Emma Withington reviews The Fix #3…
Roy moonlights as private security for a superstar actress. Superior Foes of Spider-Man-style hilarity from the team that brought you, um, Superior Foes of Spider-Man. We are nothing if not consistent!
After Roy ensures his position as private security for teen Hollywood star Elaina – following the incarceration of good guy (?) Pete Danielson – he embarks on an evening living the ‘high life’, while simultaneously concocting yet another scheme. This time he wants Elaina for a movie project, but as the night comes to a close is it time for Roy to be the ‘big goddamned hero’?
The Fix #3 takes an interesting turn by opening with a satirical social commentary from Roy on the sexualisation of women and the grooming of young girls before the amniotic fluid has been cleaned away, right up until ‘half the country is watching a countdown clock to see what happens when the barely gets dropped off the legal‘. This is done without being at all preachy, but it is there to be found if you wish; raising an important cultural issue within the media and mocks it beautifully.
In The Fix #3 the various threads of Roy’s plans are beginning to become clearer as the strands from each scheme begin to weave together and while we lack Mac this issue, it is not diminished as a result. Roy is arguably the most interesting and entertaining of the two and it was amusing to go on the Roy ride in The Fix #3. This week’s humour highlight has to be the scene between Roy and Donovan – I will not spoil it for you, but you’ll know it when you see it…it’s one of the many tear inducing unpredictable moments of humour The Fix provides.
Nick Spencer and Steve Lieber have a knack for turning low grade villains – as in Superior Foes of Spider-Man – and rendering them engaging and almost likeable, until you remind yourself that you’re not really supposed to ‘like’ these characters. Roy and Mac can only be described as despicably likable, particularly in the case of Roy.
Nick Spencer’s script remains skintight and continues to craft a story that is not at all predictable within its plot or punchlines, in The Fix anything goes and anything could go. While Lieber’s backgrounds are often more of an impression and not necessarily highly detailed, when extra details appear they are masterstrokes – one panel in particular, during a scene in which Roy is driving in a mad panic, you spy a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man in the background adding laughter inducing emphasis to Roy’s flighty panic.
The Fix is aptly named because it is a necessary monthly fix! The Fix #3 raises important issues while maintaining a solid pace, unpredictable storytelling, and we are given yet another dog tease.
If for some reason you haven’t yet checked in to this series, see my previous reviews of The Fix and The Fix #2 and get your fix…
Rating: 10/10
Emma Withington – Follow me on Twitter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszEaHYNDTy5C-cH9Oa2gN5ng&v=CEpvR1NevRs
Originally published June 9, 2016. Updated April 14, 2018.
