Such was the case withFar Sector, which sawN.K.
Far Sectoris set in the world of DC Comics but also apart from it.
What was fun about staking out a little bit of territory for yourself?
Author N.K. Jemisin made her comic book debut with the sci-fi superhero story ‘Far Sector’.Laura Hanifin; Jamal Campbell for DC Comics
JEMISIN:I love world building, obviously,since we just talked about that.
I had always designed Jo to be transferable into the great Green Lantern canon.
So that was the goal, to set her up for whatever future usage within or without the canon.
Jo Mullein tries to make her way as a Green Lantern in ‘Far Sector,’ by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell.Jamal Campbell for DC Comics
I feel like I accomplished that,because it worked.
I love to see her pop up in other things.
I was wondering if you were excited about that or if you still felt a little protective of her?
Jo Mullein tries to catch a suspect in ‘Far Sector,’ by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell.Jamal Campbell for DC Comics
When I decided to do a comic book, I knew what I was getting into.
This was a thing that I was throwing into the wind and seeing where the seeds would sprout.
She’s landed pretty well, as far as I’m concerned.
Jo Mullein wields power in ‘Far Sector,’ by N.K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell.Jamal Campbell for DC Comics
I see impressions of things, if anything.
I guess my mind is always steered away from specifically imagining faces or things like that.
It’s a good thing because now I’m working on a film script.
Sony purchased the rights toadapt the Broken Earth trilogyas films.
That is a wholly visual medium.
My mind just doesn’t work like that, but now it does because of comic books.
How has that changed your approach to the Broken Earth material?
Are you going back and trying to see it in a different, more visual way?
They will have epiphanies, they will have a moment of revelation where they suddenly understand a thing.
you might’t do that in a film.
you’re free to’t do it in a comic book.
Because we can’t see inside their head.
You have to make that moment of revelation visual and physical.
So now I have to come up with events instead of epiphanies.
Did he help you wrap your head around this visual medium?
He did, and I’m most impressed by the fact that he did it without saying a word.
So my later scripts are much shorter because I’m just like, “I know your work.
And he would, he would just do that thing so amazingly.
Don’t overdo it.
Just step back and let them work.
And he did it.
To take that as an example, would you describe exactly what the constructs should be?
There’s an early scene where Jo is chasing a suspect through the futuristic police station.
Of all superheroes, Green Lanterns are perhaps the most forthright at being cops.
They’re basically superhero space cops.
You really tackle that head-on in terms of Jo’s past.
What did you want to explore there?
Well, I started writingFar Sectorlike two years before the summer where all of that stuff was happening.
Granted, I live in America, so this is going to happen frequently.
I was writing the Broken Earth books during Ferguson.
So it’s not really predictive or anything like that.
But I specify empathy, not sympathy; you don’t feel sorry for her.
She laments her own errors and the wrong that she did there, but I want people to understand.
The collected edition ofFar Sectoris available now wherever comics are sold.
