The movie no one can stop talking about comes to comics with a four part prequel that will explore the backstories of some of the characters. Is it as incredible as the movie? Read on for our review but be warned, there are spoilers for both the movie and comic.
Written by George Miller, Nico Lathouris and Mark Sexton
Illustrated by Mark Sexton, Lendro Fernandez, Riccardo Burchielli and Andrew Mutti
In a fallen world ravaged by oil and water wars, humanity exists without law or mercy. All those who wander the Wasteland are ruled by a single imperative…survive! Among them is Max Rockatansky, a Road Warrior haunted by his turbulent past… “It’s hard to know who is more crazy. Me or everyone else?!”In this first issue, witness the rise of Colonel Joe Moore, a war hero turned tyrannical warlord…The Immortan Joe! And don’t miss the story of Nux, one of the Immortan’s “War Boys,” who knows only the chaos into which he was born. From the mind of George Miller, the creator of the Mad Max trilogy, comes a brand new epic tale that serves as a prelude to the upcoming film, Mad Max: Fury Road!
I haven’t loved a movie as much as Mad Max: Fury Road in quite some time. The action is total eye candy, featuring practical effects that no one has tried before, and subverts gender stereotypes that exist in every action movie. The characters were unlike anything ever attempted in the genre and I think most people have walked away from it wanting more. That’s where this comic series comes in. Movies take a few years to be made and if we get another, it’ll more than likely be a sequel. George Miller obviously had a lot more story to tell and what better way to do it than comics?
“Mad Max: Fury Road: Nux and Immortan Joe” #1 is split into two parts. The first part focuses on Nux, the war boy that goes from enemy of Furiosa and the Five Wives to ally, and Immortan Joe, the sadistic leader of the Citadel. Nux’ story focuses on his childhood and how he becomes a war boy. Nux lived in the Citadel and his father was often sent on dangerous jobs. When his father doesn’t return home, we watch Nux take his place as a war boy thanks to his blind determination. The second tale, telling the rise of Immortan Joe is far more fleshed out. Joe was a colonel during the Oil Wars and when civilization fell, he seized the opportunity to gain power. He and his allies find the Citadel and Joe faces the people who live there in a violent war within the caves. After a few days, he comes out as the winner and becomes the Immortan Joe we know from the film and establishes his tyrannical rule.
Mad Max: Fury Road is an amazing movie and Nux is one of the highlights thanks to his development, but this comic does him no justice. It’s a completely forgettable story that doesn’t add much to the character. It answers the simple question of how he became a war boy, but it’s not a compelling story. It very briefly made me feel pity for Nux, but the movie does that in a much better way. We see his mother and father but learn nothing about their history, their beliefs or their personalities. To be completely honest here, we don’t even get a story. We get snapshots and something that could be the beginning of something meaningful, but falls short of that mark.
Immortan Joe’s story is far more detailed and thus the better of the two by quite a lot. I like a true villain that I can’t root for, and Immortan Joe is that. I can’t find a single redeeming thing about him and that makes for a good action story. It makes us connect to the hero (in this case heroes) more and can offer a interesting character study; bad people like Immortan Joe are interesting to examine because they reflect the darkest parts of humanity. His origin story doesn’t try to make us feel bad for him or even understand why he does what he does. He’s power hungry and takes advantage of a terrible situation, but instead of doing good, he does bad. He does what’s good for him and his ego. He uses the violent skills he’s learned over the years to continue perpetuating that same violence. George Miller’s concept is very good and I think script writers Nico Lathouris and Mark Sexton could have taken it even further and stretched this over the full issue.
Continued belowThere are quite a few artists on this issue. Mark Sexton, Lendro Fernandez and Andrew Mutti all have a few pages but it’s Riccardo Burchielli that handles the bulk of the work. Sexton’s pages are the framing of the story with a tatooed man telling these tales. This design is killer and clearly work intensive since the closeups feature a lot of detail. They literally tell a story and it oddly left me wanting to know about this nameless man. Leandro Fernandez’ Nux page leave something to be desired. The tone is right and he gets the war torn, tired look of the characters right but it’s lack of detail bothers me a little bit. Some characters fade too much into the background and look incomplete. However, the structures of the Citadel are very well done and there’s a panel in particular featuring a sandstorm that pops right off the page.
As mentioned, Riccardo Burchielli does most of the book and his pages are pretty much the entirety of the Immortan Joe story. He does a very good job creating his own world while sticking with the tone of the film. He packs a lot into each panel but nothing really gets lost. The vehicles are very well done but do lack movement. In motion, they look stationary and the best thing about the movie was seeing them in motion doing crazy things. The character designs are very good though. I like the way Burchielli drew the gear on Joe and his allies. Michael Spicer’s colors are good but could have been a bit more varied. The sand and the clothing were almost too similarly colored and there wasn’t a lot or variation on car detailing. Andrea Mutti does the last four pages of the book that cover much of the actual things we see in the movie and in a short time, he nails it. The angles are really cinematic in scope and the last shot of Immortan Joe’s face is killer.
Overall “Mad Max: Fury Road: Nux and Immortan Joe” #1 is a mixed bag. Immortan Joe’s story is a very good read but I can’t say that it was worth the $5 price tag. It’s definitely only something those who have seen the movie could enjoy and the art is a bit hit and miss. We still have three more issues to go, including a Furiosa story and I can only hope that the quality picks up. It can be easy to categorize this as a cash grab if it doesn’t improve.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – Obviously the movie is a lot to live up to but this should have and could have been better.
