Farscape: Gone and Back #1

Written by Rockne S O'Bannon and Keith RA DeCandido
Art by Tommy Patterson, Nick Schley and Michael Babinski

Alright, so I'd decided that I was just going to tradewait Farscape from this point on, but when I got the chance today to get the first issue for half price, I decided it was too good a deal to pass up (see - I'd buy way more comics if they were all $2 again).

This is a good book. The premise is a little shaky - John ends up in a parallel or 'unrealized' reality, where Zhaan and D'Argo are still around, he's married to someone other than Aeryn, and there's another bumpy-headed alien named Coron living on Moya. I'm not sure why the writers keep dipping into the old Star Trek plot-vault, especially when the TV series was so good at coming up with fresh ideas, but they do play this one out quite well.

Patterson's art has improved since his introductory arc, although there aren't a lot of external ship views, which seems to be his biggest weakness.

Farscape #1

Written by Rockne O'Bannon and Keith RA DeCandido
Art by Tommy Patterson

When I first read this comic, I was really not too sure if I liked it or not. I was happy to get a new Farscape story, especially since I'd read that its story fit with producer Rockne O'Bannon's plans for the series, had it continued, but something didn't work for me.

Now that I've read it a second time, I'm not sure what the basis for that earlier hesitation was all about. This is a good comic. On this second read, I could hear the characters' voices, and dialogue that had annoyed me before (like the conversation between John and Aeryn that results in the baby being nick-named Deke) was less awkward than I remembered it to be. This could be because I frequently got annoyed by Chrichton's forced 'down-homeisms' when watching the show too.

This book really does put the cast in familiar situations: their best laid plans are all falling apart again, someone is after them (I'm hoping it's not Scorpius - at least not until the third mini-series), and John and Aeryn are having trouble communicating. Noranti is played well for comic effect, as is Rygel. It's good to see Jothee and Chiana hooking up too, even if 53 times is a little much.....

The art on this book is serviceable. You can recognize the characters, creatures and settings, but it's not going to drop your jaw open. Again, this is a good book, and I'm glad I came around to it.