Today being the 23rd anniversary of the premiere of Firefly, I am both, doing a rewatch of the series as it aired should have aired, and started a new community for discussion of the show and related spin-off media.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)
Put on your browncoat and join us.
I won’t spoil it here, but there is an explanation if you go searching for it. It has been a long time, but I believe the comic in question was called A Shepherd’s Tale.
I will say that as with most things the mystery is more fun than the truth.