Red Fury was one of the first titles I read from Russian publisher Bubble. Their line of books is being translated and released digitally in English and the first two issues of Red Fury helped them launch. The story has plot-holes. It’s not perfect by any means, but it is reminiscent of Danger Girl in some ways and isn’t asking you to believe everything it’s doing, just to be entertained by it. The first issue introduces us to our main character Nika Chaikina, aka the best thief in the world. At least that’s what we’re told. She’s in a Chinese museum to steal a priceless artifact and has taken the place of a bronze statue in order to do so. That’s the first part you’ll need to suspend your disbelief on. She then checks in with her partner that’s running the computers on the outside and explaining the security she’ll need to bypass. We spend some time with this and it looks like Nika is going to be successful until an old dude just walks right in and proclaims how impressed he is with her. Smells like a set up. Nika is forced to bust out against the odds now, but doesn’t make it.

Instead she’s captured and recruited by the old man. She wakes up in a strange house with other people with special skills and it’s all a bit goofy at that point. The old man finally introduces himself and explains that he needs them to save the world.

The interactions between the characters is strange. The two women are instantly pitted against each other and based on the cover for the second issue, you might not be able to trust one of them. The part I had a hard time with is that Nika is allowed to keep her ear piece to talk to her partner on the outside and that it still works even though she’s been brought half way around the world. Again, it’s all in good fun and the story never pretends to be gritty and real, but rather bright and entertaining.

The writing is decent. Like I said, there’s plot-holes and the translation does what it can to fill them, but they’re still there. But the intention of the story is to be a big summer action movie and it succeeds in that regard. The plot here is no more illogical than anything that Michael Bay has done in his career. I also said before that it’s a bit like Danger Girl, minus all the women. Which is fun. We need that sometimes and so it filled the need.

The art is great. It is the best part of the book. Some might think it’s more on the 90s side due to the coloring, but I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. Its manga influenced, but with modern coloring. The action was decent. There wasn’t a lot of it, mostly Nika sneaking around and running, but I think when more action hits it will be a standout element of the story. Thinking about the art some more there is a touch of Aeon Flux as well, which is something I enjoyed.

If you’re looking for an entertaining story about heists and saving the world, then check out Red Fury. It’s an entertaining comic book and while there’s not deep thought needed to read it, that doesn’t stop it from being fun and frankly, I needed a fun comic to read.

Score: 3/5

Red Fury #1 Writers: Artem Gabrelyanov, Sergey Volkov Artist: Oleg Okunev Colorist: Anastasia Katerinich Publisher: Bubble Price: $0.99 Format: Ongoing; Digital