Sorry, I only steal from the Rich
This first comic is an adaptation of the plotline in episode 2. In the second episode, Mal and his crew take a job that entails the theft of Alliance cargo. Niska, the man who has given Mal the job, threatens that if the job results in failure, death awaits Mal and his crew. After discovering that the content of the cargo is actually medicine for a town brimming with sick people, Mal decides to return the cargo, despite the possibility of being hunted and killed by Niska’s men. This adaptation draws on the most fundamental, but crucial elements of the story in this episode. Mal initially retains no hesitance about taking on the job. However, finding out that the cargo is medicine for a sick town outweighs both his desire to get paid for his work and his fear of potential death. The four-panel comic works perfectly in humorously conveying Mal’s immediate change of heart.
All Aboard!
This comic, adapting the overall plotline from episode 3, plays on yet another aspect of Mal’s morality. In episode 3, Serenity stumbles across an abandoned ship. Upon investigation, Mal discovers that the ship had been attacked by Reavers; all victims had been killed—all but one. Mal decides to take the survivor back to his ship and watch over him. Later in the episode, when being questioned by Alliance agents, Mal tells the agents who are interrogating him that the man on his ship is turning into a Reaver in order to cope with his encounter with the Reavers. When I watched this, I immediately questioned Mal’s judgment in taking the survivor onboard if he knew all along that survivors of Reaver attacks eventually turn into Reavers themselves. This illustrates just how much Mal’s decisions, which are usually harsh and realistic, are swayed by not only his moral compass, but his good heart. The comic itself depicts Mal telling the events of the entire episode in a comedic manner; as he hears the words from his own mouth, he comes to realize how ridiculous of a decision it was to take the survivor onto Serenity at all.
I forgot to kill him, I swear
This comic adapts two specific scenes from episode 10 that exemplify not only the growth of Mal’s character, but the plot of Firefly as a whole. The first comic depicts Mal’s decision to leave the medicine to the sick village, which ultimately causes the scene shown in this comic. Niska eventually tracks down Mal and subjects him to immense and unthinkable torture; there is no shortage of electrocution and mutilation. Mal manages to escape and knocks Niska down. In the end, Mal escapes safely and leaves Niska alive. Back on Serenity, Inara expresses that she wishes Mal had killed Niska. This scene illustrates the pinnacle of Mal’s self-control and self-kept moral code. Mal literally dies at one point during the torture, only to have his heart restarted by Niska so that he might be subject to more torture. Mal refuses to kill even after he has been killed (again, not figuratively, but literally). This episode also furthers the ambiguity of morality in Firefly. Mal, a criminal who must steal and sometimes kill in order to make a living, refuses to kill out of revenge even after being killed.
Conclusion
In Firefly, Mal goes through the most development as a character. He is constantly bombarded with new and dangerous situations in which he must make quick and decisive decisions in order to continue on. In all three comics, Mal is faced with situations with extremely high potential for danger. In all three comics, Mal chooses the dangerous route on the basis of helping another person or group of people. Each comic escalates not only chronologically in episodes, but in the intensity and stakes of the situation. The first comic shows Mal’s decision to simply run away from Niska and return medicine to a sick village; the second comic shows Mal’s decision to take a soon-to-be Reaver onboard simply because he has not yet become a Reaver and may need medical attention; in the third and final comic, Mal, after being tortured to death, refuses to kill his torturer. Even though Mal’s strong moral code never falters, because he is constantly subject to different circumstances that test the mettle of his moral code, he is able to undergo immense development as a character. Time and time again, Mal proves that he truly is, as TV Tropes puts it, "A Jerk With a Heart of Gold."