Female Furies #5 Review

Time Wasters

Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artist: Adriana Melo
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 5, 2019

It's time to jump back into Female Furies for this penultimate issue.  I have been up and down with this series and while I have some problems with the characterizations and overall pacing of the story, I have loved the art throughout.  I am sure that some reviewers out there are avoiding this book because of its message and while I think that it has dominated the story more than it should at times (more on that later), I won't sit here and say that there isn't a place for it in comics.  The question I have, is this the place, though?  Well, let's jump into the issue and see what's going on...



We open with the Furies on Earth, trying to find Barda.  We shift (too) quickly to find Barda confronting Oberon about the whereabouts of Mister Miracle before tossing him over her shoulder.  Things really progress in a quick and confusing manner when Barda finds Scott and they make out and off they go.

The Furies then get sidetracked a bit when they look into a house and see a man and woman...showing affection for one another...with touching even!!!!!  Yea, it's a bit of nonsense that is interrupted by Barda showing up to kick ass even though she seemed to be escaping one page before.  It does lead to some of the most ridiculous trash talking ever.  The trash talk and the fight ends for some odd reason and everyone is besties again.

We do get back to the main message of the series as the Furies remember all the times they were treated bad with a big speech from Barda.  The speech is pretty basic but nothing horrible, but the idea that it completely turns all the Furies to Barda's side felt a bit silly and unearned.

Back on Apokolips, Granny is arguing with Tigra, but the big reveal is what Lump is made of and it's not sugar and spice and everything nice!  The issue continues with Barda, Lashina and the Furies returning to Apokolips to get revenge on Willick.  Of course, he ends up crying like a real piece of shit and I have to admit that I liked seeing him getting his just deserts. It all ends with Granny being snubbed and the Furies deciding their revenge plot is going to get at least a part two.

While this issue had the least amount of forced message delivery, what we did get was more comical than hard-hitting.  That wasn't the problem, though.  The problem was that with less message going on, it was more obvious that this book just doesn't have any real story to grab onto and worse yet, the characters in the story are way underdeveloped.  Mister Miracle feels like he is only here to grab the Tom King fans out there and I can only imagine they'd be very underwhelmed.  Adriana Melo's art continues to be the high point, but there just isn't much else to recommend.  

Bits and Pieces:

This series has been a disappointment.  Cecil Castellucci seemed more interested in pushing her message through the first 3 issues and now the book continues to suffer from a lack of story and character work.  Things just happen for no reason other than to push the book to next month's final issue and that's a shame.  I hope the finale can right the ship as it steers into port, but I'm doubting that now, more than ever.

5.0/10