"The Human Condition... but in space!"
Review by Brayden (they/them)
Other Favourite Titles Include:
I love me a maxi-series! 12 issues is such a great amount of time for a comic book, it allows you to really explore the world and ideas being put forward without it overstaying its welcome or getting to far off track. Plus it makes for an excellent size when it’s collected into a trade paperback graphic novel, which is exactly the case here with ‘Far Sector’. Gerard Way, writer of ‘Doom Patrol’, ‘The Umbrella Academy’ & ‘True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys’, ran the DC Comics imprint Young Animal which saw the idea of a new Green Lantern all alone out in the corner of the universe dealing with the first murder in an alien society. They wanted to reach out and see if a novelist would be interested in working on the title and sure enough, N K Jemisin was an instant yes! The far out setting of The City Enduring is so alien and yet such a reflection of our human experiences. The people of this world live with a change which supresses their emotions, they co-exist across their races and OOPS now there has been a murder for the first time in over 500-years!
Enter the newest human member of the Green Lantern Corps, Sojourner “Jo” Mullein from Brooklyn. She is FANTASTIC! I absolutely love her, from her passion and drive to her humour and charm she is a strong black queer woman who has been thrown out of her element to find out if she can make it in this business. She’s a bit of a nerd, swears, enjoys herself and has an incredibly iconic look! Jamal Campbell, artist of ‘Naomi’ & a bunch of great cover art across a stack of popular series, is absolutely on fire in this book. The original designs are spot on, Jo’s look is phenomenal and cool as hell, the world is rich and vibrant and it all feels so alive through Campbell’s art as he depicts everything from bonkers action set pieces to nuanced expressions and body language. Jamal Campbell needs more books to work on like this because good lord its a feast for the eyes.
With most other media the only highlight would be Jo herself and the art, but I seriously enjoyed the socio-political aspects of this world, exploring the history of how this combined world of three races came to be and the experiences of each group in this new “living in harmony” (yeah right) society. The Full Trilogy Council consists of a representative from each of the three races, all humanoid to varying degrees, and it’s in this council setting where things get hot and heavy in some passionate political debate. Oooooh yeah, love us some politics baby. The three races consist of winged/tailed humanoids, a race of humanoid AI called the @At, and humanoid carnivorous plants! They are each pretty interesting and we get a really good look into the experiences of the @At which is a real stand out moment (also they love human Earth memes which is amazing on its own). Which is also a good time to mention that because Jo is a big nerd that there are a bunch of references to pop culture stuff and they are great, from an anime mech fight to a full on Matrix sequence it wears its inspiration on its sleeve proudly and has fun with it.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time in ‘Far Sector’ and thought it came together to make an incredibly high quality package in total. Having this as a single book that stands out great in your shelves is the perfect way to engage with this story. The messages that this tale brings across in reflecting our human experiences are incredibly important ones that must be told and I’m really happy that DC & their Young Animal imprint are telling stories like this.
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you enjoy deep science fiction, or if you like fun superhero stories, or if you like women of colour protagonists who can GET IT, or if you just want a political murder mystery, it’s all here in one book with beautiful art and clever writing that will make you excited to see what DC Comics have in store for Lantern Mullein in the future!
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