“Something’s peculiar.”
“Can you be more specific, Councilor?
Because to me, “peculiar” is already covered by “She ate a guy.”
Keep reading for a review of Far Sector #5.
Minor spoilers below.
I loved the intro scene this issue, with Jo walking through the park, thinking about how the government’s promised the people to absolutely look into their demands, and everybody’s acting like everything’s totally back to normal, even though there’s not a chance in hell the government will do anything other than what’s going to serve their own selfish interests for ever and ever amen. (…yeah I had like five or six additional comments lined up but they were all pretty political and I don’t want to go there right now MOVING RIGHT ALONG.) But I also liked it because all these dark thoughts are up against this really lovely day in the park, with children playing and people of all species enjoying the sun and a nice Keh-Topli selling Jo soup/stew/tentacles/something. The contrast sort of gives you whiplash, in a nice way.
This issue we finally get Jo’s backstory (though there’s still a few pieces missing, one or two questions that haven’t been answered yet.) I don’t want to give away every plot point, but it looks like Jo’s life as been spent in the pursuit of…fairness? Not in a little kid kind of “it’s not faaaaiiir” whine, I mean in the way of someone noticing that some people don’t get the things that others take for granted, and maybe the world should work differently, if people are willing to fight for it.
So far the fight hasn’t gone her way, in any of her attempts, and her time as a Green Lantern in the City Enduring is just one more chance to Do Something, an attempt to Make A Difference.
I like how her backstory is placed against her current life in the city, and the leads she follows to find out why the first murder victim was eaten. (There’s a lot of neat details about Keh-Topli traditions and biology, I do love getting all those little pieces of information.) We hear about Jo’s personal quest for fairness right after she learns how her AI friend CanHaz has been making a living for the last…well let’s just say “a long time” and leave it at that.
And the whole thing is framed in the idea that you can be starving for more than just food, an idea that goes all the way back to the intro with the nice Keh-Topli selling her soup. It’s really lovely.
As is the art. Oh my goodness, the art. Jamal Campbell keeps knocking it out of the park. The points of light on Jo’s Lantern-generated clothes, the glowing computer interfaces, the idyllic park, the gleeful expression on CanHaz’s face as she looks at cat memes, it’s just so pretty I can’t stand it.
