Bedlam #8

Bedlam #8 

Story by Nick Spencer
Art by Ryan Browne

Solicitation and Preview

Review
This issue was a bit of a stumbling block for me.

There wasn't anything that made me walk away from the comic completely impressed or wanting the next issue. The comic seemed to move along at a pace that usually is reserved for the second issue of a series, which makes sense since this is the second issue of this new story. But then I remember that the second issue of this series rocked, so I'm at a loss to explain what is happening.

You really can't blame the artist too much for how the art looks. I know that sounds weird, but hear me out - the look of this comic comes from the original artist for the series. I don't think that this is Browne's particular style, and there seems to be a bit of bad impersonating going on at times in the issue. I think I would rather see Browne do his own style with the book, or if it the insistence of Spencer to have this kind of look, then he needs to find that person out in the world and bring him on.

This book feels like it could go places. I don't understand why the comic will still focus on things that Madder Red did before he got cured. We got the nature of who he is from the first story arc. I would rather see Filmore either hallucinate sightings of Red like before, or show some more attention to his struggles to discover what makes himself tick. Instead we are getting a focus on a "villain of the arc" type of approach, and I just think it will get boring.

If you are going to put the concept of the book on the cover, why not explore it a little more?

Grades
Words: 6/10
Pictures: 6/10
General Feeling After Reading: Irked.
Buy Next Issue: Only in the hopes that this trend doesn't continue.