“Bedlam” reaches the end of its first arc, and the final issue with illustrator Riley Rossmo, this week. I’m trying to come up with a good “skin a cat” joke but struggling, so let’s just get to the review.
Written by Nick Spencer
Illustrated by Riley Rossmo“Confession.”
Due to the nature of serial storytelling and where the previous issue left off, this issue isn’t quite as “out there” as previous ones — and, let’s be honest, most of us are reading “Bedlam” specifically because of how wild it gets. This is the climax we expect: The First and Eric face off, Fillmore has a verbal showdown with Warton, and while the story resolves, it would be a big stretch to say everything is okay. Most everything that happens is a boringly logical progression from the previous issue, with the only real unique factor being the specifics of the debating dialogue, and not necessarily the outcome. It is hard to fault Spencer for this — none of the previous issues seemed particularly crowded enough with story to transport some of the issues, nor decompressed enough to combine one issue with another. It’s just one of the basic faults with the current arc-based storytelling model; sometimes you get issues like this one, where the issue isn’t quite exciting enough on its own to be considered an episode, and reads more as an excerpt, due to the more predictable elements being shifted into a single floppy. The thing is, this problem is more something you expect to see with the middle issue, or perhaps the penultimate one of a story. When it happens with the climactic issue of an arc, then you might have problems. Even the set up for the next issue is pretty by-the-books: a partnership is formed, the protagonists receive both praise and a warning, and the problem of the first arc is revealed to be on a much larger scale. Despite its shocking exterior, “Bedlam” might be a bit more typical at its core than one might think — not necessarily a bad thing, so long as the execution is great, but hardly an incentive.
Spencer’s dialogue is still on point, though. Fillmore’s conversation with Warton is very interesting to read — much more interesting than the battle going on in the other pages of the books, for sure. Spencer doesn’t take priest to the same full-blown raving extent that he takes Eric, but he does a good job of making it seem like something is a little… off with him. Sure, the fact that he is talking cooly about orhcestrating a string of killings is a red flag in and of itself, but, so to speak, anyone can write that kind of thing — the difficult thing is selling it. You can’t just make a cold, detached sociopathic character by having them speak casually about everything, unless you have an ear for dialogue rivaled by no one; it usually takes a tick or two to make them seem “believable.” In this case, Spencer’s choice to give Warton the obsessive need to play confessor is an excellent touch to the “religious wacko” archetype without being one of the many cliches associated with the character type. It really helps Warton stand out a bit more, whereas in the previous issue he seemed a bit cookie-cutter. Unfortunately, Fillmore doesn’t get quite as much of a chance to shine as he did in previous issues, but sometimes that’s just how the chips fall.
This issue is Riley Rossmo’s final installment on the book, and unfortunately it shows (but only slightly). Since becoming a recognized name, Rossmo has had a reputation as a drawing machine, churning out an incredible amount of high quality pages, but perhaps he has finally taken on a bit too much. Stylistically, the book is still on point: Rossmo’s controlled chaos captures the disturbing madness of the city of Bedlam perfectly, and really makes you feel like you need to take a shower after reading it — in a good way, if such a thing is possible. However, the “controlled” aspect of “controlled chaos” falls a bit on the wayside in this issue. This is perhaps the most action-heavy issues of “Bedlam” yet, and if his work on “Debris” and “Dark Wolverine” have shown us anything, it’s that Rossmo can deliver crisp, clean, and easy-to-follow action sequences. As such, it’s slightly disappointing that the more violent of the confrontations in this issue is a bit on the clunky side. The other, more character-driven conflict is carried by Rossmo’s usual solid facial emoting, though the pages as a whole are a bit more drab in comparison to the vibrant, but difficult, action pages. It’s a shame that Rossmo will be leaving the book, especially with how much of a selling point he was for some readers, but this issue does make it seem like it’s time for Ryan Browne to step in. Rossmo’s work is very good, of course, but very good is still a downgrade from excellent.
As “Bedlam” ‘s first arc comes to a close, it’s in a difficult place. While it started off very strongly, it has quickly petered off to being very good, but not quite excellent. This issue is a bit basic, though not bad, and as its the conclusion of the first arc, it’s a bit hard to recommend the book as is to anyone who hasn’t checked it out yet. A simultaneous pro and con of the arc-based standard of the industry is that the end of the story is a good time to decide “should I drop this title?” There’s a big difference between a book being bad enough to drop without any thought of monetary necessity and simply not being good enough to keep paying $3.50 a month for, and while this title is no where near the former category, I can understand if some people think it falls into the latter as it enters its second arc. Personally, I’ll stick around to see if Ryan Browne injects the book with new life, but perhaps not much longer than that.
Final Verdict: 6.7 – Buy if you have been reading the book so far
