Pigs #8

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Will Sliney

My opinion of this book has wavered a great deal since it began almost a year ago.  The premise and early promise of the series had me excited.  Pigs is about the children of a KGB sleeper cell that was left on Cuba after the Cuban Missile Crisis.  The children have been raised in the mission, and are finally given the signal to activate.  We learned from the beginning that they manage to capture the President of the United States, and at the least, amputate his hand and send it to the authorities.

And then, from that terrific beginning, the series increasingly spun its wheels.  We saw the terrorists come to America and press a former comrade into service, and then we saw them kill a Senator.  After that, way too many issues were spent on the topic of the terrorists having to arrange the murder of a Nazi in a prison.  The comic was becoming increasingly decompressed at the same time that it began to slip off any kind of reliable publishing schedule (the last issue came out in April).

Now though, this issue gives me a sense of hope again.  Since that first issue, we've known that the FBI has a Russian woman named Irisa in a questioning room.  Finally, with this issue, she begins to talk, and fills in the story of just how the original KGB agents decided to have children and to pursue their mission.

My interest is piqued again, and I hope that the remaining four issues (the series is set to end with issue 12, and they have all been solicited) come out in a more timely fashion.

Pigs #7

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Breno Tamura and Will Sliney

I'm starting to doubt this book on a few levels.  First, while this comic is only a month late, anyone who has followed Ben McCool's career in comics (his six issue series Choker took 26 months to complete; his six-issue Memoir had five issues in a year, and nothing has been published in five months) knows that he has some serious problems with keeping to timelines.  The credits of this issue list Will Sliney as drawing the 'flashback' scenes, which is a little misleading.  If we accept the scenes in the police station as being in the present, than the scenes at the prison, which look like they were drawn by Tamura, would be the flashbacks. 

These are both minor quibbles - it's only a month late, and credits get confused, but it points to a lack of attention to this title.  The first issue of this comic really grabbed me, with its story of a Russian sleeper cell having been planted in Cuba a generation ago, which finally gets reactivated.  When we saw the twist at the end of the first issue, which involves the woman in the police station and a President's amputated body part, I was hooked. 

The problem is, now the Russian being interrogated wants to start talking, but absolutely nothing in this issue points to a reason why.  It's like the story for the next issue will need more exposition, so the writers decide it's time for her to talk.

There are a lot of twists to this comic.  We don't know what the sleepers' mission is, or why they are targeting a particular neo-Nazi who is in prison.  We don't know how the team moves from there to getting the President, or what they hope to accomplish.  All of this sounds interesting, but unlike a series like Morning Glories, which manages to heap on the mysteries and the human interest at the same time, I'm beginning to completely lose interest in these characters.

This book has a lot of potential, but it's in danger of losing me, and quickly (well, as quickly as McCool is able to finish each issue).

Pigs #6

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Breno Tamura and Will Sliney

I am finding myself increasingly frustrated with the slow pace of this series, but at the same time, I do enjoy it, and appreciate the way that the writers are trying to build on the various characters through the use of flashback.

Pigs is about a group of Soviet sleeper agents (actually the children of the original agents) who were left in Cuba back in the 60s, and have only now been activated.  They've snuck into the United States, and rejoined with Felix, who had left the group years before.

Now, they are out to kill a man who is locked up inside the San Quentin Correctional Facility.  Their attempt to hire a killer has failed, and so Havana, who appears to be the group's leader, is planning a break-in, against the objections of the pacifistic Felix and her sister Ekatarina. 

In a flashback (drawn by Will Sliney), we learn that as children, Ekat had a thing for Felix, but it was Havana that first slept with him.  The character dynamics are the most interesting thing about this book, especially since the plot is moving so slowly. 

I know that Cosby and McCool have a lengthy plan for this title, but they're going to have to get a move on it, or people will begin to lose interest.

Pigs #4

Written by Nate Cosby and Ben McCool
Art by Breno Tamura and Will Sliney

Pigs is a very interesting comic.  It's about a group of Soviet sleeper agents who were hidden in Cuba to wait for orders.  The original members of the cell raised their children to carry on their mission, which has now actually begun.

The core members of the group have come the United States to carry out their mission, which so far has remained shrouded in mystery, except for some scenes in the first issue which are finally picked up on again in this fourth issue involving one of the original members of the cell being interrogated about the whereabouts of the President.  They have his hand it seems - it's just the rest of them that's missing.

Anyway, most of this issue continues from the last, where the cell have attacked the vacation home of an American senator.  Felix, the one member who had left the cell and made a life for himself in the US, before being forced back into this mess, is still reluctant to use lethal force (despite the fact that we have been led to believe that he killed a gun shop owner last month).  There is tension in the group, and we learn that the Senator may not have been targeted for information, but for another reason.

It's all very mysterious, this book.  What is clearest are the flashbacks to Cuba in the early 90s, where Felix and his associate killed some boys who were picking on him, despite the fact that it led the cell exposed to discovery.  Each issue lately has been showing us more about Felix's unhappy childhood, and it is clear that the writers are expecting to make a lot of use of this character.

