Sacrifice is quite a touching and innovative story, clearly written by someone well-versed in Blake's 7.
WRITTEN BY
No specific credit, though the art bears the signature: Kennedy.
PLOT
Whilst investigating a mysterious energy discharge on Dral III, Avon rescues an alien woman from the hands of the Federation officers, and she reveals herself to be from another galaxy. It's up to the Scorpio crew to help her and her people as Servalan closes in...
ANALYSIS
I love the first scene in the "spacer's bar". It's such a Star Wars-y location and it perfectly fits into the aesthetic of Series D, where the crew are mainly just overglorified pirates trying to scrounge for money.
Alien civilisations isn't something Blake's 7 dabbles in often, so that immediately sets this story apart from the more straightforward action-adventure. There's a sense of mystery and wonder to Aanya's intergalactic ship, and the possibility of a more peaceful life in another galaxy is tantalising.
That, plus the chemistry between Avon and Aanya got me really invested in this comic, almost as much as an actual episode(and more than some episodes I could list...)! Her fate, inevitable as it is, is truly heartbreaking, especially since she herself was forced to face Avon's reality.
CHARACTERS
There's only three who matter. Avon and Aanya as the unlikely couple who bond over their shared distaste for the cruelty and selfishness of the human race, and Servalan who shatters their dreams.
It's a slightly melodramatic, but tragic love story and I think it's only fitting that the person who comes between the two is Servalan, the only consistent woman in Avon's life.
Aanya is a sweet and loving kind of person who simply couldn't exist in the Federation environment(note that even the likes of Blake and Cally were wartorn), so it's only natural that Avon would be attracted to her, given that she basically represents total purity as well as a chance to start over.
NOTES
*This comic was published in the Blake's 7 Marvel Monthly issue 6.
*No mention is made of the Matracon that the crew acquired in Interception, so I think we must assume that that storyline has been discontinued(or maybe that writer genuinely couldn't see what a huge plot hole this would be.
*Why is there a Federation operator scanning specifically for "fusion energy discharge"? Get a lot of those, do they?
*One of the Federation officers is a dead ringer for Roger Delgado.
*There's a few grammatical errors, like "code it read priority and get it off the Commissioner Sleer" and "kill - I kill the prisoners".
*I do wonder what exactly about "human secretions" is acidic to Aanya's race. Salt in our sweat, maybe? They must be taking a hell of a risk even going anywhere near us!
*The scene where the Federation officers accost Aanya is a bit clunky - they both simultaneously tell each other to "look at her arm!"
*Given Avon's track record, he's got some nerve calling someone uncouth.
*Avon and Soolin use a rare disintegration setting on their pistols.
*I know Aanya's an alien, but isn't it a bit silly to look for a starmap in a random bar(where she wasn't talking to anyone)? Maybe she knew about the rampant xenophobia following the Intergalactic War...
*As much as I like her, Aanya's sudden fixation on Avon is bizarre. In fact, why does she even go with the Scorpio crew?
*Servalan gets an awesome new costume even in the comics! It even comes with a sword...
*"This whole affair could be very promising indeed... for the power of Commissioner Sleer." Thinking of yourself in third person, eh, Servalan? Not a sign of madness at all.
INFORMATION!
*Servalan relies on her "Commissioner Sleer" identity, setting this story after Traitor. She also references wanting to be the Federation's leader, a role from which she was deposed sometime between that episode and Death-Watch.
*Aanya's race are the first intergalactic visitors we've seen since the Andromedans in Star One.
*Avon and Servalan both reference the former's previous relationship to Anna Grant, established in Countdown and explored in Rumours Of Death(which also depicts the latter's encounter with her).
AANYA: "Why does your race always see deceit and hate in everything?"
AVON: "Because that is the way to survive, in this place and at this time..."
CONCLUSION
This was a great read!
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