Oh Furious why must you leave me? This series has been incredible. As much as I’ve read and enjoyed other series this year, I really don’t know what can beat Bryan JL Glass and Victor Santos’ masterpiece of superhero fiction. What I’ll miss even more is having a strong female protagonist each month… in fact I would call her the strongest. I’m going to try to keep the spoilers out of this review since it is the last issue in the arc and it holds a lot answers to questions that have arisen throughout the volume. In many ways this is the origin issue and that alone makes me love it even more. One of the things that a superhero story in particular obese over is the origin story. Furious threw that into the wind and instead made slow reveals of who the character was as it related to what she was going through in the story. Yes in some ways we’ve been reading an origin story all along, but unlike other origins we didn’t learn the superhero basics of: name, how they got their powers, what their powers are and so forth. Instead we were taken on a slow methodical journey instead of information overload in the first issue.
In the last issue we watched as the Beacon, who became Furious, become Furia. It was a great twist and sure it broke the title of the comic, but it the most charming way possible… it made it relevant to the story. We also saw the reveal of Perfidia the nemesis and former friend from Furia’s pre-superhero life. This issue explores their past and how at least one of them received superpowers.
This is by far one of the strongest finishes of any mini-series I’ve ever read. For any series that makes as big of a splash as Furious, the ending becomes the hardest part to get right. To not only complete your story in a way that makes sense, but also leaves the audience satisfied. The part that stands out to me is the fact that Glass doesn’t bring out any special tricks in this issue… he stays on course and delivers action, dialogue and touching moments that have been in each issue since the series began.
I will address one thing because I know someone, somewhere is going to say something about it and I want to give my take. The end we see Cady attempting a relationship and I can see some people taking this as a sign of Glass reducing her to just a woman looking for love. I ask that you consider this though, switch the gender. The thing about Furious is that the story has never relied on being a woman and frankly if you were a man alone in isolation you’d seek companionship as well. It’s not a gender thing, it’s a human thing.
Of course we need to talk about Santos artwork. Again, he doesn’t pull out any extra bells or whistles for this final issue. It’s business as usual in’ the art department because Santos is consistent and has delivered a fantastic first volume that can be read in single issues or altogether. That’s why a consistently great artist is a wonderful thing because now you can go back and read all of Furious and the artwork will never dip. Santos’ art will also be greatly missed monthly as he delivers fantastic action sequences while capturing the characters wide range of emotions: fear, joy, rage, excitement. Santos almost makes you forget that this world you’ve been enjoying… isn’t real.
If you for some reason didn’t pick up Furious then you should do yourself a favor and read the best superhero title to be published this year. It didn’t come from a company that only produces superhero titles or a rebooted property, but rather a publisher that believed in the product and let the creators create. Amazing what can happen when you let that happen.
Score: 5/5
Writer: Bryan JL Glass Artist: Victor Santos Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/28/14 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital