Farscape #1 (of 4) – Review

By: Rockne O’Bannon (story), Keith R.A. Decandido (writer), Tommy Patterson (pencils), Andrew Dalhouse (colors)

The Story: Following the events of The Peacekeeper Wars, Farscape 1 picks up shortly after the series finale. Moya’s crew has started to part ways. John and Aeryn are married and looking for a place to settle with their son. Rygel looks to return home to assume his rightful place on the throne, and Chiana is back to her old tricks. Nothing lasts forever, and smooth sailing on Moya is no exception.

What’s Good? Every word and panel could be shot for a Farscape episode. Part of that I’m sure is the influence of series creator, Rockne O’Bannon; who wrote the story for the book. Our man John still has all of his hilarious pop-culture reference throughout the story, and Rygel still acts too big for hit britches. Maybe he was inspired by Whedon’s incredible continuation of Buffy in comics. Maybe he just got the itch to return to Moya. Either way, it’s a great to day to be a Farscape fan. The art is pretty solid. It’s a similar style to that of the Buffy comics, but with more detail. With the exception of one guy, it’s pretty easy to tell who’s who right off the bat which cuts down on any possible confusion.

What’s Not So Good? Jothee looks a little too much like D’Argo. Flipping through the book in the store, I thought he was D’Argo, so I didn’t know where the story fit in the timeline. He’s named immediately and after that it’s no problem, but it was a little jarring seeing what looked like a dead character alive and well.

Conclusion: I grabbed this book on a whim because I loved the TV series. I fully expected it to be another Ghostbusters: The Other Side and was prepared to bash it without remorse in this review. That was before I realized series creator Rockne O’Bannon was involved. My only reaction now is, “what took you so long?” If you loved the series or Sci-Fi in general, buy this book. The quality of writing is outstanding, the art is solid, and it’s a continuation of a great series cut down in its prime.

Grade: B+

– Ben Berger