The action ramps up in the penultimate issue of DC Black Label’s Far Sector in a story written by N.K. Jemison with art by Jamal Campbell.
In medias res is, without question, my favorite literary phrase. Latin for “in the middle of things,”
It’s a tacit acknowledgement of lives and loves, motivations and missions unbeknownst to the audience influencing the action the audience is observing.
To pick up action in medias res is a mature proposition. You’re trusting your audience’s intuition and intuitiveness; their ability (and desire) to figure things out on their own.
You’re trusting your audience to be good farmers, willing to grow ideas given your story’s supple sun.
Issue 11 of Far Sector finds us in the middle of things, under a broken false sun, guns blazing, and all kinds of madness arising. This, of course is not surprising: this is the penultimate issue of the limited series, so if things are going to get extra crazy, now is the time since there’s literally (and figuratively) little time left.
A coup and attack on the capital; voter suppression and the will of the people – the politics of Far Sector sound sadly familiar. The arrest and assault of one lover while another helps manage the resulting carnage; a lantern ring low on power and still unclear in ability. Our protagonist Jo, *should* be overwhelmed. Yet she still thinks, still fights, still exhibits the will power that earned her the special ring.
There is more exposition in this issue than normal, mostly from the traitorous leader who’s assault started the coup. It’s very “classic villain” for the antagonist to tell both the details and motivation of their plan while executing it, and I don’t particularly like it. It feels jarring, out of tone, and out of voice for both the character and the writer. Maybe Jemisin wanted to make clear to the reader what was happening all along. Maybe there’s a twist in the end. Maybe an editor said “you’ve got to explain this to people or they won’t get it.” Who knows?
I just know I don’t love it.
I do, however, love every single thing Jamal Campbell has done here. The colors, as per usual, are vivid, and action vivacious. Panels literally jump out, signaling manic action, yet I still easily followed the story. Jo is drawn beautifully: both objectively (he takes great care to give her expressions real weight) and subjectively (Jo is drawn with literal weight, real hips and thighs. I continue to appreciate a female hero sans hyper exaggerated- and over sexualized- physical features). Even the non-humans are alluring, looking and feeling simultaneously foreign and familiar.
I would buy this comic even if there were no words. It’s that good to look at.
And yet there are words, and the words, by and large, are good.
This is our first review of Far Sector, so you may literally be reading this in medias res. And usually, for a limited series, I’d suggest going back and starting at the beginning of the run to get a feel for things. I still do.
And yet.
Even if you enter issue 11 of Far Sector blind, catching all the action in the middle of things, you will still be left with a strong, positive reading experience. And while I may not love *how* everything was done in this specific issue, I’m still eternally grateful this world, in all its complicated beauty, exists.
A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right.
Find more of Jude’s writing here.
