A battle between intellect and ego
Creative Staff:
Story: Jai Nitz
Art: Wes St. Claire
Colors: Maria Santaolalla
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Fu Jitsu and Robert Wadlow unleash their ultimate weapons against each other and battle for supremacy with the literal fate of the world hanging in the balance! Hate to spoil it for you, but Fu loses and humanity is kind of screwed. The feel-good story of the year, right?
From Jai Nitz, the award-winning writer of El Diablo, Suicide Squad Most Wanted and Dream Thief, comes this action-packed new series with art from Teen Titans Annual artist Wes St. Claire!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Each new issue of Fu Jitsu is like picking a random book from my shelves. Each brings a new genre and a new, seeming arbitrary, set of cultural references. To close out 2017, the team brings us a story where a giant mecha with a flaming sword stands between Wadlow and world domination. Add to this quotes of famous historical figures, used with the broadest poetic license, and we have another standard episode in this extraordinarily fresh title.
So far, the narrative of Fu Jitsu follows the publisher’s summary of each issue. Eternally young, but mature, Fu combats the power-mad Wadlow to keep him from taking over the world. But the surface narrative of the story is never the heart of any issue, so breaking with my normal review style, I’m going to target this review more toward the academic aspect that seems to be what drives my enjoyment of the series.
The use of quotes from famous and historical people adds a nuance well tuned for the reader. Each page has a quote that almost acts as a moral to the action or shapes the motives behind the actions for the characters. Many of these quotes came from a context so different from the action of the story as to create enough dissonance that the reader has to make sense for his or her self. That purposeful juxtaposition of quotes from Wilt Chamberlain and Buddha against the panels of a giant robot fighting an old coot with a sword adds to the aesthetic of a sequential narrative breaking the rules of storytelling in a way that allows the reader to take ownership of reading and that brings joy. In other words, the writer doesn’t try to be clever for his ego, instead he provides material for readers to enjoy the experience of making their way through the book.
Through the first issues of this series, I have continually questioned what audience would best enjoy this series. Now, I think this title has the making of a cult classic. While earning that label requires an established audience, according to film theorist Danny Peary, cult classics have certain elements in common. Fu Jitsu shares many of these characteristics in the comics medium.
Fu Jitsu is an extreme in medium, pushing the boundaries of both form and content. The series differs greatly from mainstream comics, has offbeat dialog, and characters that don’t naturally fit the stereotypes from which they have been drawn. The series makes its mission to homage existing work, but it doesn’t regurgitate original material within its own universe. It transcends that easy and overused trope. Fu Jitsu shows us characters in scenes devoid of an absolute timeline and complicates the notions of “linear” and “universe” for the reader.
The series has a politically subversive element that rises to the top in one issue and becomes an undercurrent in the next. Readers get everything from surface level political allegory to the sexual politics of an android who just doesn’t feel that way toward her creator. Some of the political aspects are throwaway jokes, but others carry over as the series develops, adding a subtext for the reader who is tasked with trying to find meaning. With the central tenet one of power, Wadlow’s thirst for world control versus Fu’s intellectual development, disconnected elements build to reflect one of the sadder dichotomies of the current state of our political discourse.
Readers of this review may question whether I may have read more into this series than they see on the page. My answer is a definitive, “Yes.” Fu Jitsu works because it has been crafted by its creators to pull from popular culture specific elements without attributing pedantic meaning to their inclusion. It allows the reader to experience a disconnect both with the medium and with culture. From this reviewer’s perspective, it allows a few minutes outside of expectations and encourages deeper thought than a traditional narrative offers.
In Summary:
Fu Jitsu #4 continues the homage-filled universe constructed by its creators. Comics fans can expect an experimental format that will reward readers willing to step out of traditional narrative and question what they read as they read. While this issue can stand on its own, reading the series from the beginning will help the reader understand the techniques being used while making the experience have more impact.
Grade: A-
Age Rating: 9+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: December 27th, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
