I really enjoyed the artwork but the story didn't work for me. It lacked cohesion.

Too much is introduced without anything being explained for a first volume. There's a framing sequence taking place now that appears to have very little to do with what's occurring in Victorian England. The Victorian England story takes place at both the beginning and end of that story. It's very confusing. The main story, the origin of these 2 abused women takes too long to get going and some of it is very confusing. We don't really even get a sense of where this is headed before the book ends. The art was quite good though.

Two women versus the British Empire. It is this a fair contest? Their fury and hatred date back to the time of the Glass Pavilion during the time of Queen Victoria when a Japanese woman encounters a member of the British aristocracy. They bond over the body of a baby and the run through the city that follows. The organization they founded is still creating havoc in the present. It will be interesting to see what future issues will reveal.

'Shi #1: In the Beginning There Was Fury' by Zidrou with art by Jose Homs has pretty good art, but the story felt a bit scattered all over the place.

Two women meet in London in 1851. The Great Exhibition is going on. There are also seedy, dark things going on. Men meeting in secret to dress like native Americans. Perverted priests want to take advantage of women. A lone Japanese woman wants to grieve her dead child and bury it, but what happens to the child is sacrilege.

Evil men in power exploiting and degrading women is an okay theme, but when you draw lots of naked women in your comic, I feel like it is also exploiting and degrading. Yes, there are some nude men, but this doesn't seem to contradict the story as much.

Okay, rant over. The other problem I had was the story felt like there were a lot of pieces that were just coming together when the book ended. There is a framing story that takes place later in time, and it felt a bit tacked on. Perhaps future issues clarify things a bit more. The art is pretty good too.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Europe Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

A fun adventure graphic novel. great art style too. Looking forward to more.

This gets a 5/5 for the art because it's absolutely gorgeous and I love the IDEA of the story but I feel like either this volume is too short or maybe it's just taking too long to get to the point because I didn't feel like there was really an entirely complete coherent arc to this.

Also while I really like the idea of these two women in Victorian times taking revenge on the men who have wronged them, the set-up to these kinds of stories often seems kind of gross/slightly exploitational to me. I feel like it could definitely go on to become a really interesting story but this first volume was just so-so, although like I said the art was absolutely amazing so I really enjoyed just looking at it.

Also the ARC that I received had every V and R in the text like dropped down into the next line so it was really kind of difficult to read sometimes. Although I hope that won't be something that people will have to deal with in the final version.

In the Beginning There Was Fury is the first part to Shi series. It's set in London and in 1851 when the Great Exhibition was held there. Considering the time period, it's awesome that the comic is about girl power and the need to fight the system. Jennifer and a Japanese girl Kitamakura join forces in order to fight for their rights. In this first part we just mostly see how these two met and have no common language even. The thing with Zidrou though? He really cannot move the story coherently and it takes forever before you understand what is happening. The first half of the comic is just instances and places changing and nothing to create a base for the story. The comic is very sporadic and only the ending makes some sense, and there's hardly anything happening either.

Some of the letters, mostly R, have jumped slightly lower than the rest, so reading the comic was hard and unpleasant. There's quite a lot of text and I cannot really comprehend how no one noticed this before it was out. Kitamakura talks in Japanese too and translation would've been great although I do understand Japanese, so for me it wasn't a problem. Shi means death and it would've been great to know why it was chosen as the name. The art is surely the best part of the comic and Homs' line art is thin and precise. The colors are divine and create the perfect atmosphere around the story. All the characters look different and they have facial expressions too and art-wise this is just plain wow. I wish Zidrou would move his stories better, since the art works and it's a shame how the potential is lost so clearly.

Shi (In The Beginning There Was Fury) is a lushly illustrated novel about Victorian society and the positions women had in them in London. Set in 1851 at the opening of the Crystal Palace, it takes place in the heart of an empire that spans the world and includes people from many nations. But it is also very much a patriarchal rule despite a female queen. Into this we have two very strong women who will have to fight with everything they have in order to find their own place in the world. Most especially, the battle against the various men's societies that want to exploit them. Shi doesn't shy from the coarse and this is definitely a book intended for mature audiences. The story is bookended with the modern times and the influence of the past on the future.

Story: In a near future London, an explosives manufacturer reminds that it is people, not his products, that cause the wars killing so many. In 1851 London, Jen enjoys high society and the coddling of her wealthy military father; whether she is painting nudes or then studying photography, he has allowed her some free reign. When she is photographing a young Japanese woman at the Great Exhibition, she is stunned to find the woman holding a deceased infant. Fearing for the woman's sanity, the woman is arrested and the body quickly disposed. Jen is whisked away from the scene by her father. But she wants to help the young woman; she enacts a plot to rescue her from the sanitarium and help her get back her buried baby so the woman can grieve properly. Together, they will face a a group of debauched men's club that includes Jen's own father. Can she help Kitamakura escape from the authorities and her own father?

Most of the story involves Jennifer trying to free Kitamakura while also being chased across London. But we're also shown into the very debauched private club of her father as well as the brothels and pleasure places they inhabit. It's a harsh view on Victorian society and Jennifer is anything but the shy retiring miss of the period. Perhaps she's a bit too anachronistic but I appreciated that she really didn't get away with being so rebellious and was paying a harsh price for it.

We don't know much about Kitamakura yet since most of the book is a long chase scene. But it will be interesting to see where the story goes in future volumes and how we will learn more about the young Japanese lady. There are clues already that she is unusual - she has a large oni tattoo that takes up most of her back and we don't know anything about the dead baby she was holding.

The illustration work is superb but I do have to take one star off the rating for the lack of homework done by the illustrator. The women are all wearing clothing from the 1870s and not the 1850s. It's like setting the story in 1950 but everyone is wearing 1980s neon power clothing with big shoulder pads - it just makes the whole story feel sloppy. But it is quite lovely and detailed and the illustrator does an excellent job with action scenes.

The book contains quite a bit of nudity and sexual situations along with hallucinogenics. I mention this because at times it felt gratuitous (e.g., Jen has to fit through a small opening so she takes off her dress - and runs around in an underclothing with her butt hanging out through most of it). I don't think even a forward thinking and rebellious girl like her would be that comfortable in that position. So I feel this is more of an urban fantasy/action adventure than anything remotely historical.

In all, the excellent illustration work and intriguing story make this a good read. It's a shame about the details being so off, though. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

In the beginning there was mediocrity, more like... This merely gets together two women of the 1850s, an English rose whose father is in some weird culty thing for little reason other than to prove his evil, and a Japanese lass employed at the Great Exhibition to just stand as background in the exotic novelty of souvenir portrait photographs. The book promises that they will somehow enforce a secret society of Mothers Against Naughtiness, or suchlike, which will lead to the prologue scene here, of a warrmongering businessman losing his family. That's what it promises - what it delivers is baggy, woolly, wordy, clearly just the introduction, and far too fond of upskirting its heroine. Future books (only one further one exists in the original French at time of writing) might have something, but this needed a kick up its arse. Also, for some bizarre reason, all the Vs and Rs were seriously misaligned, and almost appeared on the line below. Bloody annoying when a heroic cameo is called Trevor!

This first installment leaves too many questions unattended and the plot development is not clear at all, so I don't know if I want to read the next chapter or maybe this one was enough, that said mixed feelings is a good enough definition of my feelings towards this comic.

Questo primo numero lascia troppe domande aperte e lo svoglimento della trama non é affatto chiaro, quindi sono indecisa se leggere o meno il prossimo numero perché questo non mi ha soddisfatto tanto, ma nel prossimo potrei trovare qualche ulteriore risposta alle mie domande...vedremo

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!

The story feels undeveloped. I have been able to read it thanks to Netgalley. The idea for the plot caught my attention. Two women against the British Empire that lay the groundwork for a criminal organisation that will sow a terror...

I understand this is the first volume/part but it still lacks so much to be called one whole volume on my opinion. It's more like the introduction first few chapters to the story.

The novel takes place in XIX and XXI centuries. It opens with the court trial, mine that blows up killing a child and then skips to the XIXc. When a rich family visits famous exhibition in which death is discovered. Two women from two different society classes meet and then not much happens.

Secret brotherhood, nudity scenes and sexual content.

Overall it's a great idea, but for me it is barely the idea that is so much undeveloped that 2 stars is a generous rating.