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Personal Observations on “Mad Max Fury Road: Furiosa #1″ by Vertigo Comics
Having read the second issue of the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel comic miniseries released by Vertigo Comics, here are some of the observations I have gathered from the official canon backstory involving Furiosa and the Five Wives. Obvious spoilers ahead for those who haven't yet read the comic and to those fair few who still haven't yet seen the film.
While the issue does feature the badass Imperator we all know and love, the title of the comic gives the misconception that the reader will finally learn the backstory of Furiosa and how she came to the Citadel. On the contrary, the entirety of the comic actually focuses on Furiosa and the Five Wives, with the latter group actually taking center stage as the plot of the issue details the everyday lives of Angharad, Capable, Toast, Cheedo, and The Dag under the guarding eyes of Furiosa. If anything, the comic should really be retitled to Mad Max Fury Road: Furiosa + The Five Wives given that the first issue gave equal billing with Nux and Immortan Joe. I mean, come on: even the cover of the issue highlights the Five Wives surrounding the close-up image of Furiosa, which gives the impression that it’s not just about Furiosa but also about the Wives.
That being said, the second issue is a few pages longer than the first one, which is great because that means more story for readers like us to enjoy. And because the story centers on the women of Team War Rig pre-movie, the setting of the whole issue takes place inside the Dome— the interior prison with a repurposed heavy-duty bank vault by the entrance where Immortan Joe keeps his prized breeders.
Because of this, we get to enjoy the minute details of the Dome that we only briefly see at the start of the film. There are proper glimpses of the Wives' sleeping quarters and various scenes where we see a grand piano and plenty of books stacked everywhere in the main area. It is also quite interesting to note that the prison aspect of the Dome is emphasized with exterior views of the place in several panels, which gives the impression that the section of the Citadel looks like a massive bird cage embedded into the rock tower.
It is confirmed that Miss Giddy is one of the Wordburgers—rare history people in the Wasteland whose entire skin is tattooed with various words to preserve stories of different things and people in the past. She was assigned as mentor and caregiver to the Wives and deeply hated Joe and the situation that her charges were suffering under his tyranny. Her presence in the story is so great and valuable because she was ultimately instrumental in giving the Wives a proper education that led them to rebel against Immortan Joe.
Furiosa's appearance in the story mimics her entrance in the film. We see her walking towards the entrance of the Dome with her back towards the reader in order to highlight Joe's insignia branded onto the nape of her neck. Immortan Joe assigned her to guard duty for the Wives because Rictus Erectus made a violent sexual pass towards Angharad after the Organic Mechanic performed a fertility/medical inspection on her. Joe believed that because Furiosa was a woman, there would be no funny business going on if she was the one guarding his “prized treasures”. Coupled with the fact that Joe viewed her as his most fearsome Imperator, he knew that not even his own man-child giant of a son would dare to face off against her. Later on in the story, Joe arrives in the Dome with Rictus Erectus and the Organic Mechanic in tow carrying the fanged chastity belts and forcibly demands that the Wives wear them for their blatant disobedience.
I really love the art style implemented in the comic because it shows the kind of post-apocalyptic desert grittiness that we see in the film. All the characters featured are deliberately drawn to be imperfect, including the Wives. The girls are never shown to have supermodel good-looks on the pages (i.e. The Dag was drawn to be slightly unkempt and feral-looking) which I greatly appreciated. There's even a few well-sketched panels that highlight Joe's disgusting boils and pustules when he is shown partially naked. Furiosa's design in the comic is largely faithful to her look in the movie and it's so interesting to see that she mostly keeps to the shadows when she stands watch on the Wives because it adds so much mystery to her character as a hardened and taciturn female warrior.
Let's get the bad news out the way: expect to have slightly graphic scenes involving rape, violence, and self-harm in this issue. I know a lot of fans of the movie were relieved to see that we never get to see the ordeal of the Wives onscreen, but that's because this was reserved for the prequel comics, which I personally think was a smart move on George Miller's part. Readers are warned that several parts of this comic may be triggering because of the images on display. Among the scenes that may be hard to stomach include Joe's first rape of Angharad (though again, it's never explicitly shown), Angharad attempting to abort the fetus after the Organic Mechanic confirmed her pregnancy, and Joe cruelly dragging The Dag by her hair after she lashed out at him for trying to make sexual moves on Cheedo, who is confirmed to be a virgin and the only one of the Five untouched by Immortan Joe.
