reynolds".
Salo is wearing a bandage on his nose on page 15 and through the
rest of the issue, while he did not have it before. No
explanation is given.
Some Chinese characters are seen on a sign on page 16.
Inara is now a priestess of the Companion's Guild.
On page 20, Zoe tells the crew they are going to hit a space
hauler carrying Blue Sun merchandise, saying they'll do it "nice
and quiet-like", not like they did on Higgins. "Higgins"
probably refers to Higgins' Moon, first seen in
"Jaynestown".
In panel 4 of page 21, the Chinese characters under the word
"cargo" above the hauler's cargo bay door actually do stand for "cargo".
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