Fishflies #1: Where The Insects Sing

Do you recall the sluggish and loneliest moments of your childhood summers? Fragments of memory stand out in my mind. Swings swaying gently in a warm breeze, a persistent sense of stickiness, and a child’s imagination working in overdrive. When I was a youngster, it was simply life, but now it’s a melancholic affliction that haunts the deepest recesses of my adult mind. Jeff Lemire’s “Fishflies” serves as a spectral reminder of those memories, addressing its subject matter with subtle and delicate prose.

The story follows a man who committed the grave error of shooting a child during a botched robbery on the same night the fish flies had descended upon the town. As he grows ill and feeble, he takes refuge in an abandoned farm silo belonging to a young girl, gradually transforming into a fly-like creature. He and the girl named Fran, cast aside by society, form a connection based on their subjective isolation.

This issue does not provide an extensive plot setup or establish a clear theme. Instead, it revels in a silent form of storytelling, weaving a narrative centered around the book’s atmosphere and our main characters’ interpersonal lives and traumas. Lemire’s dialogue writing is incisive, and the town of Belle River and its residents are well-informed through conversations that feel authentic but are not written as parodies of real life.

The book portrays small-town seclusion reasonably and realistically. While Fran’s home life may be distressing to witness, it is counterbalanced by her ability to escape into the world around her and transform the desolate expanse of never-ending farmlands into something resembling happiness. Losing oneself in the void while reading this book alongside Fran is effortless.

Lemire’s artwork is at its zenith. His use of coloring is exceptionally well-executed and effectively builds the book’s atmosphere of melancholic tension, particularly during the opening scene of the mini-mart robbery, as well as throughout the Flyman’s gruesome metamorphosis. Deep hues are selectively employed to convey story beats and character quirks, while a watery blend of white and gray fills the remaining world with tonal ease. The book relies on its panel-to-panel visual storytelling to convey the incremental progression of the narrative, and Lemire’s art effectively communicates each moment with clear intent and impact.