I like the way so much is being played close to the vest, while enough information is being dribbled out to make the reader continue their interest.  Tamura's art is looking stronger with each issue, the Will Sliney-drawn flashbacks work nicely, and amazingly, so far this book has kept to a monthly schedule (check out Ben McCool's track record on his other titles, if you are curious as to why I think that is remarkable).  Also, this month's issue has a Becky Cloonan cover, so you know it has to be cool.

Farscape #24

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

I came late to Farscape, discovering the show Sunday afternoons on a cable station a few years back, but thanks to the twin magics of DVD and EBay, I quickly acquired all four seasons and the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series that wrapped the story up.  I really grew to love the characters on this show, a diverse group of escaped convicts from different species, and the crazy and improbable situations they kept finding themselves in.  The series was a lot of fun, and had a lot of heart.

When I'd heard that Boom Comics was starting up a series of mini-series, co-written (or at least co-plotted) by the series's creator, I knew I'd be interested.  Like many a licensed comic, the earliest issues suffered from very stiff art, but the early stories were a treat.  It was nice to see familiar characters again, and unlike the Buffy Season Eight comics, they tended to stay in character.

After the mini-series approach gave way to an on-going series (and eventual spin-off featuring Scorpius), O'Bannon and DeCandido crafted a larger narrative around the idea of a new race, the Kkore, coming through a rift in space to conquer the Uncharted Territories.  This led to a twelve-issue arc that concluded with this issue.

During this arc, just about every world was subjugated to Kkore control, Aerynn Sun became the Commandant of the Peacekeepers and commanding officer to the large coalition of survivors and resisters.  Chiana found true love (with a bounty hunter hired to kill Aerynn and John Crichton's son), and a number of favourite characters met their final fate.

This story could never have been told on television, yet it felt, at every step, like classic Farscape.  DeCandido really nailed the different characters' voices, and among all the space opera bombast, found time to work in some good character-driven moments.  The art, by Will Sliney, worked well for character based scenes, although I never liked the way he drew spaceships.

There are some plot threads that were left unresolved.  We never did learn why Roiin was hunting Deke, Crichton's son, and the story potential of all worlds being left in a state of chaos is vast, but in the end, this was a satisfying run for this comic.  I would not object to the Farscape universe being revisited again some day.

Farscape #10

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

I just recently re-watched the fourth season of Farscape, and followed that up with the Peacekeeper Wars, which served as a nice refresher on the state of the Farscape galaxy before reading this issue of the now very good Farscape comic.

In this issue, Chricton and Aeryn, along with the PK deserter Captain and her Lieutenant scout out the weapons that Commandant Grayza is preparing to sell to the Grennij, who are advance troops for a larger invasion force crossing an inter-dimensional divide. Later, the gang meets with Grayza, which always works well, as she must be an insanely fun character to write, so full of certainty and hubris.

As I've written a few times recently, this comic has gotten very good since it became an on-going series.  DeCandido has these characters down pat, and it's cool to see the way he and O'Bannon are working in the series' history to recent events.  A good example of that comes in this issue, where the commerce planet they visit is the same one that was visited in the very first episode of the show.

Most interesting to me is the way in which Aeryn is developing her own vision of what the Peacekeepers should be.  It's been clear that she never really accepted leaving the service, and now that she has discovered her spiritual side through studying the Books of Yemahl, it is nice to see her work to implement her vision.

Farscape #9

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

Having recently gotten caught up on this series, and having watched a few episodes from Season 4 again, I think I'm going to need to add this comic to my pull-list.  Some of the earlier story arcs were good, but suffered from the usual curse of the licensed property - substandard art and slighty wonky stories.

With the last couple of arcs, this comic has really come into its own, and this issue, which starts the 'Compulsions' art has all the hallmarks of the best Farscape episodes: strife among the crew (Chiana), strange transformations (Noranti), spiritual awakenings (Aerynn, for a change), a big villain (the Grennij), and Peacekeepers up to no good (Grayza's carrier makes an appearance, even if she's not shown up yet).

Add this to some nice character moments involving the crew of the Cilla, the Leviathan that has joined Moya, and this looks like it would make an epic episode.  Will Sliney's art has improved quite a bit since he came on the title, and this book is really starting to satisfy my craving for new episodes of Farscape.

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.

Farscape #1-4

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

I've been trying to pick up more of the Farscape series because I loved the show, and have enjoyed most of the Boom comics that have continued the stories of Moya and her crew ever since.

These four issues encompass the 'Tangled Roots' story arc that launched the on-going series.  In it, Crichton and Aeryn split up as they go on two separate missions, both related to their son Deke.  Crichton and Chiana try to track down Roiin, the bounty hunter that has been chasing them since the beginning of the Boom series.  To figure out who hired him, Chiana poses as a young woman that is interested in him, and the two of them spend some quality time together.  Unexpectedly, Chiana develops some serious feelings for him.

