Pick of the Week

September 26, 2012 – Fury MAX #6

What did the
iFanboy
community think?

404
Pulls
Avg Rating: 4.6
iFanboy Community Pick of the Week Percentage: 5.4%
 
Users who pulled this comic:
Story by Garth Ennis
Art by Goran Parlov
Colors by Lee Loughridge
Cover by Dave Johnson

Size: 0 pages
Price: 3.99

I tried desperately to not make this Pick of the Week again. I read more books this week than I have in months. I tried to like several of them more than I liked Fury MAX #6, but it wasn’t to be, and I knew it was going to happen. I left the book for last, and I kept trying to find other stories to read, but nothing hit the spot. Then when I started Garth Ennis and Goran Parlov’s issue, I thought, “maybe this will be the bad one,” but by the halfway point, I knew that wasn’t the case. When all is said and done, the Pick of the Week is the one that, in your gut, is the book you liked best. It’s the book that mixes its strange comic book alchemy with your own specific tastes and objective knowledge of the art form, and your true feelings will not be denied. That’s what we do here with the Pick of the Week.

Fury MAX has been our Pick of the Week for issues 3, 4, and now 6. It’s neck and neck with Saga for most beloved book on the stands, it would seem. Also, Preacher, written by Garth Ennis is my favorite comic book series of all time. What happened here was that past met present. While I firmly believe that you can’t go home again, this book, this specific issue, made me feel more like I felt when I was reading Preacher than anything I’ve read from Ennis in some time. It doesn’t have all the strange aspects of Preacher, but what it did do was nail a sense of duty, partly wrapped in patriotism, and partly wrapped in a sort of fictional machismo. It’s not really something that lives in my daily life. I’m not a tough guy, and I really don’t relate to Ernest Hemingway that much, but there’s a tone in the story here that smells of tough guy, and I can admit that it has an effect on me. There’s a brief allusion to The Old Man in the Sea that really brought it home for me, and the events taking place on either side of that wrapped it all up. In Preacher, it might have felt a bit more comedic, but the brutality on the page, combined with the sheer acceptance Fury has for the horrible things in the world is something only Garth Ennis can handle, precisely because he does it so effortlessly. He doesn’t overdo it. It’s just what’s happening on the page. There are no long narrator passages. So much of the reaction is confined to a couple of words and the steely gaze portrayed by Parlov. It’s comic books whittled down to its minimal form.

None of Garth Ennis’ magic works without the perfect artist. I’ve read plenty of fun Ennis stories with some of my favorite artists in the business collaborating with him. Up until now, no one has touched Steve Dillon working with Garth Ennis (which works the other way around too). But the more I read these issues, the more I see Parlov is the perfect compliment to Ennis. He gets what Dillon got, which is to keep it simple. People who don’t know any better always bagged on Dillon for being too stiff, upright, and formulaic. It wasn’t that at all though. Dillon then, and Parlov now, are just doing straight up comics that fit just right, without taking away anything, or adding too much. I love Darick Robertson’s art very much, but I never got the sense he fit with Ennis on The Boys the way that I wanted it to. As a result, I never really loved the series. A good Garth Ennis book is like an AC/DC song. There doesn’t seem to be much there, but really it’s just straight ahead perfectly voiced rock and roll, in a form that’s so pure, many mistake that simplicity for the lack of skill. It’s also just a little dirty. It’s like how musicians say virtuosity exists in the notes you don’t play as much, or more, than the ones you do. There are also a lot of things Garth Ennis comics don’t have in common with AC/DC, but you take my point.

It feels like we’ve got a special thing here. If Fury MAX is for you, you know it, and a new issue is about as good as it gets. If it’s not for you, and I can totally see how that would be the case, you’re going to be wondering why it keeps coming up here over and over again. If that’s the case, I have bad news for you, unless the book gets canceled, there’s a very good chance we’ll be forced to name it Pick of the Week again, because it feels like we’re just getting started.

