My primary feeling upon finishing Miss Fury #1 is a shrug. Is shrug an emotion? What do you call the lack of interest that leaves you curious about -- but not enthusiastic for -- future issues? I appreciate that Miss Fury is written as being evocative of an era while just barely avoiding parody. I further enjoy the thrill-seeking nature of the book’s protagonist. She’s into crime-fighting because she seems to get an odd satisfaction from the violence. She can’t go fighting the Nazi menace because of gender politics. So she’s cleaning up the streets here in the US. There’s something in the way she quips and leaps and twists her body. It’s fun for her. And, in turn, that can be fun to watch. If only the writing would support any kind of connection between the reader and protagonist.
Don't come looking for a deep dive into our heroine's psyche. As of issue one, she's presented as a very simple closed book. You get little emotional depth or even narration to give her a voice. She’s certainly capable and very driven. I get that much about Fury. But this is the start of a new run, a chance to on-board new readers. Shouldn’t I be made to care about any of this? What we get is what should have been the first half of an issue. We get cover-to-cover plot and little else. What's there isn't very interesting and what isn't there leaves you unaffected.
The art is uneven, vacillating between beautiful and awkward. That twisting and leaping I mentioned may be the character’s stock-in-trade, but it looks monotonous when it isn’t just silly. Sometimes the panels are framed excellently. Sometimes the action raises some unanswerable questions about blocking and movement. Many of the panels take place in featureless voids. It's done -- I imagine -- to focus on the nicely rendered figures or faces. The quieter, talkier scenes tend to get detailed backgrounds. Sometimes. Often, characters are left standing in front of blurry gradients. It’s rather difficult to process in a very subtle kind of way. You lose track of where people are and how they’re interacting.
There's nothing much going on here. And I doubt future issues will be made less coherent if you skip this one. Better luck next time, Miss Fury.
[button btn_url="" btn_color="violet" btn_size="large" btn_style="default" btn_outlined="no" link_target="blank" link_rel="nofollow" icon_left="" icon_right=""]Score: 2/5[/button]
Miss Fury vol. 2 #1 Writer: Corinna Bechko Artist: Jonathan Lau Colorist: Vinicius Andrade Publisher: Dynamite Entertainment Price: $3.99 Release Date: 4/6/16 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital