Far Sector

Sojourner “Jo” Mullien is kind of unique as far as Green Lanterns go.  Not only does she have a special ring that charges on its own without the need of a lantern, but she’s also the Green Lantern of a single place.  That place being The City Enduring, a system-spanning superstructure that’s home to three races living there which consist of 20 billion individuals.  How does one Lantern keep the peace in a place like this?  The fact that all three races live under an “emotion exception” control that keeps them from feeling emotion certainly helps.  At least, it did until the City experienced its first murder in over 500 years.  That in itself is a big deal.  A bigger deal is Jo’s investigation into it which uncovers a seedy underside to the city full of drugs, exploitation, corruption, and even cat memes.  By the end of this story, The City Enduring will be more like The City That’s A Powder Keg Ready to Explode.

“Far Sector” comes to us from science-fiction writer N.K. Jemisin and veteran DC artist Jamal Campbell.  It’s an ambitious story where the writer is writing as much about America right now as they are a far-flung space city.  This is also the kind of thing you’d expect to see done more with the “Green Lantern” mythos as it’s a perfect vehicle to do this kind of large-scale sci-fi storytelling within the DCU.  Jemisin is also really good with the worldbuilding as there are a lot of interesting concepts at play in this series that are fleshed out quite well over the course of its twelve issues.  Better still is Campbell’s phenomenal art which captures the dazzling wonder of the city and its inhabitants on every page.

Working against the story, however, is that same sense of allegory which gives this series its strength.  The troubles facing The City Enduring sometimes felt a bit too on the nose in paralleling the real world and kept me from getting fully lost within the story Jemisin was telling as a result.  There’s also the fact that the story is almost completely detached from the DCU, to the point where having the main character be a Green Lantern almost feels like window dressing.  These are the main issues in a story that ultimately does get more interesting and involving as it goes along, building to an explosive and exciting climax.  “Far Sector” may not be the smashing DCU space opera I was expecting, but it’s still a good read and a solid argument for more “Green Lantern” stories that go to different places, and for Jemisin to do more work within this universe.