Cover of Female Furies #1. Mitch Gerads/DC Comics

DC has announced a new six-issue Female Furies miniseries to launch in February from writer Cecil Castellucci (Shade, the Changing Girl) and artist Adriana Melo (Plastic Man), with covers from Mitch Gerads (Mister Miracle).

The Female Furies, for the uninitiated, are a staple of Jack Kirby’s Fourth World saga, an elite all female fighting squad who are among the toughest soldiers on Apokolips, which is the fiery and awful planet controlled by the massive cosmic fascist, Darkseid. Darkseid and his ilk are in what is basically a forever war with way nicer cosmic folk on New Genesis. In this new story, DC teases that the Furies and their leader, the ironically named Granny Goodness, will question why in spite of their proficiency they are left behind every time the men go to war.

This, quite simply, is one of those perfect matches of creators and properties. Castellucci’s most recent work for DC was Shade, the Changing Girl, which reimagined and updated the 1970s Steve Ditko creation Shade, The Changing Man with a heavy dose of today’s sensibilities.

This series also comes amid somewhat renewed interest in Kirby’s Fourth World properties, what with a film coming soon from Ava DuVernay and this Wednesday’s conclusion of the critically-lauded Mister Miracle maxiseries comic from writer Tom King and Gerads. This new series is not a sequel to Mister Miracle, set as it is before Big Barda first escaped Apokolips.

Polygon had early word of all of this, along with unfinished preview art and some thoughts from the creative team.

Here’s some of what Castellucci told Polygon:

“The fact is that the Furies are kept down by the circumstances of where they live and who is in power. How do women in that kind of world have an awakening, and ultimately a reckoning, with their lot? And how do they come into their own true power and become a team to make a change for better or worse? What does it mean to have someone’s back after years of stabbing people in the back?”

Timely stuff. Here’s the full solicit from DC, followed by unfinished art from the first issue:

For their entire lives, the Female Furies have been raised to be the meanest, most cunning, and most 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.

And so it is that 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 one mistake could spell disaster for our heroines!

FEMALE FURIES is an exciting new series featuring some of Jack Kirby’s coolest Fourth World characters, brought to life by the writer of SHADE, THE CHANGING GIRL and the artist of PLASTIC MAN!

Unfinished art from Female Furies #1. Adriana Melo/DC Comics

 

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