Far Sector

NK Jemisin brings her own brand of storytelling to Green Lantern, and the result is a smashing success. Although, strictly speaking, this is a superhero story it feels much more like a regular science fiction novel - something that obviously fits well with Green Lantern, but which it rarely achieves in practice. That may be partly down to the adult rating, allowing themes we don't often see so clearly in superhero comics, with the central character being a bisexual African American woman who has tried, and failed, to be part of the system.

But it's also the comparatively in-depth look at the setting, a Dyson swarm inhabited by three alien races which has known peace for centuries and now finds its society cracking at the seams. The result is a noir-ish thriller interspersing the police investigation of a homicide with looks into the alien culture and its parallels with our own. There are some great ideas in here, and a sympathetic hero in the form of rookie Green Lantern Jo Mullein trying to fight for what's right. Emotion, often a theme in Green Lantern, is central here, but in a more sophisticated way than it normally is (fighting Red Lanterns, or whatever), partly aided by Jo having a variant ring that doesn't work in the usual way.

This is a good piece of comic book science fiction, showing what Green Lantern can do with a good writer (and artist) when some of the brakes are taken off.