Far Sector #1 cover by Jamal Campbell
"The first murder in five hundred-ish years..." —Sojourner Mullein
Green Lantern Sojourner "Jo" Mullein. Style, mood, smart and mysterious. She's a rookie galactic investigator embarking on her first mission with very little experience in "in the field," let alone in this alien setting, and I absolutely love her writing and design so far. She is our mundane, real-world familiar anchor who is immensely engaging with her voice and attitude toward others, the world, and to herself. There are plenty of unanswered questions about Jo; the teases that we get about Jo's past contrast with the more raw and plentiful information we're given about the world and the immediate situation Jo is in, which keeps us turning pages.
The City Enduring in the Far Sector. Simple premise, mixing of genres, sublime worldbuilding, excellent execution. The three humanoid species—the Nah, the @At, and the keh-Topli—and their very strong opinions and emotions are very distinct from and in opposition to each other and quickly become part of the puzzle for Jo. The world is very much science-fantasy, but the story itself is a neo-noir mystery with a new and unique visual buffet. It already feels like everything is serving to accentuate or complicate the story hook (murder mystery), or is here to present classic human problems in new, exaggerated ways (emotions, politics, crime).
If you like Batman: The Animated Series, Men in Black, Starfinder, Shadowrun, Blade Runner, Pulp Fiction, The X-Files, Hellboy, Firefly, Brick, Cloud Atlas, or everything Green Lantern, there's a good chance you will find something to love about Far Sector. Its rating is for ages 17+, which is warranted with a few scenes and the generally more mature tone; in this first issue there isn't much violence shown, only some in brief flashbacks and a few shots in the present of dead alien bodies (one partially seen, the other torn apart and in full view).
For more nerding out over all the elements of the comic, go check out that vod. For other things to read, one of Amy's viewers mentioned The Ballad of Halo Jones by Alan Moore and Ian Gibson, and the first quote of the comic is from Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe which Amy also recommends. The characters and story, aside from Jo being a Green Lantern, are entirely removed from the greater DC Universe and (so far) completely contained within itself. Everything you need to know about the world is taught to you in this first issue.
I love Far Sector so far and can't wait to further indulge in the beautiful verbal and visual storytelling.
Far Sector Soundtrack
When reading this comic, from the very first page, I couldn't help but imagine it as an animated show or a video game. And even without those moving mental images, a lot of songs fit some scenes so well that I had to make a list.
Opening song: Rihanna - Needed Me. Watching people at night, and witnessing broken pieces of events that led up to the murder, ending with seeing cast shadows or the edges of the aftermath of the crime where the comic starts. The sounds and beat of this song are a killer tone-setter for this tech noir story.
The City Enduring
Newcleus - Space is the Place. Parts of this song are playing when we first experience the city "dropping its presence" during the artificial sunrise, and the camera flies around to see the city and busy people in the morning for a breather before Jo gets back to work.
The "sunrise" over Platform Ever Forward
Grimes ft. Janelle Monáe - Venus Fly. I imagine something like this playing when we meet the Trilogy councilors. There are plenty of songs that have some techno-pop and Manic Pixie Dream Girl-ness, including a lot of K-pop and J-pop, but this keeps things close to the core tone of the comic than poppier, hyper songs.
Opening or closing credits: Seal - Fly Like an Eagle. Although it's more uplifting than the darker noir vibes, this song has so much that fits the futuristic, far-away world of the City Enduring.
Other must-have songs: something (anything at all) by Sade, something by Nujabes, the latter half of Beyoncé - All Night, Bomfunk MC's - Freestyler with its slow start and transition into dangerously-late-90s hip hop overload, samples from Beastie Boys - Intergalactic, and something by Deltron 3030, Zapp, and Fatboy Slim - Right Here, Right Now (or a modern song evoking it) for when anyone is ever is a nightclub or in a street chase at night. R. Kelly - I Believe I Can Fly. has to make it in somewhere, maybe everywhere.
So much generative ambient and synth music would also fit the world and tone, spanning from classic drum and bass electronic music and ska-adjacent and alternative hip hop, to the full-on synth sounds of Blade Runner, Terminator, Thief, and Escape from New York. The trippy vocals of Kavinsky - Nightcall would also be fitting, and Deckard's voice and mechanical clacks at the beginning of the Blade Runner Main Titles are an obvious inspiration for any scenes with Jo thinking to herself or speaking out loud to the viewer.
Maybe not in this first comic, but I suspect that any number of songs by Incubus, The Roots, and even Linkin Park will fit in at some point later on.
If any of that sounds interesting, go check out the comic! Thanks for stopping by. Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment