Bedlam, #1

[CBR News]

"Bedlam" #1 by Nick Spencer and Riley Rossmo is a strong debut, with its operatic violence, funny, character-defining dialogue, and a creepy but charismatic serial killer protagonist.


Full article here.

[Man-Thing]

As I wrote in the other topic, I've read this through 3 times so far since getting it off comixology this morning, and I'm still collecting my thoughts. Here are my initial impressions.

The issue is an impressive 50something pages long. It's huge. And I can't stop reading it. I've seen no word on whether or not all the issues are going to be this big, but the writing's so good I'm not sure I'd mind if only this first issue was double length. Well I might mind, if only because even this huge issue left me wanting to immediately read the next, but that's hardly what I'd call a bad thing.

It's divided into several vignettes, each of which, if this were an episode of Gotham City on HBO, would be 10 to 15 minutes long. Each flashback vignette to the events of 10 years past is intercut with flashes of the present, as we see the dicotemy of the Madder Red of then held up as a mirror, literally, to the Phillip Press of today. 10 years ago Madder Red was the king of crime, a criminal genius, trying to bring his own anarchic ideals of freedom and liberation to the city of Bedlam. Today, Phillip Press is a man on the mend, taking his pills slightly depressed, though the intrigue of a fresh wave of serial killings perks him up, and he offers his unique insights to the police, who have no idea who he is. We are introduced to some of the supporting cast, though it's hard to tell which of the characters in the flashbacks will be important in the present. The police commissioner, a police detective, another strange villain of the city, and the enigmatic First are the major players that stand out from the rest of the extras. The series presents us these characters from the perspective of Madder Red, which provides an interesting perspective on the standard roles that the cast members fill.

I mentioned Gotham City up there, and that's because I can't read this without getting Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy out of my head. The First is an obvious stand in for the Dark Knight, almost ideologically; a shining, faceless, white knight, the first line of defense in Bedlam against the madness that the city has succumb to. Madder Red's lines speak themselves into my mind using the wry drawl of Heath Ledger's Joker. The same chuckles and pauses permeate Madder's speech, whose patterns seam drawn straight from the big screen to the shiny page. I can't remember the police commissioner's name, because all I see is Gordon. You get the picture. It's very easy to picture this as Nolan's Gotham half a decade down the road. At the same time, it doesn't feel like something that wishes it were a DC-owned Batman comic. It feels fresh and distinct, possessing its own unique voice, distinct from Batman while still evoking it.

Future issue solicitations provide little to no description, keeping the direction of the plot and potential spoilers under wraps, though some of the covers tease characters with no explanation. I eagerly look forward to following this series for the foreseeable future.

10/10

[Personamanx]

Sick and Twisted but devilishly fascinating in all of the best possible ways.

[nosocialize100]

I didn't get the same feel from this. I thought it was sloppy in the pacing department. Also didn't gel with the characters. No slight on it though. Just wasn't my thing. I did find the Dark Knight references a touch weird. As if the writer is trying to show you an elseworlds story of Joker and Batman from that movie.

[WolfOfMibu1991]

Image is putting out the best books. I am looking forward to this I love Nick Spencer's Dialouge.

[Prisoner 6655321]

Sadly, I wasn't able to pick up the first issue of this book though I made it to my normally well stocked comic shop (NDC Century 3) by mid day on wed. Apparently, they only got like 3 copies .... I don't want to put it on my pull list because I'm not sure on it yet. I tend to not like books that seem too grounded to me (The Massive & Secret were both books that I recently tried and was bored to tears with) but having grown up in a pretty extremely dilapidated rust belt town I'm still kinda curious to check this book out. I hope my shop guys can manage to wrangle me up a copy of issue #1 otherwise I'm sure I'll never jump on this train.

[LooneyKoala]

Really enjoyed this. Really glad I checked it out as it was one of my favourite comics this week (the other being Whispers*#4, totally worth the four month wait!), if not all month.

The art was just amazing.

Definitely returning for #2!

[Jennifer_Cheng]

Hey Prisoner 6655321 --

Image is reprinting Bedlam #1 and the second printing will ship with Bedlam #2 next month. With any luck, your shop will get copies of it then and you can check it out and see if you like it.

For a book named after a place, the first issue was pretty dominated by the main character. Spencer's work always has cerebral and conceptual underpinnings, and in interviews he has said that he wants to tackle the mythology and sociology of the rust belt.

[Weedman]

Reviews look very good and will be trying to get me a copy of this over weekend.

Something different from what i normally read and will be my first Image book.

Fingers crossed i can get me a copy!

[MT2]

Placed my order today really wish I had a place to just run out and pick up a copy. Since I dont I'll have to wait till sometime next week to receive and read my copy.

[antsomarching]

Nick has a great knack for entertaining dialogue. Way to go Nick and Riley on a great start!

[WolfOfMibu1991]

Nick has a great knack for entertaining dialogue. Way to go Nick and Riley on a great start!

AGREED! I really like villains who are very philosophical and will go to great lengths just to show the flows of trying adhere by some flimsy moral codes the we supposed good civilized people hold sacred. You gotta agree sometimes taking life of these guys would be a SMART idea. To hold onto some sense of rules that in reality just shows you're not willing to do whats smart. Logic beats emotions, and the main villain here is showing us that are system of thinking, if were gonna fight evil is wrong.

[Gothamdet]

Perfect book to read on Halloween. I had medium hopes for this book and they knocked it out of the park. I will definitely keep this through the first arc or two.

[antsomarching]

Is this really a story of redemption? I have my suspicions.

[WizP]

It was an interesting read and the art style was great. It's an intriguing concept and I hope it does continue down the road to redemption. I'm looking forward to the next issue for sure.