Female Furies #2 Review and **SPOILERS**

Hell Hath Some Fury

Writer: Cecil Castellucci

Illustrator: Adriana Melo

Colors: Hi-Fi

Letters: Carlos M. Mangual

Cover: Dan Panosian

Associate Editor: Brittany Holzherr

Editor: Jamie S. Rich

Cover Price: $3.99

On Sale Date: March 6, 2019

**NON SPOILERS AND SCORE AT THE BOTTOM**

Hiya! No one reviewed the first issue of this book on the site, but then Jim caught all kinds of crap from the Get Fresh Crew about it. So who do you think would get assigned with this socio-political landmine? That’s right! Your friendly neighborhood clean-up reviewer, Reggie Drinkwater! Now that you know to whom you should send your hate mail, let’s look at my review of Female Furies #2, how ‘bout it?

Explain It!

I did not review the first issue of this series, but if I had, I might have said: With the understanding that these are not canonical versions of these characters, I still believe that the story (and the commentary on misogyny and patriarchy) is not best-served with their use. To make the story work requires a total reversal of Granny Goodness and the Female Furies as the baddest of the bad-asses on Apokolips, turning them into supplicant sex kittens for a good ol’ boy network that has coalesced around Darkseid. I think the commentary is very worthwhile, and it is an important story to be told, but I personally have difficulty recognizing Bernadeth as someone who would seek approval from one of Darkseid’s honchos, instead of,  you know, lashing him to a spiked rack and making him suffer an eternity of hideous torture.

That is what I might have said, had I reviewed the first issue, and having said it, there will be no more need to belabor the point, because I do my best to review comics at face value with what is given, not what I’d like. And what we’re given here is some insight into how women perpetuate a patriarchal society, in both subtle and obvious ways. It’s pretty eye-opening to see, as a man, because I am familiar with a lot of these behaviors between women, but wouldn’t necessarily identify them as counter-feminist. It’s all come down on the Furies’ field leader, Aurelie, who killed a low-level Apokoliptan officer last issue when he tried to put the moves on her. So far, only her fellow Furies know what’s happened—everyone else treats this as a missing person case, for the moment. Aurelie also reveals that she’s being sexually harassed and molested by Willik, but Big Barda refuses to believe her. Big Barda also knocks a guy they call Scott Free across a room, just to let the reader know that these aren’t the same Fourth World characters with which we are familiar.

And that’s much of the issue: no one believes Aurelie’s claims, and those that do give her credence tell her she should go with the flow. You see this all the time—among people, really, for various reasons—but certainly among women, who (despite claims to the contrary) are more likely to try and brush aside sexual harassment than to report it. Granny Goodness more or less pimps Aurelie out to Willik, and when Aurelie fights back against the dude, Granny is more than glad to punish her—because Darkseid doesn’t believe Aurelie’s pleas, either. The whole thing comes to a head when the Furies capture Beautiful Dreamer from the Forever People, then force her to dream a little dream…of terror! Or something.

The use of the Forever People just highlights my initial problem here: we’re expected to know these more obscure Fourth World characters, but to acknowledge that they’ve been changed to suit this narrative. I don’t know who Willik is, I have no idea if he’s the resident Apokoliptan sleaze, but I do know that he wouldn’t live very long, touching Aurelie inappropriately, since she’s known to snap men’s necks with her thighs. A corollary discussion there could be the inherent sexualization of this act, and how it becomes both more empowering and more hornifying considering its violence. Beyond the misuse of these characters, it’s a kind of dull story. I found some of the exchanges interesting, but most of them were mundane and reiterated the Man’s World that is this books Apokolips. The story hangs a little at the middle, and woe unto those that are unfamiliar with a wide swath of Fourth World stuff. 

Bits and Pieces:

Turns out it’s not just the creepy men that subject the Female Furies to rigorous, unspoken expectations—other women do it, too! If you can accept that these characters resemble the originals in an only visual manner, then you’re still left with a pretty dull story. Of course, the whole miniseries should conclude before we truly evaluate it.

5.5/10