WARNING: The following contains spoilers for All-New Firefly #1, now on sale from BOOM Comics
The world of Firefly is one that melds epic cosmic exploration with a down-and-dirty realism. In many ways, it's far more of a western set in space than a true fusion of the genres, especially in regards to the wandering desperado aspects of the main characters. This is especially true for Jayne, the most morally dubious member of the main crew, who rarely finds a moment he can't ruin either on purpose or by sheer proxy.
All-New Firefly #1 (by David M. Booher, Jordi Pérez, Francesco Segala, Gloria Martinelli, and Jim Campbell) even finds a way to retcon a tragic ending onto arguably one of his most introspective moments, with the fate of the town of Canton from "Jaynestown" revealed to be a genuinely somber epilogue to that story thread.
A fan-favorite episode of the one-season cult classic Firefly, "Jaynestown" focused on the crew of Serenity arriving at the small settlement of Canton. A tiny town of largely indentured servants toiling away as "mudders" to collect supplies for vital ceramics used in space travel, Canton was unique in the galaxy for their love for Jayne. The criminal had emerged as something of a Robin Hood-style folk hero due to an earlier visit: The truth was that a year earlier, the morally scrupulous Jayne had robbed the nearby Magistrate, and in the chaos of his escape had been forced to drop off his stolen funds onto the town. Despite hearing the truth about Jayne at the conclusion of the episode, a citizen of Canton still gave his life for their hero before the crew made their escape -- leaving Jayne shaken as the Serenity departed.
Any hope of Canton recovering from this seems to have dried up and faded, however. All-New Firefly reveals that in the present-day, Jayne is socked in the mouth by a brother of one of the Mudders who'd idolized Jayne Cobb as the Hero of Canton, and that the town never stopped believing in him. They apparently continued to hope for Jayne's return some day, especially as the "mud started dryin' up." However, completely unaware of this, Jayne and the rest of the universe never noticed. Instead, the Mudders were either forced to abandon Canton for greener pastures or they died out. Furious that his brother was among the latter, the man attacking Jayne comes close to killing before Jayne takes the upper hand and delivers a brutal beating that lands him in jail.
It's a tragic reminder that many of the people who've helped the Serenity Crew over the years have paid the price for this. Notably, many of their contacts were wiped out during Serenity as part of the Operative's mission to hunt down River. But it's especially tragic because of how Canton truly still believed in Serenity's worst member. Even seeing the true version of Jayne -- a furious and brutal man who doesn't understand why someone would sacrifice themselves for him -- could dissuade them of the idea that he was a hero.
In that sense, their hero failed them in their greatest time of need. But in reality, their hero never truly existed, and the real Jayne has been far too busy thieving and fighting to survive the greater 'verse. It's a larger reminder of how poorly things tend to work out in the wake of the Serenity Crew, and a good showcase that even though they may be heroes, the crew can't truly save much more than themselves -- and even sometimes can't manage that.