Welcome back. It’s been awhile since we’ve done some reviews and we wanted to get caught up. Today, Rek is going to be reviewing the entire miniseries, Female Furies, written by Cecil Castellucci and art by Adriana Melo.
~~Review~~
Okay, I want to start off saying that I was pretty excited for this book because I’ve sort of been binge reading Jack Kirby’s New Gods recently. The Fourth World is absolutely amazing and Kirby’s writing has made it difficult for writers ever since to capture the image he created. Some have done a great job, like Tom King’s Mister Miracle, while others not so much. Going into this miniseries, I had pretty high expectations for Castellucci and Melo to achieve that same feeling.
I’d argue they did… at first.
Apokolips was portrayed perfectly as the totalitarian state run by Darkseid and his male only council. The first issue does an excellent job of setting up Granny Goodness’ role for the future of Apokolips and also the role of women under Darkseid. Perfect!
The rest of the issues continued to impress me with what’s accepted in Apokolips, such as Willik’s blatant misuse of punishment to abuse women. Speaking of Willik, I think they did an amazing job at creating this manipulative pig that sort of sets Barda’s story in motion.
Although Barda had a lot of focus in this series, I also like the other characters in the Furies. They nailed Lashina and her rivalry with Barda to lead their elite force.
It’s a very powerful feminist piece from start to finish, I will not argue that. However, I feel like the final issue tripped Castellucci up.
*Spoiler Warning*
The ending left me questioning the entire work because it is so unbelievable and far-fetched that I was surprised it was the same series. Castellucci did an amazing job at referencing certain scenes from Kirby’s Mister Miracle run like the first meeting between Barda and Scott Free or her smashing Oberon with her Megarod! It was sort of like Barda’s perspective for Kirby’s Mister Miracle, which worked well.
Yet, for some reason, the story takes a turn where all the women in Apokolips rise up and kick out the evil men from the capital. With no help. All because they were upset over a curfew…
If you stop to think about it, the ending just begs too many questions. Why did Darkseid leave when he could have won the fight? Where did all the men leave to? Why would the women still want to work with them in the end?
It just felt so rushed and I feel bad because every other issue was perfect. Melo did an amazing job of bringing the colors of the Fourth World to life and there was never a dull panel to my recollection. I really loved reading the early issues, but that final one just doesn’t work for me.
~~Score~~
Storytelling: 3
(How good is the story? Does it stand up to others?)
Art: 4
(Does it tell the story? Does it work well with the character?)
Importance: 3
(Does this story need to be told? Is it helping the Character?)
Character: 5
(Is the character represented well? Does the writer understand the character?)
Total: 15 / 20
~Rek
~Seppin
SeppinRek 
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