Fly #1

Publisher: Zenescope Entertainment
Writer: Raven Gregory
Artist: Eric J
Release Date: June 2011

Fly is the latest book from Zenescope Entertainment, a company which I have grown rather fond of over the past year or so. However, just like Brimstone (which I reviewed HERE) which was also recently published, Fly serves up something completely different to what Zenescope usually has on offer. And the result is an astonishingly successful first issue.

Centred around a drug which gives people the ability to fly, this book wastes no time in jumping straight into the story. In an effective way of storytelling, we meet Eddie a man who is being tormented by his ex-wife Danielle, a woman who is suffering from an addiction to the powerful drug which not only allows her to fly but also gives her an immense amount of strength as well. Then the build up to the first few pages begins as we are taken back to Eddie’s teenage years when he first began to use the drug in a series of flashbacks.

The flashback scenes make up most of the issue and are gorgeously illustrated. In comparison to the rougher “grown up” scenes in the issue, the flashbacks are a lot smoother and simpler, likely done to reflect how much Eddie’s life has changed and how much darker it has become since he began using the fly drug. My only concern with the artwork is that Zenescope often change their artists, a lot of time from issue to issue, and since this style is so striking and complimentary of the story, I hope they manage to keep Eric J on as penciller for as long as possible. I am attached to his style already and I’ll be gutted if another artist comes in that doesn’t quite do the story as much justice.

Storywise, as a first issue (as I have already mentioned) the effective use of action first back story later works brilliantly. It gives us something to look forward to and a reason to keep reading, because although the flashback scenes are well written and are fun to read, what I’m really interested in is the darker grown up story of how Eddie’s life (and those around him) has changed since being exposed to the drug. We already have hints from his run in with Danielle early on, but there’s other characters that are introduced in the flashbacks that I’m sure we are bound to see all grown up in future issues.

One thing is clear from the writing and that is that a lot of hard work has gone into making this a tight, sometimes funny, sometimes dark story which after reading the afterward on Raven Gregory’s own addiction, comes though in the writing and I imagine writing Fly was an almost therapeutic activity for Gregory, channelling a dark period of his life into a medium his obviously has a great deal of passion for. And while I don’t expect this to always be the easiest of reads because of the dark subject matter, as a reader it is refreshing to have something like Fly available as it is completely different to anything else that is out there.

In short, if you haven’t got this yet then try and get a hold of it. I know the first printing sold out and hopefully there will be a second coming before issue two because Fly #1 really feels like it is the start of a very special on-going series.

Rating: 5/5