Broken Frontier

For the first time since the series' launch several months back, Farscape: Scorpius #5 betrays its widespread appeal with a storyline emphasis that caters mainly to audiences familiar with the television show dynamics.  While this doesn't diminish the issue's value or importance in the larger arc writer David Alan Mack is creating, it may leave some audiences puzzled as to the scenario unfolding between Scorpius and Staleek.

Mack opens Farscape: Scorpius #5 with the encounter between an emasculated Scorpius who is desperately attempting to avoid utter destruction at the hands of the Scarrans and a blustering Scarran Emperor Staleek.   For readers, such as this one, who are somewhat unfamiliar with the past dynamics between Scorpius and the Scarrans, this sequence may lack the emotional punch Mack is attempting to deliver.  The most powerful episode in this sequence is the flashback, which has been a valuable tool in Mack's arsenal to bridge the disconnect between television show and comic narrative. 

Mack should also been praised that he has pulled back from the heavier action-driven elements in the past issues that balanced the story development and focused his attention in Farscape: Scorpius #5 solely upon the scene between Scorpius and Staleek.  While Scorpius' actions are believable in the evolving context of what Mack has built up, Staleek is a largely unknown commodity thus far.  Therefore, although his animosity towards Scorpius' less-endearing qualities and tact at negotiation are appropriate and wholly justifiable, so little has been revealed about the Scarran high command and his role within it that the ultimate decision regarding the Kkore threat seems much too rushed. 

Following this decisive move, Mack unveils a new dimension to Scorpius.  In his own recognition of the victory as one belonging to the Kkore alone, Scorpius has inevitably disclosed his own failings and limitations.  Such an admission is a marked evolution in Scorpius' conceptions of his own strengths and powers.  Through the recognition of the Kkore's superiority, particularly that of Ddan-Myr , Scorpius has situated himself in a position of inherent weakness in his wounded pride and ego.  Yet, much like the old adage that there is nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal, the Scorpius who emerges from this may be an entirely more threatening beast than either the Scarrans or the Kkore could have imagined let alone conceived of.  Mack has demonstrated his strengths at character development and creative plot construction, so it should be quite fascinating to see what he has in store for both Scorpius and the entire Farscape universe.