Female Furies #1 Review
Written by Cecil Castellucci
Art by Adriana Melo
Colouring by Hi-Fi
Lettering by Carlos M. Mangual
This was so odd and I don’t know what this is. I have never used this phrase in a single review of mine but… who is this for?
This series seems to take place in the past, and details the rise of Granny Goodness and her Female Furies. Here they're aren't taken seriously at all, and all the men of Apokalips are demeaning their efforts to rise above the ranks to become fierce Apokoliptian warriors. In writing that description of the series, it genuinely seems to be that this might as well be a children's story, or part of one of the DC Ink or Zoom books. Cecil Castellucci instead infuses this weird, workplace-harassment theme into it as Darkseid and a few other characters are just these grabby and dirty men. These characters are evil and their actions in other stories make it pretty clear… but adding this element wasn't something I was comfortable with. Doubly, it felt very contrived and it seems that Castellucci just wanted to keep piling problem on top of problem for the Furies. It came across to me as inappropriate and unnecessary in a story and world like this. I know this is going to be an odd statement to make, but I don't think Jack Kirby would have liked seeing his creations depicted in such a manner. They're evil for other reasons; Darkseid wants to control the Anti-Life Equation. It's one of the most grand schemes in all of comics. Does he honestly have time to demand sex from women? I'm not saying that there shouldn't be stories and discussions about sexual harassment in comics, far from it. I'm simply saying that there is a time and place.
I guess my major problem with the plot is that it's very easy. There's nothing challenging about it. I haven't read any of Castellucci's previous work save for a couple of stories in some DC seasonal anthologies. She has a story in the most recent one that I loved. Maybe I was expected more from her since I haven't read a single issue of hers yet. Maybe I love the New Gods and wanted a proper New Gods story. I love the Female Furies. Tell an awesome, new Female Furies story that anyone can pick up and read anytime. What makes this worse is that this issue was mostly very boring. I just wasn't interesting in what anybody was doing. The pacing was very dry and there was little momentum between the various scenes, and I never really felt like the issue truly began.
Adriano Melo's work is really something here. There's so much energy and personality in this issue and her sequentials combined with Hi-Fi's really vibrant colouring sweetened the entire package for me. Both Melo and Hi-Fi play with style and tone when flashbacks occur, and there was a retro vibe to these scenes that I noticed and really appreciated. She's on the verge of capturing the very spirit of Bronze Age Kirby in her blocking and character work, but obviously she doesn't capture it completely since Kirby is Kirby.
This was very boring and very odd but incredibly gorgeous. I don't know who to recommend this to since it'll be way too heavy for some readers while also being out of nowhere for others. I personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone despite my appreciation of the art.
Art by Adriana Melo
Colouring by Hi-Fi
Lettering by Carlos M. Mangual
This was so odd and I don’t know what this is. I have never used this phrase in a single review of mine but… who is this for?
This series seems to take place in the past, and details the rise of Granny Goodness and her Female Furies. Here they're aren't taken seriously at all, and all the men of Apokalips are demeaning their efforts to rise above the ranks to become fierce Apokoliptian warriors. In writing that description of the series, it genuinely seems to be that this might as well be a children's story, or part of one of the DC Ink or Zoom books. Cecil Castellucci instead infuses this weird, workplace-harassment theme into it as Darkseid and a few other characters are just these grabby and dirty men. These characters are evil and their actions in other stories make it pretty clear… but adding this element wasn't something I was comfortable with. Doubly, it felt very contrived and it seems that Castellucci just wanted to keep piling problem on top of problem for the Furies. It came across to me as inappropriate and unnecessary in a story and world like this. I know this is going to be an odd statement to make, but I don't think Jack Kirby would have liked seeing his creations depicted in such a manner. They're evil for other reasons; Darkseid wants to control the Anti-Life Equation. It's one of the most grand schemes in all of comics. Does he honestly have time to demand sex from women? I'm not saying that there shouldn't be stories and discussions about sexual harassment in comics, far from it. I'm simply saying that there is a time and place.
I guess my major problem with the plot is that it's very easy. There's nothing challenging about it. I haven't read any of Castellucci's previous work save for a couple of stories in some DC seasonal anthologies. She has a story in the most recent one that I loved. Maybe I was expected more from her since I haven't read a single issue of hers yet. Maybe I love the New Gods and wanted a proper New Gods story. I love the Female Furies. Tell an awesome, new Female Furies story that anyone can pick up and read anytime. What makes this worse is that this issue was mostly very boring. I just wasn't interesting in what anybody was doing. The pacing was very dry and there was little momentum between the various scenes, and I never really felt like the issue truly began.
Adriano Melo's work is really something here. There's so much energy and personality in this issue and her sequentials combined with Hi-Fi's really vibrant colouring sweetened the entire package for me. Both Melo and Hi-Fi play with style and tone when flashbacks occur, and there was a retro vibe to these scenes that I noticed and really appreciated. She's on the verge of capturing the very spirit of Bronze Age Kirby in her blocking and character work, but obviously she doesn't capture it completely since Kirby is Kirby.
This was very boring and very odd but incredibly gorgeous. I don't know who to recommend this to since it'll be way too heavy for some readers while also being out of nowhere for others. I personally wouldn't recommend it to anyone despite my appreciation of the art.
A Look Inside
