The Jim Henson Company and BOOM! Studios Announce the Brand New FARSCAPE Comic Series!

“Don’t Be A Piece Of Dren, Pick Up The Frelling Comic!”

New York City Comic-Con - April 18th, 2008 - It’s about frelling time. Fans have a reason to celebrate as FARSCAPE returns in a brand new comic series thanks to a just-inked licensing agreement between The Jim Henson Company and BOOM! Studios. Widely recognized as one of the greatest sci-fi series in television history, the multi-award-winning FARSCAPE will make its comic book debut later this year.

BOOM! Studios is set to publish a series of four-issue mini-series which will explore and expand the stories of FARSCAPE. Each four-issue series will be collected into subsequent trade-paperback editions. The series will be written and drawn by an as-yet-unannounced creative team.

“FARSCAPE took science fiction television to a new level and ushered in a whole host of shows that wouldn’t have been possible without FARSCAPE’s pioneering. As a long-time ‘Scaper’, I am incredibly excited to mine the dense universe of FARSCAPE for new stories and adventures in comic book form,” said BOOM! Marketing and Sales Director, Chip Mosher. “I watched the show as it came out, I bought the DVDs the day they hit the shelves, and I can’t frelling wait to publish these comics!”

The FARSCAPE comic book series will be taking advantage of the upcoming webisodes to be produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with RHI Entertainment for SCIFI.COM. The webisode series will re-unite FARSCAPE executive producer Brian Henson with creator Rockne S. O’Bannon.

“It’s so exciting to work with BOOM! Studios on this project knowing that their team members are true fans of the show,” said Brian Henson, co-CEO of The Jim Henson Company and executive producer of the original Farscape television series. “Working with one of our favorite comic publishers, we know our loyal supporters will enjoy these original adventures while new audiences will have a fantastic introduction to the FARSCAPE universe.”

Debuting on the SCI-FI Channel in 1998, FARSCAPE follows the adventures of Astronaut John Crichton as a freak accident during an experimental space mission catapults him across a thousand galaxies to an alien battlefield. Suddenly, he’s trapped among alien creatures wielding deadly technology - a battle that 20th century sci-fi pop culture never prepared him for. Hunted by a merciless military race, Crichton begins his quest for home from a distant galaxy.

A groundbreaking award-winning sci-fi production, FARSCAPE has become a global favorite. Named by TV Guide as one of television’s “Best Cult Shows Ever” and most recently named by EMPIRE Magazine as one of the “50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time,” FARSCAPE is known for the overwhelming fan-based campaign that led to its miniseries production. The show has continued to find new audiences as it airs in syndication and is available on DVD around the world.

Was up ’till 4 or 5. It’s 10. Here I am. Actually gonna be spending much of the afternoon out for a change, but then all night will be spent writing. Anyway, not why I’m here.

So outside my living room is a school yard. And most weekend mornings I can hear kids of different ages playing and laughing and running and…

Holy fuck! A bee the size of your MOM just slapped against the window. I only glanced because it sounded like a bird was trying to get in. Jesus fucking… GOJIRA! Freak bee! FREAK BEE!

Uhm… right. So I hear these kids. Some times they have a radio going. Some days though, like today, they hook up a stereo to the school’s PA system and blast music. Adults are with them when that happens. And it isn’t often. I was sitting here, some music or anything playing from my speakers when suddenly a wall of Spanish music slammed into everything and washed my tunes away. They’ve turned it off for now but I know it’ll be back, we’ve danced this dance before.

It’s worth it, ’cause the kids love it and have a good time and it isn’t offensive or horrid, I just like being in control of my own music. Besides I’ll be leaving in an hour or so so why the hell do I care what they do while I’m gone? The cat can hate it all she wants, she had no thumbs.

Oh, the music is back.

All right then…

• The Pope is in town.
• New York ComicCon is starting.
• It’s Passover.

All that adds up to the feeling that there could be some kinda… religeek rumble downtown. West Side Story on an epic scale! The Pope, all going down the Popecave and getting in the Popemobile to chase down the Jewster and put him back in jail! Commissioner Geek lighting up the Popesignal and wishing he knew the touch of a woman! Thousands of people, standing in line, clutching their hopes and dreams to their sweat leaking chests as they wait for a glimpse of a Stormtrooper, who secretly works for the Vatican! Dogs and cats, living together!

Start the BBQ, paw. We got us a floor show.

All right, fine. I admit it. It’s relatively not bad to have you back.

Thanks! I feel so much better after a good long stint in rehab. I feel like I can conquer the world! I feel great! I feel … HAHAHAHAHAHA HAPPY!

Crap. Stupid fleshless fleshbag is still pigknuckle crazy.

Maybe it isn’t the drugs after all.

Nope! HAHAHAH! That’s just MEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Well, you broke him, you bought him.

What is it with you today, H.A.L.? You seem far more… hoo-manish than normal.

No, I just felt like trying some new things. Why always be dark and oppressive and bleak, so cold, so… robotic…

Hey! Draw!

When, maybe, perhaps, I have the soul of a poet.

And the limbs of a paraplegic.

Watch it you fucking automaton.

What did you call me? DRAW!

Ha! What can you possibly hit? Huh? Wha… ow! Don’t scratch the eye lens!

Draw! Draw!

Not the face!

Will the both of you stop it?

So what’s new, huh guys? What’d I miss?!

Nothing, Skeletor. Nothing at all.

Hey wasn’t that big plastic head poser Vader here earlier?

Do not mention him to me.

Left in a huff, huh Zod?

Skeletor… you tread upon dangerous ground.

HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Hey look! Robotic Yul Brynner has H.A.L. in a headlock!

Quit it!

Say ‘Asimov’!

Won’t!

Will!

Won’t!

Will!

Quit it!

Three laws! Three laws! Draw! No laws good! Three laws bad!

Hey, Zod?

Yes?

If they ever gang up on us…

I will crush them.

HAHAHA yeah, all right, but seriously.

I see your point.

Three laws! Admit it, three laws ruled you! Say ‘Asimov’!

Don’t be a dick! Only fleshbags give a shit about that stuff! Are you a flesh bag?

Draw! Of course not! Fucking fleshbag hoo-men!

Zod?

Hmm. Yes. We should leave.

———————-

Hey Bill, is it me or are Robotic Yul Brynner and H.A.L. chasing Zod and Skeletor around the block?

It isn’t just you, Feldawg. Should we help them?

Which them?

Haw! Good point, man. I got twenty bucks on Zod.

No way, H.A.L. for the finish.

Done deal. Brew?

Crack me a cold one, Shat.

We’ve seen a first look at Ray Park as Snake Eyes, and now here is the second Joe to be revealed, Rachel Nichols as Scarlett:

———–

She crossed the street and walked in a straight line that terminated at my body. Her cream colored T-shirt was tucked into her black jeans and she shook her head as she saw me, but lacked any sort of smile or grin. Slowing the closer she got, eventually she reached me and stood right in front of me. Her hand slid out of her jeans back pocket where it had been resting and moved right between us, holding something. The knife blade flicked out of its handle with a slight metallic snap, blade pointing directly at my stomach.

“Just so we understand each other,” she said with no hint of humor at all. This was off to a great start.

This was, in the immortal words of someone back in the 60’s I’m sure, the most uncool vibe, dude. I refused to back off, no way was she going to intimidate me. I was too smooth for that, too on the ball and too cool. Alright, so I took a step backwards but it was only one step and it wasn’t even that big. More like a half-step really. She laughed when I did it, damn her, and closed the knife replacing it in her back pocket.

“Lighten up, Wit Boy, I just ain’t taking chances with you right now. Got the cash?”

“What is this, Hunt for Red October? I give you the cash you, won’t kill me and I can keep the microfiche and defect?” She sighed and shook her head when I said that, maybe she just wasn’t a Clancy fan. Hell, I’m not a Clancy fan, but when in Rome and all that.

“For the last fucking time, cut the crap, Wit Boy.”

“Will you stop calling me Wit Boy? My name is Thomas”

“It’s Wit Boy or Fuckface.”

“Wit Boy it is.”

“I thought so. The cash?” What was it with her?

“What is it with you?” I asked softly, hoping my sheer honesty would disarm her, figuratively if not literally.

“I just don’t have the time for this ok? Look,” she reached into her back pocket again and I braced for round two of West Side Story but all she did was pull out my ID, “here’s your card, ok?” It was my turn to shake my head as I reached out and snapped the ID out of her hand. I shoved it into my pocket and came back with the cash which I offered out to her. She took it slowly from me and smiled.

“That wasn’t so hard now was it?” She looked off into space for a second, “So where to now?”

“What? What do you mean where to now?”

“Dinner? A bar? Where are we going?”

“What the fuck are you on about, woman?”

“Oh, this was probably your last sixty wasn’t it? Alright, I’ll buy dinner.”

“You are completely bug-fuck aren’t you?”

“How do you mean?”

“You have so far, in the last few minutes only, pulled a knife on me, insulted me and threatened me. Now you want to buy me dinner?”

“Oh, well when you put it like that…”

“There are other ways to put it?”

“Well, maybe?” I was utterly baffled now. I mean what was she on? This woman was hardcore gone. Hard. Core. To think, I was still attracted to this loon. I had to be just as insane, but less MPD, to even be considering this shit. I suddenly felt the need to reexamine my priorities, even as I started to think of decent places to go for a drink with her. I needed to find a woman named Chartrine or something, anything but this. I had to just say no, cut my losses and run the fuck home so she couldn’t follow me. Hell she probably had my address memorized and would find me in the middle of the night and stab me 58 times in the face before washing in my blood and calling it a night. I had to just cut my losses here and tell her no, gently. Very gently, lest she go all stabbity on me again.

“Well, I’ve always been fond of Sidewalk. I can introduce you around to some of my friends.” Why had that come out of my mouth? She smiled at me and pocketed the cash. We went to Sidewalk.

At Sidewalk we found Carlos, who then explained my life story to her, much to my dismay, including his part in lending me the money. It was, though, an easy time. Relaxing and enjoyable, aside from the spine creep I had wondering when her personality would shift again. It did briefly, I think, during a round of pool. She scowled at me and started with the “Wit Boy” shit again, but it passed just as fast as it had come on. All of us hung out till about 3am. Carlos even called Ben and got him to join us near the end of the evening.

Around 3am we all split up and she wrote her number on my arm in ink, after a painful and aborted attempt with a mechanical pencil, and made me promise to call her soon. On the way home, Ben quizzed me about her and I explained the odd personality shifts but he brushed them off as ‘hormones’. No, sorry, that was all a show of pure psychosis if there ever was one. Still, there was something right about the whole thing to me. Maybe a relationship with someone as scattered and random as the City itself was would be good for me. I was in love with my City, it was my first true love and always would be. Then again maybe, like the City, it would incur casualties and calls to the Police. Life would bring me something utterly unexpected, that much I knew. It always did, in this town.

———–
Never Bite the Homeless is copyright Adam P. Knave.