Josh Flanagan
Vise clamps.
josh@ifanboy.com

Comments

  1. So, so, so good.

  2. Fury MAX is my first exposure to Ennis and Parlov and I can easily say that this is always on the top of the pile to read! It’s witty, sexy, gritty and full of character.

  3. I’m so going to buy the trade for this… Said it many times

  4. Really? That good? Hum… interesting… I think I’ll give it a try. (Don’t judge me! I’m Brazilian, so this is only coming here next year… yeah… terrible)

  5. Does anybody know how long we are going to get this gem? Ennis’s interview over at CBR said that he never wants to write super hero’s ever again. And wants to only put books out from Dynamite and Avataar. So I hope this doesn’t end soon, it’s definitely not a super hero book, but Fury is a staple of the Marvel U.

  6. I’ve been laying down bets with a friend that I could pick the iFanboy POTW. We’ve been doing this since last year starting with the beginning of DC’s New 52. We wager on who will buy lunch. In the last 52 weeks I’ve paid for lunch only 8 times.

  7. I am MAXed out. I hope the next time it will be something different. .

    Matthew

  8. i really wish this was available digitally…

  9. I’m a huge Ennis fan and as much as I feel I should, I find myself not loving this book as much as I want to. Last few issues kinda felt like that Punisher miniseries ‘Born’ just with Nick Fury in Indochina instead of Frank Castle. I will still buy it regardless as that Punisher MAX ongoing was the definitive run on the Punisher, I’m hoping this will be for Nick Fury too.

  10. I too wish this was available digitally. Don’t understand why all the big two books aren’t.

    • I would guess it’s the mature content that keeps Marvel from putting this out on Comixology.

    • Yeah i would buy the shit out of this on Comixology. oh well looks like i’ll just keep on waiting for the trade 🙁

    • Here’s the thing though, there are tons of books with mature content on Comixology/Graphicly. Is it just because of the Marvel Imprint? If that’s the case, then seperate it into a separate “publisher” like Image Shadowline and only make it available through Comixology/Graphicly and not the Marvel app. Problem solved!

  11. I love this book and I love Parlov’s art, but I still think Steve Dillon is the definitive Garth Ennis artist. If Parlov can draw a better armadillo that might sway me.

    • @thechangingman: Interesting, cause it is a bit of a flip of a coin for me when it comes to his artists. Steve Dillion, for sure, is probably the artist for his work. But then again John McCrea has done a lot of work for him too. Then you gotta add in Darick Robertson and Gordon Parlov cause they did a lot of work for him too.

      So unless there is such a thing as a four sided coin I would say those four artists are THE definitive men when it comes to drawing an Ennis comic.

  12. This is such an amazing book. Ennis is one of my favorite writer, but to your point Josh, he really does need the right artist. Unfortunatley, his work at Avatar is tainted by competent, but not great artists/colorists/inkers. Plus crossed is too gross.

  13. One of the last lines, “I’m not use to her now”, had such a deep double meaning. That ending was crazy. I’m waiting patiently for Nick to win one but I’m still enjoying the ride.

  14. really quickly – is this the start of new arc? i’m looking to jump onto this one.

  15. Holy fudge. I might actually need to buy paper again. :/ too bad comixology won’t put these up.

  16. For some strange reason this series really reminds me of the old pre Nu52 Jonah Hex. I guess it’s probably the fact it’s a period piece.

  17. Great Pick, It had to be. I love this book. In one issue in just a couple of scenes he made Elgren into someopne you got and liked enough that you understood his decision and accepted it. The art is perfect. I love this book and now i have to wait until december. When this wraps it will make a must have collection, oversized would be nice please Marvel.

  18. Josh, you’re making it incredibly difficult to trade-wait this. Stop it.

  19. So, so glad I went back and started getting this title. I skipped it at first because of the Avatar garbage that Ennis did. That was not a wise choice. This book is fan damned tastic.

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