Marla has to really start grasping who she is.
Creative Staff:
Story: Corinna Bechko
Art: Jonathan Lau
Colors: Vinicius Andrade
What They Say:
Marla must choose her fate as past and future collide. Is she Marla Drake, friend and co-worker, or Miss Fury, a creature of dark power and fierce retribution? The answer lies far from land as the Minor Key seeks to unlock an apocalypse they can’t control, forcing Miss Fury to confront the mysterious force coiled within her. Will she learn to harness it in time, or will all of New York pay the price?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The fifth and final issue of the Miss Fury series lands and it does what’s largely expected from an end act of an arc. It’s the kind of thing that works really well but also proves to be frustrating as it is the end and I really want to see more of this. Corinna Bechko and Jonathan Lau have delivered some solid storytelling with fantastic artwork that’s simply made each issue a lot of fun to read. The comfort level has certainly grown as they went along on it and the twists and turns have been fun. Lau, in particular, simply delivered a beautiful looking series that really felt like it all fell into place in the second half of the run that truly leaves me craving another run from him and Bechko with this character. Characters from this era are hard to find an audience for, but dammit, we’re here and this book nailed it.
The series went from a standard mystery story involving the time period and shipbuilding in an interesting way to something far more supernatural, which isn’t too much of a stretch considering where Marla’s powers come from. That shift was small and gradual until it just went whole hog on us recently with Edi’s parents and what they’re up to and that has left us with an ancient force that’s ready to break on through to this side to eliminate the majority of humanity, wipe the slate clean. It is, in its own way, a standard villain story. But the motivations for it are intriguing and I wish they had more time to explore it through the dialogue because people who lived through World War II like this and saw what people were capable of could easily fall in this direction. Providing a contrasting view would have been really engaging to see as well, as opposed to just Marla trying to stop it because most people don’t want the end of the world.
As such, the bulk of this book is all about the action and it delivers well. Marla as Miss Fury has a great dynamic sense about her as she fights and engages those on her level while intellectually she struggles with the larger threat. Though the action dominates, we do get some good internalization with her jaguar spirit about who she truly is and what she has to embrace in order to survive. It’s some good character growth and understanding material that, again, leaves me wanting a whole lot more. This series has skirted around aspects of her origin at times and what it really means but it’s pieces like what we get here that makes it clear there are a lot of possibilities to pursue with it and worth exploring in this particular time period.
In Summary:
Coming into this series after the Swords of Sorrow event, which gave me a good taste of this character, Miss Fury simply clicked. It was a slow start that I expected as you had to connect with the period and get to know the characters, but Corinna Bechko and Jonathan Lau really made this a fantastic book. While individual installments may not have been A-grade issues each time, the series as a whole is one that really flows beautifully and has a lot to offer. The ending act hits the expected notes while teasing some possibilities for it and I truly hope that this team gets to work together again on another miniseries for the character, or at least a special, or just anything. The pairing from this point of view worked really well and the end results has me far more interested in this character than I was a year ago when it barely registered at all. Very fun stuff that’s worth digging into and exploring as part of this era of comics storytelling.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 24th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
