Farscape Returns!

If your heart just skipped a beat at that title, then you probably watched Sci-Fi's masterpiece (back when Sci-Fi was still interested in science fiction) and lamented its early demise. If so, I apologize for the flash of false hope that you almost certainly experienced as you considered the joyous possibility of Farscape's return to television. Five years after the show said farewell, that irrational hope lives on.

Sadly, while Farscape will likely never return to the screen, big or small, there is still the wonderful world of print media to keep the franchise... alive, lacking for a better word.

In the land of comics, where there's no need to worry about expensive set design and special effect costs, Farscape can live on, unrestrained by the chains of live-action film. And since last December, it's been doing just that.

I haven't been picking up the monthly book, part of my effort to dwindle down my pull list due in favor of trade paperbacks, so when I discovered the collected collection of the first story arc this week, my anticipation for the series was relatively high. Having run out of Green Lantern and Nova trades to feed my recent space adventure addiction, the sight of John Crichton was a welcome one indeed.

Even though it was in hardcover version, something I normally avoid, I picked it up without hesitation.

I won't go into the details of the story other than to tell you that this is book was not made for people unfamiliar with the show. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Forgoing the usual philosophy of appealing to the lowest common denominator, the Farscape comic is almost shamelessly self-referential. A gutsy move for a book continuing a story that ended in 2005, but then again Farscape was never one to do something halfway.

For myself, the book itself was almost painful to read. Not because it was bad, but because it was a cruel reminder of what might have been. In spite of its benefits, the shift of live action to print also has its costs. One can almost hear Ben Browder speaking the words on the page, but almost hearing something is a far cry from actually hearing something.

The Farscape comic is in many ways the ghost of Farscape. The spirit of the show, risen from the dead without body to finish unfinished business.

Will I keep reading it? Of course I will. Good sci-fi is good sci-fi no matter where it comes from and one thing Farscape has always been in any medium is good sci-fi.