Far Sector
by N. K. Jemisin 
, Jamal Campbell (Illustrator)
Far Sector (Collections and Selections — 1-12 collected)
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Description
Acclaimed, award-winning author N.K. Jemisin (The Fifth Season, The City We Became) makes her comic book debut with bestselling artist Jamal Campbell (Naomi) as they thrust you into a stunning sci-fi murder mystery on the other side of the universe! For the past six months, newly chosen Green Lantern Sojourner "Jo" Mullein has been protecting the City Enduring, a massive metropolis of 20 billion people. The city has maintained peace for over 500 years by stripping its citizens of their show more ability to feel. As a result, violent crime is virtually unheard of, and murder is nonexistent. But that's all about to change in this new graphic novel that puts a unique spin on the legacy of the Green Lanterns!. show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Interesting and quirky. I didn’t want to put this one down, and the quotes at each issue set the tone nicely. The artwork was mostly great. Very colorful! And everyone had the thickest eyebrows. They were like slabs of bacon. A unique stylistic choice.
Also, the costume designs were equally regal and futuristic. Please give me Syzn’s coat and cape. Jo also has a lovely array of different hairstyles. Yes, she gets to switch it up. c:
I thought Farsector would be just another space fantasy, but there were a lot of real-world social issues (police brutality, peaceful protest vs riots, wait for change or take it yourself, drug addiction stigma, voting rights racism, political unrest, etc) here. Everything felt like a mystery with a show more hardened tough detective who can’t hide their soft side.
Although I mainly read for fun or escapism these days, I thought the real-life elements made Jo well-rounded with a strong sense of character. She just wants justice but has had a hard time making it happen. Her previous experiences and background are what makes her who she is. Because of that, she brings a different perspective as a Green Lantern, especially as a black (American; N.K Jemisin loves New York with her entire soul) woman.
Last thing: would you rather be paid in cat memes or dog memes? Dogs all the way for me! Who’s a good boy? show less
Also, the costume designs were equally regal and futuristic. Please give me Syzn’s coat and cape. Jo also has a lovely array of different hairstyles. Yes, she gets to switch it up. c:
I thought Farsector would be just another space fantasy, but there were a lot of real-world social issues (police brutality, peaceful protest vs riots, wait for change or take it yourself, drug addiction stigma, voting rights racism, political unrest, etc) here. Everything felt like a mystery with a show more hardened tough detective who can’t hide their soft side.
Although I mainly read for fun or escapism these days, I thought the real-life elements made Jo well-rounded with a strong sense of character. She just wants justice but has had a hard time making it happen. Her previous experiences and background are what makes her who she is. Because of that, she brings a different perspective as a Green Lantern, especially as a black (American; N.K Jemisin loves New York with her entire soul) woman.
Last thing: would you rather be paid in cat memes or dog memes? Dogs all the way for me! Who’s a good boy? show less
Interesting and quirky. I didn’t want to put this one down, and the quotes at each issue set the tone nicely. The artwork was mostly great. Very colorful! And everyone had the thickest eyebrows. They were like slabs of bacon. A unique stylistic choice. Also, the costume designs were equally regal and futuristic. Please give me Syzn’s coat and cape. Jo also has a lovely array of different hairstyles. Yes, she gets to switch it up. c:
I thought Farsector would be just another space fantasy, but there were a lot of real-world social issues (police brutality, peaceful protest vs riots, wait for change or take it yourself, drug addiction stigma, voting rights racism, political unrest, etc) here. Everything felt like a mystery with a show more hardened tough detective who can’t hide their soft side.
Although I mainly read for fun or escapism these days, I thought the real-life elements made Jo well-rounded with a strong sense of character. She just wants justice but has had a hard time making it happen. Her previous experiences and background are what makes her who she is. Because of that, she brings a different perspective as a Green Lantern, especially as a black (American; N.K Jemisin loves New York with her entire soul) woman.
Last thing: would you rather be paid in cat memes or dog memes? Dogs all the way for me! Who’s a good boy? show less
I thought Farsector would be just another space fantasy, but there were a lot of real-world social issues (police brutality, peaceful protest vs riots, wait for change or take it yourself, drug addiction stigma, voting rights racism, political unrest, etc) here. Everything felt like a mystery with a show more hardened tough detective who can’t hide their soft side.
Although I mainly read for fun or escapism these days, I thought the real-life elements made Jo well-rounded with a strong sense of character. She just wants justice but has had a hard time making it happen. Her previous experiences and background are what makes her who she is. Because of that, she brings a different perspective as a Green Lantern, especially as a black (American; N.K Jemisin loves New York with her entire soul) woman.
