Mike@Pilots Chamber
06-19-2011, 03:28 AM
Okay, I know, it's still not the complete story. Nevertheless, each group of 4 Farscape comics seems to be an average "episode length". Indeed, it's only really these ones where four comics hasn't provided a complete story, so I'm judging these as a large three-parter episode (as the War For The Uncharteds is a 12-comic story).
Right then. Continuing. Aeryn is now commandant of what's left of the Peacekeepers as the Kkore continue to invade. What remains of the PKs and several other groups are gathering in a secret location, whilst Scorpius has defected from the Kkore - taking Rygel with him on a mission to find a Delvian secret weapon to win the war.
And that's where the story returns. Scorpy and Rygel get shot down onto a water planet and manage to contact a nearby hospital ship, meaning we get to meet Grunchlik again. Diverting the hospital ship to Delvia in order to retrieve the weapon to end the war, the pair discover that Stark has also gone to Hyneria, along with the Eidolons. As soon as the Delvians discover the Kkore have returned they allow Scorpius and Rygel to land.
Meanwhile, the PK-everyone alliance still doesn't like Aeryn that much. Yet another mutiny is dealt with quickly, whilst Aeryn, John and Braca have trouble managing to get the soldiers from other "militaries" up to speed. Sadly, it also seems that the under-utilised Noranti is dying. The relative quiet doesn't last long as the Kkore manage to find them and John is nearly killed until he is saved by Roiin and Chi showing up. Roiin decides to help and deal with business later, though Chi's still unsure how much she should trust him. The Kkore go all out - even a tad kamikaze, laying waste to the PK-everyone alliance until a force of Luxans and Scorvians appears - led by Jo'thee - to turn the tide of the battle. The Kkore actually retreat, though promise to come back with a much larger force.
Starting with the story and the writing, I'm actually taken by surprise by this. I wasn't sure about Aeryn becoming the PK commandant, thinking it would change the series completely. But surprisingly it still FEELS like Farscape. They're still trying to survive by their wits, getting in mortal danger and all. This is highlighted by the fact that they don't have the huge forces the PKs once had. I also thought that Scorpy and Rygel meeting back up with Grunchlik was a bit too coincidental, but there's been worse in the actual series - meeting up a few times with Furlow, the Zenetan pirates, Durka, Grunchlik himself etc. It's Farscape's style to bring up old characters but in a context which makes sense. Speaking of which, Stark returns which brings a bit of joy to me as he was always one of my favourite characters. Noranti dying though - are they going to replace Noranti with Stark? Noranti has been a tad ignored in the comics mind, though she was never prevalent in the series itself.
There's also a few excellent little nods to other things. Rygel and Scorpy's brief summation of Delvia and how it changed as Zhaan killed it's previous ruler. The Kkore discovering the Nebari and Whale'an virusus and deciding they could be useful. The Kkore being similar to the Delvians (which I thought when I saw, in the Scorpy comics, they seemed to be grown in plant-like pods).
For the artwork I continue to be both impressed and disappointed. Impressed as Will Sliney does some EXCELLENT work on the faces and people in general, but disappointed as they don't always gel well with the backdrops. There are some excellent pieces of work though, including a lot of the Rygel/Scorpius character work in #17, the renegades being stopped in #18 and Pilot's den in #18, the interior of the Diagnosan ship's bridge in #19 (imaginitive) and in general a lot of the ships (most of which I'm still sure are CG). However, BAD JPEGS spoil some of the backgrounds in #17 (I do compress some JPEGs at my work from time to time and the first thing to remember is that they are lossy in quality).
Covers are also excellent - not a bad one among them. In fact I'm unsure which is my favourite out of #17 (Scorpy and Rygel escaping), #18 (Chi and Roiin), #19 (Scorpy, Rygel and Stark) and #20 (John, Roiin and Chi). I'd probably have to go for either #17 or #18.
Overall, the story continues. Of course as, if this were the show, episode 2 of a 3-parter, it doesn't conclude. That's next time. But it continues as it should with some great little tidbits to keep us fans happy, the artwork improving and a good story. My only complaints would be that #20 does the whole "introspective" stuff too much (hearing what the characters are thinking) but, other than that, it's solid. Not spectacular, but I doubt I'd want anything changed, especially given that it's not a full story but instead a continuing one.
