Farscape #1: The Beginning of the End of the Beginning [SPOILER WARNING]
Because impatient Stars is impatient and the Mambo admin panel will not let me log in to post at FMD. So y'all get a sneak peek here until Julie uploads it at watchfarscape.com. :D
ETA: Feel free to link - DO NOT copy & post elsewhere, thank you.
Review: Farscape #1
[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]
by Stars
My name is John Crichton. I used to be an astronaut. Four cycles ago - that's what they call "years" in this neck of the woods - I was orbiting Earth in a module I built called Farscape 1. I was trying to test a theory. Then a wormhole opened, which proved a different one. It shot me across the galaxy. I wound up on a living ship called Moya, filled with escaping prisoners.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
And with that poignant, understated introduction, readers and fans of Farscape are launched right back into that familiar universe, almost at the exact moment we left.
Farscape #1, the first of four issues in the initial series to be released by BOOM! Studios (see here for a sneak peek of the upcoming second series), picks up from the closing "circle of life" scene of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, with panels that mimic shots of John Crichton showing his son the wonders of the universe, Aeryn Sun by his side. We learn that the Banik, Stark, has stayed behind with the Eidolons, while D'Argo's son Jothee has joined the others on board Moya.
We can finally stop running. Nobody's chasing me because I killed their brother, or because I have wormhole knowledge, or because the one-armed man killed my wife. We're done.
We intend to live our lives in peace and raise our son. That's our plan.
Of course, my track record with plans isn't the greatest in the universe...
Ain't that the truth? Farscape #1 is titled The Beginning of the End of the Beginning and subtitled Part 1: The Return of the King. Fitting under the circumstances - but Dominar Rygel XVI, unlike Aragorn in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, will find a vastly different political climate upon what should be his triumphant return to Hyneria.
By the fifth panel of the comic - only the second page in - a new menace is revealed, while the Sun-Crichtons, and their extended family aboard the Leviathan, remain blissfully unaware. A shadowy warship lurks in the distance, piloted by a dark-shrouded, red-eyed figure.
The Moyans set course for Hyneria to restore Rygel to his rightful throne. But best-laid plans never run smoothly, especially for John Crichton, and before long half the company finds themselves in hot water (and manacles) once again.
Chiana: It's not any stupider than half the things we've done.
Aeryn: That's hardly a sterling recommendation.
John: What's the worst that could happen? (beat) Don't answer that.
While Rygel's might be the primary plotline, the B-story of John and Aeryn coping with parenthood and looking for their white-picket-fence planet is no less interesting. Aeryn's frustration, when John is able to soothe their fussy son after her own failed attempts, fairly oozes off the page.
Farscape #1's three covers each focus on a different theme of the overall story arc. The A cover, created by Joe Corroney, hints at characters to come who aren't seen in the first issue (Scorpius and Sikozu) in an ensemble image stylistically similar to the Farscape: The Illustrated Companion books. The more graphic-style B cover, by Dennis Calero, builds suspense by placing the four main characters (John, Aeryn, Chiana and Rygel) armed and at gunpoint before a blue-green field in space - literally surrounded by weaponry, with red laser-sights all focused on Crichton's torso. Finally, the C cover, a promo picture from the miniseries showing John and Aeryn holding baby D'Argo, serves notice that parenthood will be an important series element and ongoing challenge for John and Aeryn.
Just as Farscape the series wasn't your run-of-the-mill ordinary sci-fi, Farscape the comic isn't the kiddie-style Archie-and-Veronica funny pages of yore. Like the best modern comics and graphic novels, it's mature and edgy, with blunt talk and a nearly-nude Chiana (aside from a cleverly-placed gunbelt and handcuffs) and lots of rebound sex. But in the best of Farscape traditions, there's also betrayal and intrigue of Shakespearean proportions, as well as the complexity of everyday living in the Uncharted Territories. There is laugh-out-loud humor and snark and snappy banter, and the inevitable inclusion of bodily fluids - which a surprised Rygel realizes is far more entertaining to give than receive.
Given the literary talents of Rockne O'Bannon and Keith R.A. DeCandido, thoughtful editing by Matt Gagnon, and the artistry of Tommy Patterson and Andrew Dalhouse, the characters are drawn and voiced true to form. Crichton's pop-culture references fly from Rockne O'Bannon's pen to the page as effortlessly as Pilot's formal syntax and Rygel's pomposity. The characters look as they should, from the highlights in Aeryn's hair to the plum-purple-pinks of deep space and Moya's golden brown skin. Chiana and Noranti have never looked better.
There's a feeling of homey recognition as familiar settings and images appear: Command, Pilot's den, Rygel hovering on his thronesled, Pilot on the clamshell. And some new visuals are simply stunning, impressive in a way that would have been bank-breaking CGI if ever attempted for the screen: Hynerian space filled with the devastated hulks of destroyed warships, and the abandoned mining colony on the palace planet's fourth moon.
Like the series, the comic isn't without a glitch or two, things that make one go hmmm. In a few panels, Aeryn's eyes are inexplicably colored amber, and Jothee, now a major character, bears a rather startling and slightly disconcerting resemblance to D'Argo, far more than in either of his series appearances. Then, too, there is a seemingly trivial need to rename Little D - which, no disrespect intended to Deke Slayton, but Noranti will be speaking for a lot of fans when she asks "Who's Deke?"
But as a whole, Farscape #1 is everything that made Farscape a cult hit and fan favorite, successfully translated to a new medium. Serving as what would, in the television series, be the cold open and first act of an action-packed, nail-biter of an episode, the truly ominous last panel - in which the mysterious shrouded figure, fist clenched, watches what looks like a real-time hologram of John, Aeryn, and Little D - carries on one final, unforgettable and quintessentially Farscapean custom: the cliffhanger.