Last thing: would you rather be paid in cat memes or dog memes? Dogs all the way for me! Who’s a good boy? show less
A superb graphic novel, perhaps the best I've ever read. I'm taking in it slowly, and indeed rereading it only 1/4th through! The world-building and subplots all work, and the aesthetic is lovely (and doesn't run away with itself.) Too, I'm on a Green Lantern kick –not least because the franchise hasn't been run into the ground!
This Green Lantern spin-off comic focuses on Sojourner "Jo" Mullein, a new Green Lantern from Earth (how many are there now?) sent to the most distant sector in the universe, home to the City Enduring, a massive Dyson swarm for three species whose two home planets were destroyed. Aside from a single Green Lantern and a single Guardian of the Universe, there's no preexisting DC elements here; the whole thing takes place in a new setting with new characters.
There's some neat worldbuilding and some good thematic and character elements, though I felt the latter weren't foregrounded quite as much as I'd like; this is very much an action/adventure/mystery/thriller comic first, and a political and philosophical one second, though it has show more elements of that. That said, it's very much a success as an action/adventure/mystery/thriller comic. Nice art, good design sense, neat covers, fun dialogue, decent twists, some nice narrative devices. I don't think you would guess that Jemisin was a first-time (I think?) comics writer. Not the kind of work that will stick with you forever, but solid-tier superhero comics that's worth spending time on. show less
There's some neat worldbuilding and some good thematic and character elements, though I felt the latter weren't foregrounded quite as much as I'd like; this is very much an action/adventure/mystery/thriller comic first, and a political and philosophical one second, though it has show more elements of that. That said, it's very much a success as an action/adventure/mystery/thriller comic. Nice art, good design sense, neat covers, fun dialogue, decent twists, some nice narrative devices. I don't think you would guess that Jemisin was a first-time (I think?) comics writer. Not the kind of work that will stick with you forever, but solid-tier superhero comics that's worth spending time on. show less
I feel weird about this book because I like so many aspects of it and yet page by page I just found myself a bit too bored.
Sojourner Mullein is a cool Green Lantern: a Black American veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan, a Princeton graduate, a former police officer who broke the code of silence, LGBTQIA+ and sex positive. But we are given the barest of information of her life in Brooklyn on Earth in the tiniest and sparsest of flashbacks, as we are dropped with her into a planetary-sized city in the farthest reaches of space.
She has a unique Green Lantern ring that slowly recharges constantly instead of getting an instant power-up from a lantern. But its properties aren't really explored, just exploited for melodrama as it always show more seems on the verge of running out of power.
She has a fear of flying. But only because that slows her down for plot purposes so she can't get places too quickly when pursuing leads or bad guys.
The City Enduring seems like an interesting setting, reminding me a bit of the Green Lantern: Mosaic world John Stewart once watched over. But the three alien races here all look so human that telling them apart is rather difficult despite how different they are supposed to be: dragon-like, plant-based, and artificial intelligence. It's a bit hazy, but their raging rivalries have managed to destroy their homeworld, and they now live together in an artificial environment peacefully only thanks to a emotion-suppressing something or other. But that something can be overridden by the new street drug sweeping through the populace.
The story is ostensibly a murder mystery, but one dead body soon leads Mullein into a morass of political corruption, police brutality, drug abuse, black markets, slavery, voter suppression, and military coups. I would have loved to see the story dig into any or all of these topics, but the plot just breezes by them as it skitters from one to the next on the way to the next action scene.
I liked the funny little recaps at the start of chapters that paid homage to iconic sci-fi movies and shows like The Matrix, Star Trek, and Aliens. But they seemed a little out of place with the rest of the book and were only used sporadically.
The art by Jamal Campbell is incredibly gorgeous panel by panel. But I had trouble getting an idea for the layout of the setting. And the aliens all looked very similar within and between the species. In action scenes, I often had trouble making out what was happening or what Mullein's various ring constructs were actually supposed to be. I think a big part of the problem was the color scheme for the alien world which somehow managed to be simultaneously Day-Glo bright and murky dark. It was like I was under the blankets straining to read a book made from slowly fading glow-in-the-dark stickers.
