Review: ‘Fishflies’ #2 Explores Childlike Innocence

A child’s innocence is ripe with potential for storytellers. Jeff Lemire, in particular, uses kids to help introduce the reader to the world that he’s creating and to help to give a much-needed perspective when dealing with fantastical events.

Lemire has done it repeatedly in his stories, from Little Monsters, which features a world inhabited by adolescent vampires; to Descender, about a childlike robot; to Bone Orchard: Tenement, another current series in which a child is guiding a group of arguing adults.

In Fishflies, Lemire’s main focus is on Franny Fox, an awkward girl who befriends an escaped criminal who has turned into a larger than life fishfly. The entire town of Belle River is searching for this convict after he shot another kid, but Franny sees something in him. She knows that Lee David Simard has done wrong, but she hides and feeds him so even her father is unaware. And Simard returns the favor by befriending her.

Like many of Lemire’s child characters, Franny is an outsider, even in school. She is picked on by the other girls. Her nose is always running and she considers herself to be gross. Lemire, who writes and draws the series, dresses her in a red coat – nearly the only color in the book – further setting her apart from the world around her.

While the approach can seem overused, especially for Lemire, he manages to keep it fresh in each distinct story. Yes, these kids are outsiders, but we can all see a bit of ourselves in each of them. At some point in our lives, we’ve all felt like we don’t fit in. So reading Lemire’s stories feel somewhat nostalgic while at the same time, also showing us how we would hope we would have reacted to similar situations at that age.

As long as he can keep tapping into those feelings, his approach is never going to get old.

Fishflies #2 is available for purchase today.