By: Nick Spencer (writer), Riley Rossmo (art), Jean-Paul Csuka (colors) and Kelly Tindall (letters)
The Story: A reformed Madder Red starts to help the police.
Review: This was a frustrating comic because it has teases of real excellence that get clouded in the execution.
Let’s start with how the glass is half full…
- Great art in places: The opening sequence of the comic that shows Madder Red murdering cats in his hospital room is the type of raw art I want from Riley Rossmo. He is an artist that looks better without a colorist because his linework is so rough and visceral. I love how he leaves his characters slightly roughed out and you can almost still see the erased pencils from the wireforms of these people. THIS art reminds me of the guy who drew Proof and Cowboy Ninja Viking.
- Unafraid story telling: Any comic that is unafraid to be transgressive gets massive points from me. It isn’t so much that doing things for pure shock value is good, but by starting the story with a sequence of Madder Red killing 20-odd cats, Spencer and Rossmo have demonstrated the potential limits of the story. When you consume fiction, you kinda know that certain things are off-limits: Batman will not die, no animal movie ever ends with all the doggies getting euthanized at the pound by the evil dog-catcher, etc. With Bedlam we know that the creators are willing to kill children and kitty-cats and that the main serial killer has removed his own penis (remember that in Silence of the Lambs, Wild Bill just tucked it between his legs…). At that point, I’m not sure anything is off-limits for this story.
But, the glass is also half-empty…
- The story is slippery like an eel: This is nothing new for Nick Spencer (see Morning Glories). While I admire the ambition of Spencer’s storytelling, I would like about 10% less grease on that figurative eel. This is something that comes down to the intended audience. Consider: I read many comics and write comic reviews just about every morning; if I’m confused, then a LOT of people are confused. That isn’t to say that there aren’t people rolling around in the complexity, figuring it all out and loving every second, but I’d bet those readers are 5% out on the end of the bell curve of comic readers. Given the size of the comics market, is that really the size of audience you want? Or perhaps Spencer is just writing stories the way he wants. I can respect that, but I’d still like to be able to hang onto the story better (specifically the relationship between how Madder Red was cured at this whacky hospital, who those healers are and how Madder Red relates to this new serial killer…I feel like there is a big chuck of the story that is going over my head).
- Not the coloring I’m looking for: I really don’t care for the coloring in this issue, at all. I think it is muddy and I think it neuters Riley Rossmo’s art. There are two specific areas where this coloring is wrong, wrong, wrong…… One is how much texture and definition is added to the bodies via shading. The power of Rossmo’s linework is that he gives you a basic wireform that expertly demonstrates the basic action. That’s all you need. Readers’ imaginations can do the rest. All of this shading of muscle groups and tendons distracts and makes the characters look stiff. The other failing is this bright yellow sweatshirt that the police detective wears around. Another beauty of Rossmo’s open linework is that it allows your eyes to easily scan the page and panel. But, that is hard to do that because your eyes keep being drawn back to the bright yellow sweatshirt. Really? Is the bright yellow sweatshirt the most important item on the page? Is that where my eyes should be focused? Just color everything with simple color-washes. Rossmo is like a good piece of meat: It just gets worse the more you mess with it.
- Superheroes: I lauded Nick Spencer for telling us “his Batman/Joker story” in the pages of Bedlam rather than holding onto it if/when he ever became the writer of Batman. Still, I’m not sure that I want more superhero in my comic book life. I can get plenty of the superheroes I grew up loving over at Marvel/DC. They usually aren’t great comics, but they’ll scratch my itch. When I read a creator-owned comic, I really don’t want to find any superheroes. I trust that Spencer has something clever up his sleeve (he usually does), but I do raise shields a little bit when capes and tights enter my creator-owned comics.
Conclusion: This comic has moments of brilliance, but it also trips itself up sometimes. This is a great example of how there are two different types of “B” comic books. There are those where the A-level elements average out with the C-level elements. Then there are those that are good, but unremarkable. I’d much rather consume comics that have an chance to be extraordinary and Bedlam still fits that bill.
Grade: B
– Dean Stell
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Conclusion