Frankly, this is one of the best done books I haven't liked in quite a while. show less
Sojourner Mullein is a cool Green Lantern: a Black American veteran of the conflict in Afghanistan, a Princeton graduate, a former police officer who broke the code of silence, LGBTQIA+ and sex positive. But we are given the barest of information of her life in Brooklyn on Earth in the tiniest and sparsest of flashbacks, as we are dropped with her into a planetary-sized city in the farthest reaches of space.
She has a unique Green Lantern ring that slowly recharges constantly instead of getting an instant power-up from a lantern. But its properties aren't really explored, just exploited for melodrama as it always show more seems on the verge of running out of power.
She has a fear of flying. But only because that slows her down for plot purposes so she can't get places too quickly when pursuing leads or bad guys.
The City Enduring seems like an interesting setting, reminding me a bit of the Green Lantern: Mosaic world John Stewart once watched over. But the three alien races here all look so human that telling them apart is rather difficult despite how different they are supposed to be: dragon-like, plant-based, and artificial intelligence. It's a bit hazy, but their raging rivalries have managed to destroy their homeworld, and they now live together in an artificial environment peacefully only thanks to a emotion-suppressing something or other. But that something can be overridden by the new street drug sweeping through the populace.
The story is ostensibly a murder mystery, but one dead body soon leads Mullein into a morass of political corruption, police brutality, drug abuse, black markets, slavery, voter suppression, and military coups. I would have loved to see the story dig into any or all of these topics, but the plot just breezes by them as it skitters from one to the next on the way to the next action scene.
I liked the funny little recaps at the start of chapters that paid homage to iconic sci-fi movies and shows like The Matrix, Star Trek, and Aliens. But they seemed a little out of place with the rest of the book and were only used sporadically.
The art by Jamal Campbell is incredibly gorgeous panel by panel. But I had trouble getting an idea for the layout of the setting. And the aliens all looked very similar within and between the species. In action scenes, I often had trouble making out what was happening or what Mullein's various ring constructs were actually supposed to be. I think a big part of the problem was the color scheme for the alien world which somehow managed to be simultaneously Day-Glo bright and murky dark. It was like I was under the blankets straining to read a book made from slowly fading glow-in-the-dark stickers.
Frankly, this is one of the best done books I haven't liked in quite a while. show less
A very fun sci-fi story with some superhero trappings. Usually when a prose author moves into comic books the result is an overly told, badly paced bore fest. But, dudes, Jemisin nailed this. There are some pacing issues in the graphic novel, but these seemed to be caused by the story being written with the singles market in mind.
My biggest complaint is that it really seemed like DC editorial wasn't quite ready or willing to let Jemisin do anything out of the normal confine of social commentary. There are some infuriating moments where things like "I don't fight cops" make no sense outside of editorial decrees.THEY JUST KILLED A BUNCH OF PEOPLE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU C'MON LANTERN THEIR FACES OFF OR AT LEAST GREEN THEIR ASSES A show more LITTLE
I'm glad I took my time with this and read it over a few days, rather than one sitting. Otherwise I would've missed a lot of the deeper things because I'm a dummy and I still can't believe it took me until issue 9 to realize what Jemisin was doing with all the so obviously logical smarty aliens telling a woman to stop being so emotional.
And yeah, like everyone else has noted, the art in this is fantastic. show less
My biggest complaint is that it really seemed like DC editorial wasn't quite ready or willing to let Jemisin do anything out of the normal confine of social commentary. There are some infuriating moments where things like "I don't fight cops" make no sense outside of editorial decrees.
I'm glad I took my time with this and read it over a few days, rather than one sitting. Otherwise I would've missed a lot of the deeper things because I'm a dummy and I still can't believe it took me until issue 9 to realize what Jemisin was doing with all the so obviously logical smarty aliens telling a woman to stop being so emotional.
And yeah, like everyone else has noted, the art in this is fantastic. show less
This was a meaty one, and my first experience with N.K. Jemison’s writing. I really liked Jo, and the artwork was to die for. The saturation of color, the depiction of nonhuman species, and of course the depiction of Jo—they were all just gorgeous. I’m starting to think this is more me than the art, but I did have trouble discerning what was happening in the action sequences, but that seems to happen quite often when I’m reading action-packed comics.
I felt mostly OK going into this not knowing anything about Green Lanterns. I’ve never even seen a Green Lantern movie. The plot was complex enough that I really needed to pay attention, and I still maybe didn’t completely understand all the political twists and turns. Knowing show more more about Green Lanterns wouldn’t have helped me with that, but it might have helped me understand Jo a little better. The Emotion Exploit plotline reminded me a lot of the movie Equilibrium, with a less overtly violent approach to enforcement, and with a much more colorful setting. I loved the idea of the @At, even though I couldn’t completely wrap my brain around them.
