By Deidre Freitas — It’s no easy feat to take the Green Lantern Corp and flip it on its head, but N.K. Jemisin, Jamal Campbell and Deron Bennett do all that and more with Far Sector. Between the compelling storyline, a cast of characters that has you questioning every motive, the breath-taking art and perfect lettering, it’s no surprise this series came highly recommended from comic and non-comic readers alike.

While going in with knowledge of the Lantern Corp may help the average reader pick up little easter eggs and nods to other Lanterns, no heavy study is necessary. Jemisin gives you everything you need to know about the Corp through the eyes of Sojourner “Jo” Mullein, a new Lantern who was approached with the specific task of helping the City Enduring. She knows as much as the reader, and while we do learn why she was chosen to be a Lantern, this story is self-contained and perhaps shines all the brighter for it.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. A hard lesson for Jo to learn as she travels to the City Enduring to be the Green Lantern of the sector. A society on the outer reaches of the known universe, the City has evolved to a point where all three alien races have genetically removed their ability to emote. Jo has been the sole Lantern for six months, and the sole person of the 20 billion inhabitants to experience any emotion, too. But everything isn’t what it seems, and with each alien species’ own dark history, Jo will have her work cut out for her to solve the first murder the City’s ever seen.

It’s not hard to see the mirror Jemisin raises to our own society. Jo is a former cop and soldier, and many of her inner thoughts take us to her past and how she grew into the Lantern who’s trying to keep the very foundation of City’s existence from falling apart. She’s a flawed person, with hints here and there to her life on Earth and what she left to help the City.

But what makes Jo Mullein easily one of my top Green Lanterns is her own growth. We aren’t joining a character at the beginning of their journey, we’re seeing the middle. Jo’s already lived a bit of her life and it changed her, for good and bad. She has her flaws, as we all do, and she grows in them. Jo isn’t perfect, but she saw how her actions and inaction hurt others, and changed accordingly.

Campbell’s art jumps across each page, showing the intricacies of this alien world in a way that makes you stare a little longer at each page. In particular, I loved how characters would move across scenery or whole pages of the City’s long, complicated history. The art pulls you in, every action sequence its own money shot. The layout and design strengthen the story, everything clear and easy to follow. Far Sector is easily the coolest looking comic I’ve read all year. You can clearly feel the energy of the Enduring City and how other-worldly the entire experience is for Jo, while her own memories are clouded in her memories, a darker tone for things from a past she has left behind.

The history of comic books is directly routed to social action and a cry for change. Far Sector is no different in this regard, and only improves upon the usage of heroes and villains for a reminder: our world is similar to this strange, alien world. And that isn’t always a good thing. From restricting voting rights for certain citizens of the City to those in the highest positions of power taking advantage of that very power, it’s a clear message. One alien race stuck below the rest, no real way to gain their own footing in the world. No matter how advanced a society claims to be, look at those in the very lowest class, and you will see how things really are in the world.

Jo is frequently disparaged for her emotions, any number of adversaries claiming that she cannot possibly be in her right mind with things like anger and indignation ready to boil over at things others would claim as “logical.” But her emotions do not make her weaker than anyone else, but instead help her see things for what they really are. When you remove a vital part of who you are, you aren’t seeing clearer, you’ve put a temporary solution in place. Jo sees the City’s Emotion Protocol for what it is: a bandaid on a gaping wound.

This metaphor runs deeper than just an alien planet with a woman with a magic ring. The City Enduring ignored its problems, choosing instead to override anything that might be seen as dangerous. And instead, they are hundreds of years into a civilization that is holding onto dear life by a thread and a few “elected” officials who maintain power by being the only choices. Jo sees the patterns and the choices that led the City to an all-too-familiar road. No progress can be made without acknowledging the gaping wound and actually doing something about it.

When one thinks of the Green Lanterns, the easiest equivalent is being a space cop. And how does one reconcile policing the galaxy when they’ve come from Earth, a place where they’ve always been a marginalized person? Jo struggles with rectifying how she sees herself as a Lantern and how those in the City Enduring would see an outsider sent to solve their problems. There is no easy solution, and she has to make her own choices, especially when she’s playing a game of chess with half the board hidden.

But to anyone who thinks the themes in this story are too much or too “in your face” I challenge you: could you live a day as Sojourner “Jo” Mullein? She’s a hero for the times we live in. And those times are filled with conflict, societal discontent and the acknowledgement that we aren’t as evolved a people as we choose to believe.

And yet, she never gives up. Jo seeks justice for those that deserve it, and gives it to them.

We should all be so lucky to be like Green Lantern Mullein.

Graphic Novel Review: Far Sector

Far Sector
Writer: N.K. Jemisin
Artist: Jamal Campbell
Letterer: Deron Bennett
Publisher: DC Comics
Price: $29.99
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 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! Far Sector collects Far Sector #1-12.
Publication Date: October 19, 2021

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Deidre Freitas is a pop culture lover and resident theatre kid who’s sometimes funny on Twitter as @deidrefrittatas.