Franny and her new friend get to know one another as the town tries to come to terms with a shocking crime and infestation. Your Major Spoilers review of Fishflies #2 from Image Comics, awaits!
FISHFLIES #2
Writer: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Jeff Lemire
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Greg Lockard
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $5.99
Release Date: October 10th, 2023
Previously in Fishflies: A small Canadian town has found itself at the center of a swarm of harmless bugs called Fishflies. A young girl named Frannie has befriended a man who has transformed into a human-sized bug and who is guilty of accidentally shooting a teenager.
FOLLOW THE BUGS
Fishflies #2 starts off with a quick scene of the mother of the boy who was shot the night prior standing outside the scene of the crime examining the corpses of the fishflies. Things then cut to Frannie as she spends time with her new friend before leaving him behind to go to school. Elsewhere a police officer is on the search for the person who committed the botched robbery. He heads back to the station where he’s met by the victim’s mother who explains to him that she had a vision while sitting at the hospital with her comatose son. She believes that the fishflies will lead them to answers and it all is tied to the moon. The robber, whose name is Lee, suddenly wakes up in his human form, but in a strange place. He’s met by the image of the boy he shot and attempts to apologize. Frannie comes home from a rough day at school, but things get better when she learns about one of Bug’s abilities.
LIKING WHERE THIS IS GOING
I would say that one of Lemire’s strongest talents is how he grounds exceptionally strange things with very real human conditions. He rarely punches down and always manages to give his characters dignity at times when it would be easier to let them be caricatures. Case in point, the mother. On the surface, what happens is a person who is charged emotionally, enters a police station, and starts ranting about the moon and bugs. In other places, it’s easy to see how the mother would be portrayed as being crazy and unhinged. Yet here, her grief is palpable and it’s much easier to interpret her as being simply lost and grasping at something to explain the tragedy that’s hit her and her family. This sort of treatment is extended to just about every character that appears here, making this still feel like a sort of slice-of-life title, even as things start to tiptoe into David Lynch or Stephen King territory. There’s no doubt that this is a slow-moving story, but it doesn’t feel like it’s simply treading water, rather it’s letting these characters show their depths in ways that don’t feel forced or out of place. But this sort of pacing won’t be for everyone, and I think that considering this is a 60-page comic, there was probably some room to move things along just a tad.
THE MANY FACES OF TIRED
Everyone in Fishflies #2 looks tired. Yet, they don’t all look the same. The police officer has the sort of tiredness that comes from sitting through a long shift which is conveyed via the heavy bags under his eyes. The mother, with her wide, nearly manic-looking expression looks like someone who hasn’t slept in 48 hours and whose life is being drained away by panic. Even young Frannie has a far-off stare that suggests she’s already grown tired of her life in the small town. Basically, the art does just as much work in terms of adding depth to the characters as the story does, and that’s pretty dang impressive.
BOTTOM LINE: SOMEHOW BETTER THAN THE FIRST ISSUE
Even though I thought there were places where the pace could’ve been sped up in this issue, I don’t think the choices made were necessarily bad ones, and I can’t deny that I enjoyed reading this issue. There’s something so captivating about Lemire’s characters, both in their characterization and appearance, that even if what they’re doing doesn’t push the plot forward in big ways, you feel entertained regardless. 5 out of 5 stars.
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Fishflies #2
Fishflies #2 picks up where the stellar first issue left off and just keeps bringing the quality. The slow burn pace might not be for everyone, but you’d be hard pressed to find such well depicted characters elsewhere.
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Writing10
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Art10
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Coloring10
At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.