Posted in: Comics | Tagged: adriana melo, Cecil Castellucci, dc, female furies, jack kirby

Female Furies: Cecil Castellucci and Adriana Melo Deconstruct Systemic Misogyny in Jack Kirby's 4th World

Published Mon, 12 Nov 2018 17:30:43 -0600

DC Comics has announced a new six-issue mini-series debuting in February from the creative team of Cecil Castellucci and Adriana Melo, exploring modern understanding of feminism through the lens of the early days of Apokolips, starring the titular Female Furies: Big Barda, Aurelie, Mad Harrier, Lashina, Bernadeth, and Stompa. A press release on DCComics.com provides more details:

For their entire lives, the Female Furies have been raised to be the meanest, most cunning, and ruthless fighting force on all of Apokolips. So why is it that Granny Goodness' girls are left behind every time the men go to war? With the might of New Genesis hanging over the planet, and the Forever People making mincemeat of Darkseid's army, Granny thinks it's time all of that changed.

It's against that backdrop that the Female Furies—Big Barda, Aurelie, Mad Harriet, Lashina, Bernadeth, and Stompa—set out to beat the boys at their own game. Little do they know, the game is rigged and the suffering cycle continues to repeat. One mistake could spell disaster for our heroines!

In that press release, Castellucci had a lot to say about the upcoming series:

Female Furies takes place smack in the middle of Jack Kirby's original Fourth World, so if you know Kirby's New Gods well you'll have a familiar understanding of the key players and their motivations. However, you don't need prior knowledge of Apokolips to enter this story; just remember that there are often terrible people in power…and then there are the people who are being held down by them.

I'm playing with the core elements of female relationships within the ranks of the Furies, but I'm also aiming to deconstruct their relationships and look at how systemic misogyny and harassment contribute to some storytelling stereotypes. While you can see infighting and power struggles in some stories about the Female Furies, the fact is that the Furies are kept down by the circumstances of where they live and who is in power. Naturally, these women are strong and capable, so this story is meant to try to blow up some of those stereotypes and look at them with a new view, especially in this moment of time.

My best advice going into Female Furies? Remember the classic phrase 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Jack Kirby's over-the-top type of comic book characters are like our modern-day myths and fairy tales. They're flexible and able to withstand different kinds of interpretations of their story. In fact, shaking it up actually enriches and deepens those characters. Just as the Furies and Granny are more complex in my story, so are Darkseid and his Elite. Darkseid and his henchmen can withstand a little harsh light shed on them.

Check out the cover below by Mitch Gerads, and look for Female Furies #1 in stores on February 6th.