This isn't to say that the comic doesn't have it's lighter moments. Apart from the gnarly mistreatment we see the Wives endure, we get to see them flourish under the loving tutelage of Miss Giddy. The comic makes good work of showing us that the Wives are really well-educated and talented women. Several panels showcase their ability to read books, play musical instruments (Capable wielding an acoustic guitar!), and even singing. It's especially telling that their capacity to hope for a better life has not diminished even under the horrors inflicted upon them by Joe. There's even a great moment where The Dag humorously cosplayed as Immortan Joe while making exaggerated impressions on their oppressor, and the other Wives had a good laugh about it. I'm really glad that despite their nightmare situation the Citadel, the Wives are still able to bond together over small things that allow them maintain a positive outlook in life.
Initially, the relationship between Furiosa and the Wives is a fraught one. Furiosa starts out as a distant and indifferent presence to the Wives that Capable actually berates her for not being the protector they all thought she was. There is even a key moment when Furiosa stopped Angharad from her abortion attempt and the other Wives immediately dogpile on her to protect their sister. The tongue-lashing that the Wives receive from Furiosa after their scuffle is exceptionally powerful and heartbreaking because it shows exactly how the two sides see each other under the circumstances they were forced into. Ultimately, the Wives come to trust Furiosa and be comfortable with her presence despite the knowledge that she is merely there to protect them from untoward male attackers and not to protect them from Immortan Joe himself. And although it is never confirmed by Furiosa herself, it is revealed by Angharad during one of their tense conversations that she knows Furiosa was once a Wife of Immortan Joe. Unless there will be another prequel issue (or a film prequel) that will put credence to this revelation, it is left to the reader to speculate on the exact circumstances that led to Furiosa's demotion (or promotion) from abused breeder to respected Imperator.
I love the fact that even though they share the same plight, there are still little details between the Wives that lets us see them as three-dimensional characters. There's a poignant scene where The Dag angrily confronts Angharad because she's Joe's "favorite" and Splendid responds by affirming The Dag's courage and initiative to protect Cheedo when she couldn't. What follows is a pivotal moment of fierce sisterhood between the five women (the birth of Angharad’s iconic words, namely: ”We are not things!”) witnessed by Miss Giddy herself. This is where you truly appreciate Angharad's position as the de facto leader of the Wives because she is fiercely vocal about them getting through their ordeal as one, that she feels the influence of Furiosa has showed them that they do have the strength to survive the world they live in, and believing that they can truly escape their situation at all costs.
The final pages of the issue are especially moving and filled with tension since it shows that Furiosa had finally reached her boiling point with Immortan Joe's bullshit and told the Wives about the "Green Place". Suffice to say, the last panels reveal that the escape of the Wives was done the night before Furiosa's supply run and the women were aided by Miss Giddy. It broke my heart to learn that the Wives actually wanted their beloved Wordburger to join them, but Miss Giddy refused knowing she was too weak and frail to survive their perilous quest. Fun fact: Furiosa managed to kill her replacement guarding the Dome's entrance with a deadly headshot so that she would be able to safely smuggle the Wives out of their prison in the dead of night and stow them in the cargo hold of the War Rig.
"Who killed the world? No one could say, but I remember the After-Time.
It was the Age of the Immortan, the Warlord of the Wastes. His Citadel rose high against the meat-eating sun. It was here he kept his Five Wives locked up tight, all shiny and chrome; his ticket to a full-life son and heir. Their teacher was Miss Giddy, the History Woman who fed their heads with Wordburgers and smarts.
Then there were the War Boys, the Immortan's rabid warriors. As their flesh failed, the War Boys refueled at the Blood Bag Bank where the Organic Mechanic primed their pumps with healthy Hi-Octane Red. Further down were the Cog Fodder; their ragged legs powered the lifts. Below us all were the Wretched, the deformed and rotting garbage of this world.
As for us, we were the War Pups. Too young to fight, we watched and waited for our time to do war...
This was Citadel.
Oh, what a lovely day..."
— As told by a grown-up War Pup of the Citadel ( x )