I know that there are many fans of Dr. Horrible among the CliqueClack audience. Those of you that count yourself among that lot will probably remember the contest that coincided with the DVD. Fans were given the opportunity to submit video applications to the Evil League Of Evil, with the winners being included on the DVD. One of those that I thought was a standout was Fury Of Solace. Unfortunately, it didn’t make the cut, but the story doesn’t end there. Fury Of Solace is back, and in a very interesting way.
The majority of web shows play out much like their counterparts on the television. You watch the episodes, in order, and it tells the story. Generally, there is a little more interaction via the official website and the various social media channels. For the most part though, that’s the deal. Fury Of Solace is taking an entirely different approach. The show now takes advantage of all that the Internet has to offer.
Along with regular live-action episodes, there will also be episodes that take the form of 8 page comics. In addition, the actual story of the show plays out across various websites. The characters have blogs and twitter accounts, and there is an interactive aspect to it that you just don’t see with other shows. It’s a very interesting concept. To give an idea of how that works … if you were playing along at home, you wouldn’t have found out about the video for episode 1.5 from the show’s website. Rather, you would have already been following along on Twitter as The Orphan tried to crack the code to the new video released by Fury.
When I first read about all of these plans to involve the various types of media into the one story, it did give me pause. With things like the Battlestar and Heroes webisodes, the Heroes comics, and the Lost Experience, it can get a little overwhelming. If everyone starts doing this kind of thing, at some point there just isn’t enough time in the day to keep up with it all. Fortunately, the Fury Of Solace team has already dealt with that potential barrier to entry. If you can’t be bothered to add the various portals to your Twitter account and feed reader, you can still follow along just fine. All the goings on are collected at the show’s main page.
I realize that, so far, this is 400 words of reviewing everything but the actual show. Really though, all of that other stuff is the reason to buy in at this point. The original video did a good job of setting up an interesting premise. That is, ten years ago Fury found out about a prophecy that told of a young girl who would one day become a superhero and save the world. The sticky bit? In order for the prophecy to come true, her parents had to die. He killed the girl’s parents, and she grew up to become The Orphan.
It’s a good jumping off point, and the first new video, and the first comic-based episode, are both very good. As is the preview art from Evaun Wallington. But it is still too early to offer a verdict on the series. At this point, I’d simply call it a good premise with an intriguing story telling concept behind it. The pieces are there and it’s full of potential. That’s enough to put it on the list of things to keep an eye on.
Clacked by Brett Love 
on Jul 16, 2009 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
I loved that Dr. Horrible entry! Thanks for the update!