FARSCAPE: SCORPIUS #0

Boom! Studios, $2.99

“Fire And Ice”

Story: Rockne S. O’Bannon
Script: David Alan Mack
Artist: Mike Ruiz
Colorist: Nolan Woodward
Letterer: Ed Dukeshire

Finally, the comics spotlight shines on Scorpius! If you aren’t familiar with the character, Scorpius was the primary antagonist from the first two seasons of the original Farscape television series. A well-placed and powerful member of the Sebacean Peacekeepers, he endlessly pursued the crew of the Moya for the secrets to wormhole technology he thought John Crichton possessed.

Scorpius has been noticeably missing (though he is occasionally mentioned) from the latest Farscape comic books and I, at least, am glad he is back. Scorpius has typically been portrayed as viciously ruthless in his pursuit of advantages for the Peackeepers. As he is only half-Sebacean (and the Sebaceans are notorious for pursuing racial purity) he constantly strove to prove not only his worth, but his superiority to other Peacekeepers.

In this prologue to the official start of the Scorpius limited series, we join Scorpius marooned on an ice world. Never the most stable of psyches, he has apparently slipped further into madness and we are treated to snapshots of his inner thoughts through some well-placed delusions. I found the complete lack of dialogue for the first half of the issue an interesting choice, but I like the effect. We are brought into Scorpius’s solitary existence as a voyeur, and what at first seems like a lack of dialogue starts to feel like a natural choice very quickly.

When Scorpius’s solitude is interrupted by the arrival of a large group of unknown aliens possessing a bizarre mix of bleeding edge and severely outdated technology, Scorpius finally has a diversion to occupy his exceptionally able mind. While the intruders are scouting the area for danger, Scorpius is scouting their landing site for information and opportunities. What he ends up doing was a surprise, and sets the stage for the official start of this limited.

If you couldn’t already tell, I was quite pleased with David Alan Mack’s treatment of this character and his scripting over Rockne S. O’Bannon’s (the franchise’s creator) plot. Equally pleasing was Mike Ruiz’s art and Nolan Woodward’s colors. The book has a very dark, ominous tone that fits both the character of Scorpius and the Farscape universe perfectly. Ruiz’s Scorpius seems to be staring out of the panels at you and Nolan’s colors bring the bleakness of his world (and madness) to life.

If you are a Farscape fan, or just a fan of good comics storytelling, do yourself a favor and buy this book. I doubt anything will top it on this week’s release list.

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