Farscape #1 will be released on December 24, 2008. Order it directly from BOOM! Studios here.
ETA: Feel free to link - DO NOT copy & post elsewhere, thank you.
Review: Farscape #1
[THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]
by Stars
My name is John Crichton. I used to be an astronaut. Four cycles ago - that's what they call "years" in this neck of the woods - I was orbiting Earth in a module I built called Farscape 1. I was trying to test a theory. Then a wormhole opened, which proved a different one. It shot me across the galaxy. I wound up on a living ship called Moya, filled with escaping prisoners.
What a long, strange trip it's been.
And with that poignant, understated introduction, readers and fans of Farscape are launched right back into that familiar universe, almost at the exact moment we left.
Farscape #1, the first of four issues in the initial series to be released by BOOM! Studios (see here for a sneak peek of the upcoming second series), picks up from the closing "circle of life" scene of Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, with panels that mimic shots of John Crichton showing his son the wonders of the universe, Aeryn Sun by his side. We learn that the Banik, Stark, has stayed behind with the Eidolons, while D'Argo's son Jothee has joined the others on board Moya.
We can finally stop running. Nobody's chasing me because I killed their brother, or because I have wormhole knowledge, or because the one-armed man killed my wife. We're done.
We intend to live our lives in peace and raise our son. That's our plan.
Of course, my track record with plans isn't the greatest in the universe...
Ain't that the truth? Farscape #1 is titled The Beginning of the End of the Beginning and subtitled Part 1: The Return of the King. Fitting under the circumstances - but Dominar Rygel XVI, unlike Aragorn in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, will find a vastly different political climate upon what should be his triumphant return to Hyneria.
By the fifth panel of the comic - only the second page in - a new menace is revealed, while the Sun-Crichtons, and their extended family aboard the Leviathan, remain blissfully unaware. A shadowy warship lurks in the distance, piloted by a dark-shrouded, red-eyed figure.
The Moyans set course for Hyneria to restore Rygel to his rightful throne. But best-laid plans never run smoothly, especially for John Crichton, and before long half the company finds themselves in hot water (and manacles) once again.
Chiana: It's not any stupider than half the things we've done.
Aeryn: That's hardly a sterling recommendation.
John: What's the worst that could happen? (beat) Don't answer that.
While Rygel's might be the primary plotline, the B-story of John and Aeryn coping with parenthood and looking for their white-picket-fence planet is no less interesting. Aeryn's frustration, when John is able to soothe their fussy son after her own failed attempts, fairly oozes off the page.
Farscape #1's three covers each focus on a different theme of the overall story arc. The A cover, created by Joe Corroney, hints at characters to come who aren't seen in the first issue (Scorpius and Sikozu) in an ensemble image stylistically similar to the Farscape: The Illustrated Companion books. The more graphic-style B cover, by Dennis Calero, builds suspense by placing the four main characters (John, Aeryn, Chiana and Rygel) armed and at gunpoint before a blue-green field in space - literally surrounded by weaponry, with red laser-sights all focused on Crichton's torso. Finally, the C cover, a promo picture from the miniseries showing John and Aeryn holding baby D'Argo, serves notice that parenthood will be an important series element and ongoing challenge for John and Aeryn.
Just as Farscape the series wasn't your run-of-the-mill ordinary sci-fi, Farscape the comic isn't the kiddie-style Archie-and-Veronica funny pages of yore. Like the best modern comics and graphic novels, it's mature and edgy, with blunt talk and a nearly-nude Chiana (aside from a cleverly-placed gunbelt and handcuffs) and lots of rebound sex. But in the best of Farscape traditions, there's also betrayal and intrigue of Shakespearean proportions, as well as the complexity of everyday living in the Uncharted Territories. There is laugh-out-loud humor and snark and snappy banter, and the inevitable inclusion of bodily fluids - which a surprised Rygel realizes is far more entertaining to give than receive.
Given the literary talents of Rockne O'Bannon and Keith R.A. DeCandido, thoughtful editing by Matt Gagnon, and the artistry of Tommy Patterson and Andrew Dalhouse, the characters are drawn and voiced true to form. Crichton's pop-culture references fly from Rockne O'Bannon's pen to the page as effortlessly as Pilot's formal syntax and Rygel's pomposity. The characters look as they should, from the highlights in Aeryn's hair to the plum-purple-pinks of deep space and Moya's golden brown skin. Chiana and Noranti have never looked better.
There's a feeling of homey recognition as familiar settings and images appear: Command, Pilot's den, Rygel hovering on his thronesled, Pilot on the clamshell. And some new visuals are simply stunning, impressive in a way that would have been bank-breaking CGI if ever attempted for the screen: Hynerian space filled with the devastated hulks of destroyed warships, and the abandoned mining colony on the palace planet's fourth moon.
Like the series, the comic isn't without a glitch or two, things that make one go hmmm. In a few panels, Aeryn's eyes are inexplicably colored amber, and Jothee, now a major character, bears a rather startling and slightly disconcerting resemblance to D'Argo, far more than in either of his series appearances. Then, too, there is a seemingly trivial need to rename Little D - which, no disrespect intended to Deke Slayton, but Noranti will be speaking for a lot of fans when she asks "Who's Deke?"
But as a whole, Farscape #1 is everything that made Farscape a cult hit and fan favorite, successfully translated to a new medium. Serving as what would, in the television series, be the cold open and first act of an action-packed, nail-biter of an episode, the truly ominous last panel - in which the mysterious shrouded figure, fist clenched, watches what looks like a real-time hologram of John, Aeryn, and Little D - carries on one final, unforgettable and quintessentially Farscapean custom: the cliffhanger.
Farscape #1 will be released on December 24, 2008. Order it directly from BOOM! Studios here.