[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Cecil Castellucci
Artist: Adriana Melo
Colors: Hi-Fi
Letters: Carlos M. Mangual
Summary
Aurelie and Willik have been doing private training, and as we saw in the last issue, Willik is abusing his power. Aurelie is, well, honestly, I don’t feel right about giving away too much in this summary. I know the warning says spoilers ahead, but this book deserves better. Suffice to say, things are terrible, Aurelie is treated poorly by her sister and the rest of the Furies. She is alone and betrayed.
Positives
Melo is on her game again in this book. There is a lot of creepy, yuck factor stuff going on in here and honestly, I don’t actually know how she does it, but every bit of anguish, horror and misery that Aurelie is going through is drawn to it’s grotesque perfection. See below. Don’t just glance, but look. See what she is doing here.
Castellucci has a pretty epic story to tell here. She has been given six episodes to sum up what is happening in the real world for women while still telling a super-hero story where Darkseid is the villain. It does not write itself. There is no formula for what she is doing. She is breaking new ground and we should stand in awe of her. A story like this could have been done in so many ways, and I don’t think they would have been right. It is only through the brilliant, careful, and thoughtful writing of Cecil Castellucci that this works.
Negatives
There are some things going on in this book that are going to make you turn your stomach. Seriously, there needs to be a trigger warning for some readers. This is it.
Verdict
This is the right book for the right time. You may be uncomfortable reading it, I know I was, but you need to read it. You need to hand it to your teenage daughters and your teenage sons and then you need to talk about it. Seriously, it is that important.
