‘Fishflies’ HC (review)

Written and Illustrated by Jeff Lemire
Published by Image Comics

Writer and artist Jeff Lemire is still one of the most creative and thrilling creators in the comic book industry. His creativity really knows no bounds. He can do everything from writing, to drawing, to lettering and coloring and even painting. He also can work for the Big Two and then work on creator owned titles.

This is one of his more recent creator owned titles and it is a good one. It combines psychological horror along with body horror and it all really works well. It goes into unexpected places and it works on a few different levels as well.

The opening scene has a bunch of kids getting ice cream and popsicles. They get to where they are going and they see a parking lot full of insects, and one of them has to make their way into the store. It is weird.

But Lemire doesn’t care about being weird. He just goes for it and swings for the fences and he succeeds more often than not.

The book focuses on a lonely girl named Franny Fox. Franny is a perfect Lemire character from the very start. She is kind of creepy and innocent and not at all ordinary. Franny could easily fit into one of Lenore’s Essex Stories.

But there is a little more to Franny than we can originally see. As the book gets going, we get to see new depths to her character. With these, it is a slow burn. Lemire has his own pace when creating his characters and stories that you have to just let them both wash over you. He does that vary well with this book.

A big part of any story by Jeff Lemire is that he creates a real sense of place. No matter if it’s the post apocalyptic world of Sweet Tooth or the the oceanic scenes of The Underwater Builder, Lemire really knows show to make his environments be a character of sorts in the book. This book takes place in Bell River, Ontario, and that really works in the book’s favor. Lemire does a great job of capturing the mood of the piece in both his writing and his art. Not many creators can do what he does this effectively.

The story follows Franny as she is going about her day. The whole town seems to be reeling as there is a serial killer on the loose.

Everyone is scared as they do not want to be hurt. That is when Franny encounters this supposed serial killer. He isn’t doing too well though and seems to be dying, bleeding everywhere. She finds him in her parent’s barn and doesn’t know what to do. She asks him s bunch of questions and he is forced to leave the barn. But the story just starts really getting going from there.

There is one major event that happens in the first chapter that is the catalyst for the rest of the series. It hangs over the series for the rest of the book. I don’t want to spoil what it is, but it one hell of a development.

As the series goes on, there are more things that happens with the Fishflies of the title. Their existence starts intersecting more and more as the series progresses. Things start getting weirder and weirder.

Franny then starts to assist the weird fugitive. He had a place to get to before he dies. Franny wants to help him and is even unsure at times if she should. But the pair keep on going the best that they can. They travel a lot of ground together. The people of the town are hunting this fugitive. They all want blood too. They are determined to get it, no matter the cost. And if the whole town is out to get justice. It is a slow burn but it does get pretty insane.

The ending of the book puts together all of the threads perfectly. It is not too happy of an ending nor does it need to be. Jeff Lemire definitely does a good job with it. The writing and artwork are perfect. Overall, it is another fine work by a talent that never fails to create an interesting comic book story.

RATING: A