Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Fly #1
Zenescope Comics
Gregory & J
Fly seems like just another superhero with an edge type of book on the surface, but there is more to this story than superheroes behaving badly. As noted by Gregory in the back of the book this story has biographical roots about Gregory and his wife’s drug addictions. When you read the book knowing the inspiration or source of the creation the story reads more powerfully. On the whole this is a good first issue but I wasn’t thrilled with the pacing. The subject matter is enough to bring me back for the next issue which is all you can ask for.
The book opens with a character named Eddie and how his life just isn’t going well at all. He mopes around for a couple of pages and then some unknown female with super powers begins to knock him around. While the relationship and history isn’t clear, what is clear is that Eddie can take the punishment thrown his way which means Eddie is super charged as well.
Just as Eddie seems to be as this woman’s mercy it becomes clear he doesn’t have what she is looking for and she seems to let him go. Before this scene gets fully resolved we are jolted into a flashback, almost without a transition.
Eddie and Danielle are happily married and the first few panels bring us back to a happier time for these two characters that were throwing punches a few panels before. After only a page of the wedding a further flashback is presented.
The finally few pages show how Eddie met a very unstable Danielle and then a loser named Francis. Francis and Eddie are sort of an odd couple of friends and eventually Francis endears himself to Eddie through showing Eddie how cool his parents are. Francis’ parents have money and drugs. Eddie is happy to know Francis.
The aspect of the issue that was difficult to get a hold on was the nature of the flashbacks and connecting them. The issue just seemed to jump so quickly from one to the other with no real natural flow. Obviously this isn’t a detective story so the plot is fairly straightforward but not knowing the characters yet makes this a difficult issue to move through the scenes in this manner.
The issue clicks together nicely on a lot of levels but one is the illustration of how nuts Danielle is. She’s a complete basket-case in the flashback making it seem only logical that once you introduce some drugs to her that she would become an unreasonable, self-centered nutcase. Eddie, on the other hand, seems much more even throughout. He seems to go with the flow and not easily rattled making him seem like a viable candidate to be introduced to drugs and “handle it”. I’m not sure what to make of Francis yet.
I enjoyed Eric J’s artwork. He mixes his styles with the flashbacks to keep the time periods visually separate. His line work has hints of Romita Jr and his facial expressions match up very well with the dialogue. The art alone in this issue is enough to come back for a second issue.
Fly is actually a comic book that is different from many of the others on the market. The super powered aspect of the book is a façade behind the real life problem of drug addiction. This issue presents three interesting characters with a good story hook and terrific artwork. This is a good first issue and I know I am looking forward to the second one. This is definitely worth checking out.
3.5 out of 5 Geek Goggles
