One of Multiversity’s favorite writers and one of Multiversity’s favorite artists working together? Yeah, no way this will get a favorable review.
Written by Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Riley RossmoFillmore Press was once Madder Red, a homicidal maniac and criminal overlord who terrorized the town of Bedlam for years. Then he got better. This is what happens next.
A double-sized introduction to a blood-soaked cityscape of murder, mayhem, and mystery by NICK SPENCER (MORNING GLORIES, THIEF OF THIEVES) and RILEY ROSSMO (REBEL BLOOD, GREEN WAKE)!
“Bedlam” is a comic takes a handful of otherwise familiar themes and ideas and turns them into something new — that is, if this first issue is any indication. The spotlight character is Madder Red, a masked villain who could easily be read as the Joker archetype taken to further extremes. He maims, he tortures, he murders… and for what? The bargain he lays down midway through the issue is similar to one of those issued by the Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight with a twist to it. The Joker as interpreted by Nolan, however, stands for one thing and one thing only: pure, abstract elemental chaos. Madder Red, on the other hand, seems from this issue to stand for something completely different. What horrors can man stoop to when the chains of morality are discarded? Just how much destruction can one man cause? And, assuming it is possible, how can we take all that stored potential energy and channel it in a positive, helpful way? Nick Spencer’s newest series does not hesitate to ask big, scary questions right away, and that’s how you pull a reader in from the get-go. I have to say, though, that the answers to those questions probably aren’t going to be ones you want to hear.
In dealing with such abstract, big picture concepts, a writer needs to do what they can to keep their reader grounded. As in his series “Morning Glories,” the way that Spencer accomplishes this is his stellar grip on dialogue — though in this case, considering perhaps 75% of the speech bubbles in this comic point to Madder Red, monologue might be the more appropriate term. Have you ever heard someone talk, uninterrupted, for a long duration of time? Not giving a speech, mind you, but just going on and on about whatever suits their fancy. It’s amazing how quick we are to detach from the world in such a situation — more and more our speech leaves the realm of of subjective observance and begins to take on the tone of absolute fact, even on philosophical matters and opinions. That is the voice that Madder Red speaks with, and it’s downright terrifying. What makes him such a fascinating and yet revolting character, in a literary sense, are not his actions, awful though they may be; no, it’s that the way he speaks sounds like that voice we adopt when we talk and talk and talk, when our interaction with the world actually removes us from it further.
Or maybe I just have problems.
Riley Rossmo is one of the comics industry’s fastest rising stars — fast in a figurative and literal sense. On the most basic, surface level, Rossmo’s work is enjoyable because of his unique style; while certain artistic influences may be present to the discerning eye, as a whole, Rossmo’s art looks solely like Rossmo’s art — and it’s a good look. His contrast of “busy” objects on sometimes sprawling expanses of negative space crates a stark visual dichotomy that is pleasing to the eye, but never at the expense of his storytelling — which, by the way, is point number two. Rossmo’s pages are beautifully hectic, and his action scenes in particular brim with appropriate chaos while rarely actually losing the reader. There was only one moving panel that did not seem to carry the right amount of “UNFF!!!” in this comic, but Rossmo never lets a single panel get him down; even when, as in this case, Rossmo draws a panel that’s lacking in weight and motion, the panel before and the panel after tend to make up for it. It’s not just his action scenes, though. Rossmo is the solution for modern comic’s talking head syndrome. The man could illustrate a book of someone giving a speech and rock it, and there are multiple sequences in this book where he does just that.
Continued belowThe real icing on the cake for this first issue is the price per page ratio. For your three dollars and fifty cents, you get a whopping forty-eight pages of story. Double-sized first issues, especially when at normal price, are a win/win situation for everyone involved. Right away, the price is an incentive that may help someone on the fence about buying a book change their mind; the expanded size allows the creators to ground their story with much more ease, giving them an opportunity to avoid the typical “first issue syndrome” that many otherwise great have; finally, the extra pages and extra savings will help cushion the blow if the reader figures “You know, this isn’t for me.” Few things suck as badly as getting three or more issues into a series before having that revelation. True, these are factors outside of the quality of the comic itself, but this first issue of “Bedlam,” like “Saga” did months ago, stands as a great example of how a first issue should be published, as well as written and illustrated.
From cover to cover, “Bedlam” is a grade-A comic book thriller. Spencer knows just how much disturbing imagery is enough, and stops right at the magical Price-Is-Right line that keeps us horrified and yet dying for more, while Rossmo draws the crap out of it — like everything he does. At $3.50 for a double-sized issue, there is really no reason not to check this new series out… that, of course, and because it’s just damn good comics.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – Buy it!