This made me want to check out Jemison’s novels (already somewhere on the TBR pile) and more graphic novels with Campbell’s artwork. show less
I felt mostly OK going into this not knowing anything about Green Lanterns. I’ve never even seen a Green Lantern movie. The plot was complex enough that I really needed to pay attention, and I still maybe didn’t completely understand all the political twists and turns. Knowing show more more about Green Lanterns wouldn’t have helped me with that, but it might have helped me understand Jo a little better. The Emotion Exploit plotline reminded me a lot of the movie Equilibrium, with a less overtly violent approach to enforcement, and with a much more colorful setting. I loved the idea of the @At, even though I couldn’t completely wrap my brain around them.
This made me want to check out Jemison’s novels (already somewhere on the TBR pile) and more graphic novels with Campbell’s artwork. show less
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Author Information
68+ Works 45,534 Members
N. K. Jemisin is an American author and blogger, born in 1972, and based in Brooklyn, New York. She earned a B.S. in Psychology from Tulane University and her Masters of Education from the University of Maryland College Park. Her work includes numerous short stories, a novella, a triptych, The Inheritance trilogy, Dreamblood series, and The Broken show more Earth trilogy. The Fifth Season is a book in The Inheritance trilogy for which she won the 2016 Hugo Award for Best Novel. Her other awards include Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice, Fantasy (for The Shadowed Sun); Sense of Gender Award, 2011 (for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Japanese version); Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice, Fantasy (for The Broken Kingdoms); and the Locus Award, 2010 (First Novel, for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms). She won the 2017 Nebula Award and the 2018 Hugo Award, Best Novel category for The Stone Sky. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
N. K. Jemisin is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Notable Lists
Series
Belongs to Publisher Series
DC Compact Comics (Far Sector #1–12)
Work Relationships
Contains
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Far Sector
- Original publication date
- 2020-2021
- People/Characters
- Sojourner "Jo" Mullein (Green Lantern, "Jo"); Green Lantern: Sojourner "Jo" Mullein; Green Lantern (Sojourner "Jo" Mullein); Syzn of the Cliffs, By the Streaking Ice; @Blaze-of-Glory; Averrup Thorn, of the Dry Season Thorns (show all 20); Lumir of the Cliffs, By the Wavering Dark; Marth of the Sea, By the Wavering Dark, Until the Sun Falls; Stevn of the Glacier, By the Wavering Dark; Duol of the Sea, By the Churning _____; Meile Thorn; Vrasith; @ICanHazEarthStuff01 ("CanHaz"); Tillij of the Steppe, By the Streaking Ice; An of the Glacier (wife of Stevn of the Glacier | By the Wavering Dark); Havesh Stump; Trill Sessile (captain); Minec of the Sea, By the Streaking Ice, Until the Sun Falls; Guardians of the Universe; Nemosyni (Guardians of the Universe)
- Important places
- The City Enduring; New York, New York, USA; Afghanistan
- First words
- "A man who makes trouble for others . . . is also making it for himself."
Chinua Achebe. Things Fall Apart.
Two little problems with that quote, applied to this situation.
First? In this case, the trouble isn'... (show all)'t just many y mano. Whole city's going to feel this.
Second? I'm the one causing the trouble. Just by existing. But what else is new? - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Welp, gotta say it sometime. Or what the hell kind of nerd am I?
"Heh. In brightest day, in blackest night . . . " - Original language
- English
- Disambiguation notice
- Originally published in single magazine form in Far Sector 1-12 [2019-2021].
Contents: Introduction: A New Green Lantern by Gerard Way -- Far Sector Chapters 1-12 by N. K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell -- Variant c... (show all)over art gallery -- Character designs and concept art by Jamal Campbell -- An interview with writer N. K. Jemisin and artist Jamal Campbell
Classifications
- Genres
- Graphic Novels & Comics, Teen
- DDC/MDS
- 741.50 — Arts & recreation Drawing & decorative arts Drawing Comic books, graphic novels, fotonovelas, cartoons, caricatures, comic strips Cartoons, Caricatures, Comics
- LCC
- PN6728 .F349 .J46 — Language and Literature Literature (General) Literature (General) Collections of general literature Comic books, strips, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 350
- Popularity
- 90,208
- Reviews
- 15
- Rating
- (4.08)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 2
