Posted 3/8/10 7:31 pm ET by Rick Marshall in Dark Horse, Hot Stuff, News

Much like his “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” universe, the world of Joss Whedon’s space-based series “Firefly” still manages to live on long after the final episode aired. In June, actor/comedian Patton Oswalt will add yet another chapter to the “Firefly” universe with a one-shot comic titled “Serenity: Float Out,” picking up where the 2005 film left off.

Written by Oswalt with interior art by Patric Reynolds and a cover by “Buffy” artist Jo Chen, “Float Out” explores how the end of one character’s life spins out into the beginning of a new chapter in the “Serenity” universe.

“Post-‘Serenity,’ a bunch of Wash’s friends who we haven’t met on the show, they’re basically buying a new ship and christening it,” said Oswalt of how the death of Serenity’s pilot, Wash (played by Alan Tudyk), plays into the comic. “It’s called a ‘float-out’ when you christen a ship.”

“As they’re christening a new ship, they’re telling stories about Wash, and we’re basically seeing what could be the start of a new adventure,” he said.

While Oswalt wouldn’t divulge which members of Serenity’s old crew (if any) appear in the comic, he did share some thoughts about why this particular tale appealed to him. “I had always been kind of bothered by Wash’s death,” he said.

Of course, “Firefly” fans will be happy to know Oswalt didn’t need to do much research for the project, since he was already a huge fan of the series.

“I talked a little bit to Joss, but I was such a huge fan of the show that I didn’t really need to talk to anybody about it. I kind of just knew it,” he laughed.

“[Whedon] was just like a lot of really good comic book writers, like Mike Mignola and people like that,” said Oswalt of what first attracted him to the series. “He was really starting to populate a universe, just even in the suggestion of people’s slang and what they would reference, you could tell that there’s a whole world developing here. I loved that he was slowly starting to put that together.”

“So it was very frustrating to see the show get canceled when a world was starting to come together,” he added. “I just wish Fox had given it some more time, I guess.”

Given his attachment to the “Firefly” universe, the importance of contributing to the series’ canon isn’t lost on him, either.

“It’s a tiny little chapter, but it’s very flattering,” he said. “It’s definitely very flattering.”