Far Sector #2

By N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell & Deron Bennett

Sojourner Mullein left a good impression as the latest addition to the human cast of Green Lanterns, with N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell crafting one of the most memorable starts to a Green Lantern comic since the introduction of Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz. Casting Mullein as a lone sherriff on the frontier of space was a bold move that paid off in all the right ways, allowing for an exciting first issue that ended on an appropriate cliffhanger that did more than enough to keep readers coming back for the second issue.

Hitting the ground running from the start and keeping an electric pace throughout, Jemisin maximises her creativity and stellar worldbuilding to establish the wider corners of the DC Universe in a way that feels natural and unforced. Mullein acts as an audience insight into this new terrain, navigating the game herself as someone new to the field.

The pencilling and colouring duties are both handled by Jamal Campbell who raises his game for this issue and makes the alien worlds feel properly alien, and the alien characters feel appropriately so. By isolating Mullein from Earth we get to cast her as an outsider in new terrain, adjusting and learning all the rules of how things work whilst establishing a commanding presence as the local Green Lantern authority. The science and the mythology feels far from remotely human, and this is where Jemisin’s strengths as a talented worldbuilder come into play, able to maximise a completely new terrain that keeps things engaging and exciting.

Campbell’s artwork adds a free-flowing feel to the action sequences as the book adopts a detective-type mystery plot but isn’t immune to having its fight sequences of its own, especially at the start of the series. There’s more of a focus on Mullein herself this issue as Far Sector comes into its own, showcasing one of the more confident starts for a DC Comic in the last few years. There is little in the way of rushed development or growing pains that come with the start of a new series.

Deron Bennett’s letters are slick and follow through on the alien promise of Campbell’s artwork, the style fits the alien world and its characters perfectly. One of the key scenes take place in an open-air atrium which is lively, energetic and a pure delight to witness unfold as the issue’s set-pieces really jump out at the audience.

Giving the police procedural genre a fresh coat of paint and injecting it into the Green Lantern mythology with a rookie Lantern proves to yield nothing but exciting results so far. Far Sector still has that fresh feeling to it that the first issue is and so far the plot is nothing short of compelling. It’s never dull, and manages to pay as much attention to the characters involved in the story as the world itself, with Jemisin finding the right balance between plot, character and fight scenes. Only two issues in and we’re already looking at a late contender for a best new comic series of 2019.