From the greatest intentions and potential comes a story that leads us in many directions at the same time. It’s a journey that begins with a single step, but the next step for the reader is to stop and wonder what is going on!
Fairlady #1, from Image, offers up the novel concept of the ‘side hustling’ private eye. Jenner Faolos is a ‘Fairlady’, the female equivalent of the ‘Fairmen’, private investigators. She is a war veteran, and has a full-time job, working for a wizard. But like I said, ‘side hustle’.
A bookkeeper has disappeared with a lot of money, and her employer has hired Jennifer to track down the bookkeeper and the cash.
The situation is rife with possibility. But writer Brian Schirmer’s narrative is hard to follow. It’s a classic example of too much ‘mystique’ in the unveiling of the plot, combined with flashbacks that serve to disorient the reader. It’s like The Hobbit mixed with Law and Order, but it’s all under wraps.
It’s unfortunate. And while Claudia Balboni and colorist Marissa Louise bring an active imagination to the location and characters in Fairlady, the figures are often very small on the page, with lots of ‘air’ around them. We long for a zoom lens or a cropping tool. We want to get in close, to better understand the drama that is being. so nicely developed.
It’s a fair evaluation, I hope, of the potential for a goldmine of opportunity for future issues to lead us along to greater depths of understanding and enjoyment.
As a bonus, there is a lettercol and several pages of explanatory text at the end of the book. Backstory in the literal sense.
image, Fairlady #1, $3.99 for 32 pages of comic story content. Rated Teen.
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