At this point in its history, Fade From Blue has a fair bit of story behind it, as evidenced by the amazingly dense "What has gone before" page. While I've been reading from the start, even I can find it a bit daunting at times, so it seemed that maybe new readers might have trouble slipping easily into the book. Happily, this new issue is not only an ideal jumping-on point but one of the stronger issues in recent memory, coming off a big blowout between the sisters and using that as an excuse to reveal their safety zones as well as to explore how they deal with life when they can't fall back on one another. Murphy blends humor, heartbreak and anger together in different segments to give new and old readers alike a sense of Fade From Blue, and Dalrymple brings his "A" game as well.
Murphy deserves a lot of credit for his characterization, because the four sisters who are the leads of Fade From Blue couldn't be more different. To some extent, Iya and Elisa are similar, and Christa and Marit share some sensibilities, but in general all four women are very unique. By far the loudest voice, both literally and figuratively, comes from Christa, the magazine writer who might be Murphy's alter ego (they certainly share the same job, at least). Christa gets a hilarious sequence this issue as her cynical and borderline bitter facade is challenged by an optimistic friend who she seems really close to, and it allows Murphy to poke fun at pop culture or trends, the way he often does with Christa.
The story shifts gear from the somewhat optimistic, even comical, sequences that spotlight Christa and Elisa into downright tragedy about midway through. Given how nice Iya has been, and how little tolerance I have for these kinds of guys anyway, the verbally (and quite possibly physically) abusive boyfriend that she has run back to is almost frustrating to read. It's certainly powerful, and indicates one of the things that Iya gains from her sisters, no matter what other headaches she might have.
Then there's Marit, and one of my few complaints about the book. Fade From Blue has such a strong foundation of characters and real-life interaction that the polygamist father and crime-conspiracy elements often seem a bit extraneous. Certainly they're the most complicated elements of the book, and I find myself a little lost as to who Highball and Banjax are and how they relate to one another. However, Marit's sequence here certainly has its high points as well, with her frustration really coming through when she talks to her uncle.
Even more clear is the artwork, which features Marit just working a bag as hard as she can. Dalrymple's art is always solid, but this issue might be the strongest one I have ever seen from him. Leaving aside the always expressive characters, the detail and variety of backgrounds is terrific. Especially impressive is the long shot of the building that Iya is in, the detail on the street scene at the close of the issue and the establishing shots of each sequence.