At the same time, Aeryn tracks down her former fellow Peacekeepers to see if she had ever been exposed to any nerve agents or gasses that may be accountable for the presence of a strange gland on Deke's spine.  She ends up on Prybella, a pacifist Sebecean colony, where she runs into Velorek, her former lover, and the parents of Captain Crais.  Things get a little weird here, as the story involves pure-blood Sebeceans (it is odd to me that a people so concerned with contamination would not have more pure-bloods), religion, and a deeply ingrained aversion to open conflict.

This is a good story, although some of the story elements don't feel completely true to the spirit of the original show.  It seems to lack the madcap spontaneity that I grew to expect from Farscape.  I hope that is something that develops as the book progresses.

That said, I enjoyed reading this story, and feel that Chiana's easily-conflicted nature is portrayed nicely.  I do look forward to finding out who hired Roiin eventually.

Farscape: Strange Detractors #4

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

I understand that O'Bannon and crew are looking to do all sorts of things in the comic version of Farscape that they couldn't in the TV show, but I'm starting to think that the effects are driving the story.

In this issue, John goes on a Fantastic Voyage with a bunch of anti-bodies into Aeryn's system, to get rid of the Anger Virus which was affecting her translator microbes. Somehow, translator microbes are in the stomach, because once the man-shaped anit-bodies killed the man-shaped viruses, they got puked out.

What follows is a hasty spread of the air-borne antibodies through the vacuum of space, in a couple of pages. Really, the ending was disappointing here. I think that, had the writers confined the outbreak to the commerce planet and the ships that left it, the story would have stayed much more credible. Including the Peacekeepers, Scarrans, and Hynerians just muddied up the plot.

Beyond that, this is still a decent issue. I am enjoying seeing the characters back in action, although I think I'm going to jump ship with this issue. The next mini-series is an alternate-world one, and at $16 for the whole thing, I think I might just pop in some old Farscape DVDs, and wait for the eventual trade to show up cheap on Ebay.

Farscape: Strange Detractors #3

Written by Rockne O'Bannon and Keith RA DeCandido
Art by Will Sliney
This issue explains the reason why everyone in the universe has gone nuts (without explaining how any disease can travel so far so quickly), and once again, leaves it up to Crichton to fix things. He's aided in this by a couple of familiar faces - namely Grunchlk and Sikozu, both last seen in the Peacekeeper Wars.

As it turns out, the Diagnosian who Moya was travelling to had been experimenting with size-changing, therefore somehow creating a sentient virus that affects peoples' translator microbes, making them all angry. Why do explanations like that make more sense when they were on the Farscape tv show than they do in the Farscape comic? Are there different levels of suspension of disbelief for each media? And why does it seem like comics need a higher level of burden of proof?

Regardless, this continues to be a fun comic. I especially like how the story checks in on Commandant Grazya and Emporer Staleek, to show how the virus is affecting them.

I've enjoyed this Farscape arc more than I did the first (I'm skipping the ones that happen in the past), but haven't decided if I'm going to stick around for the third. I think the art will play the biggest role in that, as these titles seem to suffer from the usual problems of licensed books.... That said, I've been enjoying Sliney's looser style of portraying these characters.

Farscape: Strange Detractors #2

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

This Farscape series continues to feel very much like an episode of the show - not a terribly consequential one, but one of the fun ones that focus a lot on character.

The pace is quick and the writing witty (except I still kind of hate Crichton). The strange disease that has infected the crew is making everyone angry, and minor annoyances are spiraling out of control into huge, often violent, conflicts.

What is strange is that the disease has somehow spread to Hyneria and Rygel's palace, which doesn't make a lot of sense, and seems to add an unnecessary element to the plot, but I suppose it remains to be seen where it will lead.

Farscape: Strange Detractors #1

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

Now this is more like it. I found the first Farscape series from Boom! to be a disappointment - there was way too much plot squeezed into four issues, I hated that Scorpius was causing trouble again 15 minutes after the end of the Peacekeeper Wars, and the art was really stiff and hard to follow.

This issue here felt much more like an episode of the TV show - one of the stranger ones too. The plot is right out of Star Trek - something's making the crew act weird. It's not very original, but it does provide O'Bannon the opportunity to work out his kinks on characterization, and to explore the new status quo created by D'Argo's death, and Jothee's and Deke's inclusion into the cast.

The art in this issue is much looser than in the previous mini-series. The characters may not look exactly like the actors at all times, but it's easy enough to tell who is who (except I kept wondering if I was looking at the new Luxan or Jothee), and there is a lot more creativity to the way in which action is portrayed.

It seems that the creators of the comic are not looking to find any new converts to the Farscape mythos though. This comic required not just a general knowledge of the tv show, but an encyclopedic one, as I was struggling to remember what the different races hanging around on the commerce station (how do they call that a planet) were. In the long run, this might be a mistake, but it worked for me. I hope they find a large enough audience that they can be successful in this venture.