Farscape #5-8

Written by Rockne S. O'Bannon and Keith R.A. DeCandido
Art by Will Sliney

This series just keeps improving, with these four issues being the best of the Boom Farscape comics I've read so far.  In this arc, which has the crew of Moya responding to a distress call on Pilot's home planet, the creators have best captured the feel of the original TV show.

Issue five opens with four double-page splash panels, narrated by one of the five main characters on Moya (Jothee and Sikozu share their pages).  These pages are exceptionally well written, and help to establish some of the changes that these characters are experiencing as their stories continue.  The biggest change, as is usual in Farscape, is in Aeryn, who has been questioning many things since being exposed to ancient Sebacean religion in the last arc.

In no time, the crew gets the distress call from Pilot's homeworld, which he is prepared to ignore, but Moya overrules him, and soon our heroes are working with a group of deserter Peacekeepers to protect Pilot's race from an invading force of Grennij, strange aliens that came through a portal to this world.

Among all the action of these issues is a terrific sub-plot involving Pilot's shame surrounding how he came to be on Moya.  He does not want to face his family, and the scenes where this happens are handled beautifully.  I've been resisting buying this series on a monthly basis, but if it's going to stay at this level of quality, I feel I'm going to have to add it to my pull-list very soon.