Right then. Continuing. Aeryn is now commandant of what's left of the Peacekeepers as the Kkore continue to invade. What remains of the PKs and several other groups are gathering in a secret location, whilst Scorpius has defected from the Kkore - taking Rygel with him on a mission to find a Delvian secret weapon to win the war.
And that's where the story returns. Scorpy and Rygel get shot down onto a water planet and manage to contact a nearby hospital ship, meaning we get to meet Grunchlik again. Diverting the hospital ship to Delvia in order to retrieve the weapon to end the war, the pair discover that Stark has also gone to Hyneria, along with the Eidolons. As soon as the Delvians discover the Kkore have returned they allow Scorpius and Rygel to land.
Meanwhile, the PK-everyone alliance still doesn't like Aeryn that much. Yet another mutiny is dealt with quickly, whilst Aeryn, John and Braca have trouble managing to get the soldiers from other "militaries" up to speed. Sadly, it also seems that the under-utilised Noranti is dying. The relative quiet doesn't last long as the Kkore manage to find them and John is nearly killed until he is saved by Roiin and Chi showing up. Roiin decides to help and deal with business later, though Chi's still unsure how much she should trust him. The Kkore go all out - even a tad kamikaze, laying waste to the PK-everyone alliance until a force of Luxans and Scorvians appears - led by Jo'thee - to turn the tide of the battle. The Kkore actually retreat, though promise to come back with a much larger force.
Starting with the story and the writing, I'm actually taken by surprise by this. I wasn't sure about Aeryn becoming the PK commandant, thinking it would change the series completely. But surprisingly it still FEELS like Farscape. They're still trying to survive by their wits, getting in mortal danger and all. This is highlighted by the fact that they don't have the huge forces the PKs once had. I also thought that Scorpy and Rygel meeting back up with Grunchlik was a bit too coincidental, but there's been worse in the actual series - meeting up a few times with Furlow, the Zenetan pirates, Durka, Grunchlik himself etc. It's Farscape's style to bring up old characters but in a context which makes sense. Speaking of which, Stark returns which brings a bit of joy to me as he was always one of my favourite characters. Noranti dying though - are they going to replace Noranti with Stark? Noranti has been a tad ignored in the comics mind, though she was never prevalent in the series itself.
There's also a few excellent little nods to other things. Rygel and Scorpy's brief summation of Delvia and how it changed as Zhaan killed it's previous ruler. The Kkore discovering the Nebari and Whale'an virusus and deciding they could be useful. The Kkore being similar to the Delvians (which I thought when I saw, in the Scorpy comics, they seemed to be grown in plant-like pods).
For the artwork I continue to be both impressed and disappointed. Impressed as Will Sliney does some EXCELLENT work on the faces and people in general, but disappointed as they don't always gel well with the backdrops. There are some excellent pieces of work though, including a lot of the Rygel/Scorpius character work in #17, the renegades being stopped in #18 and Pilot's den in #18, the interior of the Diagnosan ship's bridge in #19 (imaginitive) and in general a lot of the ships (most of which I'm still sure are CG). However, BAD JPEGS spoil some of the backgrounds in #17 (I do compress some JPEGs at my work from time to time and the first thing to remember is that they are lossy in quality).
Covers are also excellent - not a bad one among them. In fact I'm unsure which is my favourite out of #17 (Scorpy and Rygel escaping), #18 (Chi and Roiin), #19 (Scorpy, Rygel and Stark) and #20 (John, Roiin and Chi). I'd probably have to go for either #17 or #18.
Overall, the story continues. Of course as, if this were the show, episode 2 of a 3-parter, it doesn't conclude. That's next time. But it continues as it should with some great little tidbits to keep us fans happy, the artwork improving and a good story. My only complaints would be that #20 does the whole "introspective" stuff too much (hearing what the characters are thinking) but, other than that, it's solid. Not spectacular, but I doubt I'd want anything changed, especially given that it's not a full story but instead a continuing one.