Tweet
Fly, The - Outbreak #1
Released by: IDW Publishing
Released on: March 18th, 2015.
Written by: Brandon Seifert
Art by: menton3
Purchase From Amazon
Dr. Martin Brundle, son of a certain scientist who decades back created a teleportion device that melded his genes with that of a housefly, continues to experiment in the same field you'd expect him to. He's married to his wife Beth and their relationship definitely has some kinky spark to it, but she's nonplussed about the fact that he insists on wearing a condom during every part of their sex life. Why? It's not that he doesn't want kids, it's that he's 'got buggy genes.' Tests show that he's clean but he will not risk it. He doesn't want to create more human/fly hybrids.
And then there's the matter of Anton Bartok, a man that Brundle did make into a monster. Beth argues that he was already a monster in his own way but Brundle knows what he did. He keeps Bartok in a lab cell where security monitors him but when Anton escapes, it goes south and fast. Brundle's experiment, in which he tried to tone down the effects of the fly genes in Bartok, instead had the opposite effect and now there's a dead security guard to prove it. Brundle confronts Bartok but it goes poorly and before you know it, there's a firefight and an unexpected exposure that's sure to have long lasting and horrific results.
This first issue does a nice job of setting up some interesting possibilities. If the plot devices are a little bit convenient there's enough originality in the setup and character development that takes place between Brundle and his missus to keep things interesting. We want to know more about what's happened to them, about how things go to be the way that they are with Anton Bartok and about their relationship. Seifert's dialogue works well in these more intimate scenes between the two of them - you get a feel for the problems that they have. The scene in which Bartok and Brundle come face to face and Bartok addresses Brundle as 'son' (which upsets him) is also a nice touch. It'll help to have an idea of what came before - Cronenberg's The Fly and its sequel rather than the original Vincent Price movie and its sequels - but you don't have to be an expert on those films to pick up what's going on here.
Menton3's artwork suits the story quite well. It's dark and occasionally a bit abstract but it has an effectively creepy tone to it. There's nice use of color here, splattery icky color with a slightly nauseating neon look to it during a few key scenes. Blacks are also used well to build some shadowy atmosphere. There's also an obvious respect for the design work that was employed in the Cronenberg movie , you can see it in the way that the pods are illustrated as well as the monster design used to portray Bartok. You can also see it in the likenesses conjured up for Martin and Beth as they are similar enough to their Hollywood counterparts (Eric Stoltz and Daphne Zuniga) to work. The scene where Brundle and Beth get intimate has some great lighting effects on display that do a good job of not only accentuating the kinky/sexy side of the pages but the more intimate, sensitive discussion that takes place afterwards.
So we'll see where this goes, obviously, but the first issue of this follow up in comic book form shows plenty of promise. These guys are going for an R-Rated audience and not dumbing things down, which is nice to see. It's probably safe to assume things will only get more interesting from here on out.
