'Fury of Solace' Series Launches From 'Dr. Horrible' Fan Video

Emmett Furey, co-creator of the ghost-hunting spoof Bumps in the Night, is at it again with another web series, a comic-book musical called Fury of Solace. So far, Furey and his team have released two episodes and one minisode.

So what is the series all about?
The main character is Emmett (continuing the creator’s tradition of naming his characters after himself), a.k.a. Fury of Solace, an anti-hero with a red mask who follows questionable ethics for what he perceives to be the greater good. Ten years ago, Emmett received a prophecy about a young girl who would become a superhero and save many lives from a catastrophic event. The caveat: for her to reach her superhero destiny, her parents must be killed. That’s where Fury of Solace comes in, and the border-line villain-slash-hero murders the girl’s parents. Flash forward. The girl is all grown-up and goes by the name The Orphan.

Of course, Fury of Solace is still out there and both characters find themselves at opposite ends of the vigilante spectrum. The twist? In their more mild-mannered lives, the two are a couple.
“It’s about this character-driven drama and what drives the plot of the story,” said Furey.

But haven’t comic-book web series been done (and arguably overdone) already? As a staff writer for Comic-Book Resources, including a few years of experience covering San Diego Comic-Con, Furey is no stranger to the genre. Solace aims to separate itself from other comic-book web series’ by releasing some episodes as video and others as eight-page, online comic-books . That’s right, the show has its own comic, with pages every bit as rich as those penned by comic-book legend Jeph Loeb.

“[Episodes don’t] always literally alternate. Sometimes there will be a couple of comics, sometimes a couple of videos,” said Furey.

Furey is also using social media to bring his characters into the real world. “All of the characters have twitter accounts and some of the characters have blogs,” said Furey. “Sometimes what they are saying and tweeting will have an effect on the narrative. The characters interact with the fans.” Recently, several of the characters’ Twitter accounts were used to promote episode 1.5 via an alternate reality game.

If the premise of a comic-book musical sounds familiar, say something akin to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, that’s because it is. Solace started as a music video (now known as Episode 1) created by Furey to compete in an unofficial contest for fan-space on the Dr. Horrible DVD:

Furey’s video wasn’t selected, but that wasn’t a bad thing, he said. Now he has his own web series with characters and storylines distinct from Dr. Horrible’s. Still some might say that the name is reminiscent of the latest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, Furey said the resemblance is only by name. “It’s a totally different thing … any real comparison between Fury of Solace and James Bond is purely cosmetic.”