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FURY #1
"1: Be Careful What You Wish For"
Mildly Recommended (5/10)
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Marvel Comics/MAX Comics
Writer: Garth Ennis
Pencils: Darick Robertson
Inks: Jimmy Palmiotti
Colors: Avalon Studios
Letters: Comicraft
Editor: Axel Alonso
Price: $2.99 US/$4.50 CAN |
I'm surprised and saddened to find that Ennis, the inventor of the powerful and epic Preacher and Hitman, has seemingly settled into a pattern of familiarity and repetitiveness that may just reduce him to self-parody. Ennis is up against two other portrayals of the concepts in the book, with Nick Fury over in Ultimate X-Men and SHIELD over in U.S. War Machine, and he falls far short by comparison. Even without those stronger books for comparison, though, this is a bit disappointing, a story that misses the point of SHIELD and Nick Fury by a wide margin and, worse, seems to have nothing to offer that fans of Unknown Soldier or Punisher haven't already seen from Ennis. In fairness,
everyone involved here is an expert talent, and the book is still a good read
with high points, but given the stellar cast, I expected something a lot more
ground-breaking and interesting.
I should say that if you have no attachment
to Fury and SHIELD, and if you're not tired of Ennis's love of military cliche,
you'll probably enjoy this book quite a bit. There's a wonderful portrayal of a
cold warrior whose mindset is stuck in simpler times being outmoded and outfoxed
by corporate restructuring and political weasels who wouldn't be caught dead in
the field. There's some terrific dark humor with Nick's pathetic "nephew" Wendel
and the cheerful mocking of the goofy and colorful espionage that SHIELD and
HYDRA are known for. And of course, the artwork is gorgeous throughout.
However, if you're like me, you see Fury as little more than a slightly different version of Ennis's Punisher, Wendel as little more than out-of-place comic
relief ala Mr. Bumpo or Spacker Dave and the whole story about soldiers and
their interactions with war and espionage very, very familiar. Fury has always
been the man who could get anything done, the ultimate spy, James Bond and Rambo
and Humphrey Bogart all rolled into one confident and capable protagonist. Ennis
has turned him into a sad old man who gets off on pointless violence. He's
robbed the character of most of his intelligence, and made him little more than
a whiny curmudgeon. He's turned SHIELD, an example of wild technological
innovation, into a dull version of the C.I.A. And he's made half of the story
about Nick watching his clueless nephew develop a hernia trying to impress his
classmates.
None of my problems with the story come
from the artwork. Robertson and Palmiotti are terrific, capturing the violence
and the dark humor in Ennis's script perfectly. The "interrogation subject" is a
great gag, Fury always exudes a certain mild annoyance, Li is completely oily in
his manner and the settings, whether a high-rise office complex, a posh hotel or
a dingy Mexican drug lab, all come alive on the page. The storytelling on the
part of the artists is flawless.
Unfortunately, this considerable array of
talent has been lined up for a story that is utterly unremarkable. Fury misses
the point of the character in just about every way, and more than wasting the
potential of an interesting character, it wastes the potential of a good
creative team. There are more than likely enough good moments or interesting
ideas to keep me looking at the next few issues, but this is definitely the
disappointment of the MAX line.
Email Randy Lander comments about this review. |
