Fade From Blue is a rarity in many ways. It is written by someone outside of comics (Myatt Murphy has written hundreds of articles for national magazines), it is aimed at a female audience and it costs a dollar for a 32 page black-and-white comic.
Traditionally, the female-friendly comic is a hard sell in the comics market, because the female audience is smaller than most of us would like. However, Murphy has not painted himself into a corner here, because while Fade From Blue is undoubtedly friendly toward female readers, it's engaging and intriguing for anyone. The four main characters are fascinating enough with just their normal life elements, but the unusual family element that ties them all together takes the whole thing up a notch.
Telling the story from the point-of-view of magazine writer Christa is a clever way to jump seamlessly between the various lives of the characters. Christa draws on her experience with her sisters to create magazine articles, which means that as her editor goes across various story ideas, the story can jump to whichever sister inspired them. The result is a comprehensive primer on the characters without the book feeling like it lacks a central story.
What kept my interest, however, was not Christa's conversation with her editor (entertaining though it was) but the way that Murphy defines the various sisters. They each are quite different, with their own problems and strengths, and in the course of only 32 pages, I felt like I knew them all well enough to want to know more. I was particularly pleased that none of them came off as stereotypes, from the remarkably sensitive and beautiful Iya to the tough cop Marit. They are instead four different women walking four different paths, and there's a lot of room to tell different types of stories given their varying careers.
Scott Dalrymple is a new name, but I have a sneaking suspicion his is a name that comics fans will be hearing a lot. His work is strong on storytelling fundamentals and really terrific with character design, and he handles everything from a police sting to a night at a bar to a writer closeted in her apartment with equal skill.
Fade From Blue #1 is a terrific introduction to the characters and concepts of the series. It has some wonderful moments of humor and some solid artwork, and while the basic story stands well on its own, there are hints of a darker and more fantastic edge to the story for those who are looking for something more than "slice of life."
