Miss Fury #1
Dynamite's pulp hero line is one of the best things in comics. Fans of Green Hornet, The Shadow, and other great characters have known that for a while. Dynamite themselves know this too and have been actively working to make it even bigger and better. The 'Masks' mini-series is in full swing and has brought even more fans into the fold, but also has introduced us to more fantastic new characters, the first of which to get her own series is of course, Miss Fury.
Miss Fury was premiered within months of Catwoman. It's hrs to say which was created first, but they certainly have similarities. There's the costume, they both are thieves, and neither shy away from their sexuality. The big difference, though, is that Miss Fury's alter ego (Marla Drake) is more Bruce Wayne than Selina Kyle. She is a wealthy socialite who fights crime and steals for the thrill. She is just missing the element of tragedy to her origin like Bruce has, which is fine. The other big difference is that she was written by an actual woman at a time when female comic writers could be counted on your fingers.
Dynamite's update of the character does the original justice in every way. Rob Williams captures all the elements that make Fury one of the great pulp vigilante heroes: she's tough, she's mean, she's sexy, and she's smart. His script wastes no time getting down to it either. From the very start you are drawn into the action and throughout the issue you learn a bit of backstory, some characterization, and plenty of seeds are planted for the future. It is a very entertaining read and delivers on every expectation I had for it. The art by Jack Herbert really stands out as some of the best work in the pulp line right now. The way he allows the story to flow so easily just makes the great script that much better.
The thing I really was happy to see with Miss Fury may be a small detail, but I feel it is so important to this character in particular: there is no sanitation of language or "adult" themes. Miss Fury was incredibly risque for the comic world 70 years ago (check out an example in the images at the bottom of this review), to make a comic now that avoided sex or profanity would just be uncharacteristic. So when Marla says "fuck" she says "fuck", not "#@$%". You see her riding on top of a dude naked, covered in blood. By today's standards, this probably isn't even pushing boundary's and I wouldn't consider it to be explicit by any means (it's not like there's full frontal and the swearing is very rare), but to make it G or PG rated would be totally wrong.
So if you are a fan of pulp comics, if you've been loving Masks, or if you just love a great comic with a badass female hero and great art, you should be picking up Miss Fury. This issue is a very promising start to a series that I hope to see run for quite a while. As I said, Dynamite's pulp line is one of the best things in comics today and if you aren't on board then the time to jump in is now.
Miss Fury was premiered within months of Catwoman. It's hrs to say which was created first, but they certainly have similarities. There's the costume, they both are thieves, and neither shy away from their sexuality. The big difference, though, is that Miss Fury's alter ego (Marla Drake) is more Bruce Wayne than Selina Kyle. She is a wealthy socialite who fights crime and steals for the thrill. She is just missing the element of tragedy to her origin like Bruce has, which is fine. The other big difference is that she was written by an actual woman at a time when female comic writers could be counted on your fingers.
Dynamite's update of the character does the original justice in every way. Rob Williams captures all the elements that make Fury one of the great pulp vigilante heroes: she's tough, she's mean, she's sexy, and she's smart. His script wastes no time getting down to it either. From the very start you are drawn into the action and throughout the issue you learn a bit of backstory, some characterization, and plenty of seeds are planted for the future. It is a very entertaining read and delivers on every expectation I had for it. The art by Jack Herbert really stands out as some of the best work in the pulp line right now. The way he allows the story to flow so easily just makes the great script that much better.
The thing I really was happy to see with Miss Fury may be a small detail, but I feel it is so important to this character in particular: there is no sanitation of language or "adult" themes. Miss Fury was incredibly risque for the comic world 70 years ago (check out an example in the images at the bottom of this review), to make a comic now that avoided sex or profanity would just be uncharacteristic. So when Marla says "fuck" she says "fuck", not "#@$%". You see her riding on top of a dude naked, covered in blood. By today's standards, this probably isn't even pushing boundary's and I wouldn't consider it to be explicit by any means (it's not like there's full frontal and the swearing is very rare), but to make it G or PG rated would be totally wrong.
So if you are a fan of pulp comics, if you've been loving Masks, or if you just love a great comic with a badass female hero and great art, you should be picking up Miss Fury. This issue is a very promising start to a series that I hope to see run for quite a while. As I said, Dynamite's pulp line is one of the best things in comics today and if you aren't on board then the time to jump in is now.
A Look Inside
