3 out of 5

Not a novelization, not a prequel, but a set of stories intended to fill in gaps in the movie Fury Road, a lot of us would have probably bought these issues – regardless of content – simply because of Miller’s name being on there, who’s credited for story as opposed to Lahtouris (also co-writer on the film) and Sexton for script.  That ‘lot of us’ are also probably of the mind that the Fury Road movie was amazing, and are eager to gobble up whatever else we can, as the confidence with which that film built its world without really explaining a single damn thing was a masterpiece of story minimalism and visual overload, where most films are intent to try and cram more and more explanation down our throats until we can’t possibly have any questions.  …This does add a bit of caution to pursuing these books, in a way, which is: do we want to know?  If that open-endedness was part of the appeal of Fury’s setup, will it benefit from having certain aspects enlightened?  And personally, the answer was yes, I wanted to know, and I felt it would be a benefit.  I say this fills in gaps but not in the sense that the movie was at a loss for it.  The movie was complete.  To discover that there actually is a story where the movie implied it is a bonus.

And so we (I) bought these issues because of the movie, because of Miller’s name.  They do end up being worthwhile, but… I’m pretty sure I would’ve stopped after the first couple of issues had I not had passion leftover from the movie.  The first issue, Nux & Immortan Joe, is the worst of this collection.  The pagecount is split unevenly, with Nux getting shafted and having his story (illustrated by Leandro Fernandez) crammed into 6 pages of 30.  Nux – and the War Boys of which he’s part – are such an interesting aspect of the movie, this short tale which tells us at a very high level how Nux found himself in that group is almost a waste of space, as it doesn’t really add to anything.  This still would slot into the implications that already existed with the film.  Immortan Joe’s section (illustrated by Riccardo Burchielli) delves deeper, giving us a little more build-up before it focuses on Joe’s conquering of the citadel, but this, too, feels like highlights.  These are the only two stories that more attempt ‘origins’ than the isolated tales of the following three issues, but by not giving those origins ample space – Joe’s story very easily could have been two parts, like the Max books – it hinders their impact, and the comic reads like a lot of other hastily written movie fluff.

The next issue, Furiosa (Tristan Jones and Szymon Kudranski illustrating) is much better.  It sticks to a selected moment – when Furiosa came in contact with the girls – that helps us understand not only the events leading up to the movie, but gives us a much better understanding of Furiosa’s motivations and personality.  However, the book is also interesting for its resistance to making it new-reader friendly.  True, you’ve probably seen the movie if you’re reading these, but this is the only issue out of the collection that doesn’t do much padding to set the scene.  So while this was more in line with what I’d wanted from this series, the issue doesn’t feel “complete.”  It’s truly a DVD extra featurette; a scene chopped from the film.  Not a horrible criticism, but when you’re reading a comic – especially something billed as a one-shot – whether it’s a movie book or any one-shot from some ongoing series or just a standalone issue – they almost always read better if they feel like full tales, with a beginning and ending.  Otherwise they’re just afloat in a larger story, not really one-shots, and you’re left feeling like you have to return to reading or watching something else to give it closure.

So we’re batting Meh and then Better.  Happily, the two part Max (Mark Sexton illustrating) ends on great, primarily because it does what Furiosa did – focuses on one moment – and also fully functions as a standalone tale.  Sure, it maybe fills in why Max is being hunted at the start of the film, but for all intents and purposes, it’s just another slice of Mad Max adventuring.  Which is grand fun, Sexton giving the art the same frenetic jolt as the movie’s hyper-edited sequences, and manages the difficult task of squeezing out some more personality and background for a character who rarely speaks or emotes.  It seems a little unfair that the title character gets two issues to his name, but the pacing of his story obviously benefits, and makes it seem like the same could’ve been true for all of the highlighted characters.

Each issue is book-ended by a narrator telling the tales to children.  It’s an effective framing device.  I’m not sold on the necessity, but Lathrouis and Sexton do use it to shade the whole Fury Road series with the same sort of fanciful parable feeling on which the movie floats; these things happened, but you’re only hearing / seeing a version of it.  The varied artists throughout are to be commended with capturing the likenesses of the movie’s actors without sacrificing any sense of motion or mobility in the comics, especially impressive in the Max books.  Though I understand Michael Spicer’s coloring gist, matching the yellows and blues of the film and tossing a grain atop the whole thing to keep it gritty, the moodiness ends up feeling somewhat forced.  It would’ve been interesting to blow out the colors in a different fashion, maybe very bright and poppy.  But that’s an experiment that could’ve completely failed, and maybe alienated those who are expecting this to look as close to the movie world as possible.

So, film fans, is it worth it?  Ultimately: yes.  But the execution is partially disappointing, as the series doesn’t really seem to “get” its own formula until the latter half.  But, even with the Nux and Joe issue, I’m happy to have some of the extra details added to the Mad Max world, and I do think it will be interesting to re-view the film with those in mind.  As a comic book, though, the series simply cannot stand on its own, and if I were going the opposite direction – reading the book to see if it would interest me in the film – I’m not sure I would’ve made it through all four issues.