“Hello, Green Lantern Sojourner Mullein. I’m Minec of the Sea, by the Streaking Ice, Until the Sun Falls.
Care to get off my ship before I have you shot?”
It’s the final issue! Keep reading for a review of Far Sector #12.
Minor spoilers below.
The issue starts out explosively, right in the middle of the battle. But after that things quiet down quickly. I don’t want to spoil anything, so I’ll just say a lot is wrapped up, but not everything. Most of the solutions seem to be “they’ve agreed to do this, that, and the other, but if they don’t follow through with it we could be in big trouble.”
N.K. Jemisin has created such a complex world in this series, but she brings everything back to the same themes that we’re dealing on this planet: people in power who aren’t accountable to anyone, people who follow orders rather than making hard decisions, and a lack of empathy when you turn every situation into an “Us vs. Them.”
Jo gets to unleash a lot of the anger she’s been building up over the series, since before the series really. Her time in the military and police force made her think she’d be powerless to every really help anyone, and she’s watching it happen all over again. Her speech to the starship captain was all kinds of satisfying.
“We thought of ourselves as heroes. But without justice, we were just hired thugs for the people in power.”
The issue, and the series, winds up very quietly. Once again, I don’t want to spoil anything, but I’m going to miss all these characters. Marth with his slightly sociopathic charm, CanHaz and her obsession with Earth culture, and Syz with her sense of duty while being simultaneously annoyed by and attracted to Jo’s weird Earth attitudes; I hope everything works out okay for all of them.
And one last time: Jamal Campbell’s art is just stunning. Whether it’s space battles and explosions or a couple sitting on a picnic blanket, there’s so many details to linger over. It’s hard to pick a favorite image, but Jo appearing over the command bridge of a spaceship was glorious.
The faces, the clothing, the lighting, the colors; this series is hands down the prettiest, most intricately drawn comic I’ve read in years. I can’t wait to see what Campbell works on next.
