Mike@Pilots Chamber
02-23-2010, 11:23 AM
The final part of Tangled Roots (or Farscape Ongoing #4) is now available, and completes the most recent storyline.
The story kicks off after Gone & Back - after his brief jaunt into the unrealized reality, Crichton knows about the bounty hunter Roiin who is after his and Aeryn's son, Deke. Meanwhile, Aeryn knows she is responsible for Deke's mutation. As Aeryn goes to track down old comrades to try to learn more about how the mutation may have occurred, Crichton and Chiana head after Roiin.
Crichton and Chi find Roiin. Knowing he was hired, the duo decide to try to find out who he's working for so Chi goes undercover as his new girlfriend. Crichton however gets taken in for questioning by the cops. Meanwhile, Aeryn discovers that Velorek is still alive. Crais had instead sent him to the religious planet he grew up on - a planet which is experiencing an economic downturn due to some dubious market practices by another race, the Sorrents.
As Aeryn stays on the planet and learns about it's religion, Chi is left on her own with Roiin. Turns out she actually grows to like him and would like to stay with him. Meanwhile, Crichton's helping the cops take him down.
It all comes to a head as Crichton and the cops track Roiin and Chi down. Chi tries to make him see sense but Roiin is steadfast - he must kill Deke - and manages to escape. Back with Aeryn, she discovers the religious followers hate confrontation, but aren't so fussy about long, patient revenge. Following Crais' conscription into the PKs, the inhabitants poisoned the PKs food supply, leading to mutations in their offspring - the cause of Deke's condition.
Meanwhile, Sikozu and Jothee play some Tadek.
A bit of a long-winded story which starts off following three different sets of characters, then four. There's a lot of action to flit between and I don't particularly like having a page for one set of characters before going to another set.
Will Sliney and Zac Atkinson resume their duties as artist and colourist from Strange Detractors and the results are a mixed batch. There seems to be little sense of movement and the backdrops don't have a great deal of detail. However, a lot of the characters are well done, in particular Crichton. The shading is, again, a mixed batch though I've got to say I liked the work done on Jothee and Sikozu in the first issue.
The script is done well as usual - again, you can genuinely hear each character, even Jothee who only appeared (in his current Kleeva incarnation at least) in the PK Wars. My imagination has bizarrely given Roiin a bit of an Australian accent. Chi falling for Roiin was a shock but again, it suits her character. The stuff with Aeryn on Liantac was a bit predictable (aside from the Liantacs being responsible for the mutation) but other than that it was enjoyable. However, as mentioned, I wasn't keen on flitting from one set of characters to another.
I think I got a decent set of covers this time - 1A's montage is excellent, 2A's "Aeryn with gun" is only OK (if you're going to have an action scene please have it showing a scene from the comic), 3B's "Aeryn with gun" is a lot better (and less of an action scene, though still not in the comic) and 4B's montage is okay.
Overall, the comic isn't bad. The art really is a mixed batch - the characters are mostly pretty good but the backdrops look flat or incorrectly proportioned. The story is good but seemingly disjointed. So I'll give it a 3 out of 5.
The story kicks off after Gone & Back - after his brief jaunt into the unrealized reality, Crichton knows about the bounty hunter Roiin who is after his and Aeryn's son, Deke. Meanwhile, Aeryn knows she is responsible for Deke's mutation. As Aeryn goes to track down old comrades to try to learn more about how the mutation may have occurred, Crichton and Chiana head after Roiin.
Crichton and Chi find Roiin. Knowing he was hired, the duo decide to try to find out who he's working for so Chi goes undercover as his new girlfriend. Crichton however gets taken in for questioning by the cops. Meanwhile, Aeryn discovers that Velorek is still alive. Crais had instead sent him to the religious planet he grew up on - a planet which is experiencing an economic downturn due to some dubious market practices by another race, the Sorrents.
As Aeryn stays on the planet and learns about it's religion, Chi is left on her own with Roiin. Turns out she actually grows to like him and would like to stay with him. Meanwhile, Crichton's helping the cops take him down.
It all comes to a head as Crichton and the cops track Roiin and Chi down. Chi tries to make him see sense but Roiin is steadfast - he must kill Deke - and manages to escape. Back with Aeryn, she discovers the religious followers hate confrontation, but aren't so fussy about long, patient revenge. Following Crais' conscription into the PKs, the inhabitants poisoned the PKs food supply, leading to mutations in their offspring - the cause of Deke's condition.
Meanwhile, Sikozu and Jothee play some Tadek.
A bit of a long-winded story which starts off following three different sets of characters, then four. There's a lot of action to flit between and I don't particularly like having a page for one set of characters before going to another set.
Will Sliney and Zac Atkinson resume their duties as artist and colourist from Strange Detractors and the results are a mixed batch. There seems to be little sense of movement and the backdrops don't have a great deal of detail. However, a lot of the characters are well done, in particular Crichton. The shading is, again, a mixed batch though I've got to say I liked the work done on Jothee and Sikozu in the first issue.
The script is done well as usual - again, you can genuinely hear each character, even Jothee who only appeared (in his current Kleeva incarnation at least) in the PK Wars. My imagination has bizarrely given Roiin a bit of an Australian accent. Chi falling for Roiin was a shock but again, it suits her character. The stuff with Aeryn on Liantac was a bit predictable (aside from the Liantacs being responsible for the mutation) but other than that it was enjoyable. However, as mentioned, I wasn't keen on flitting from one set of characters to another.
I think I got a decent set of covers this time - 1A's montage is excellent, 2A's "Aeryn with gun" is only OK (if you're going to have an action scene please have it showing a scene from the comic), 3B's "Aeryn with gun" is a lot better (and less of an action scene, though still not in the comic) and 4B's montage is okay.
Overall, the comic isn't bad. The art really is a mixed batch - the characters are mostly pretty good but the backdrops look flat or incorrectly proportioned. The story is good but seemingly disjointed. So I'll give it a 3 out of 5.