Bedlam #9

"Sticky Tricky"
written by Nick Spencer
art by Ryan Browne

Bedlam's opening arc was largely a character portrait of serial killer turned crime solver Fillmore Press; its second is quickly becoming a portrait of Press's former superhero nemesis, now fellow crime fighter, the First.  Revealed in "I'm a Victim Here" to be the alter ego of city councilman Matt Severin, the First is unexpectedly hounded by a barrage of personal and professional forces:  the city's swarm of journalists, fellow councilmen and government officials, several of whom currently oppose his bill for an 'extraordinary crimes' task force to combat the city's strange crime epidemics, and most of all his overbearing mother, who strongly protests his time spent as the First, thinking it more suitable to an idealistic boy's youthful exuberance than a grown man's chosen occupation.  Nevertheless, Severin proves as well-meaning and strategically intractable as his crime-fighting alter ego, if increasingly frustrated by the relentless creativity of the city's criminals and by efforts to thwart his effectiveness as both a politician and an adjunct lawman.

If the series' current interest in Severin develops him as a foil for Press—a foil who nevertheless shares some profound similarities, such as their mutual susceptibility to suggestion, a trait that may very well have saved Press's life in his rehabilitation under the strange doctor—it suffers some in the (hopefully temporary) demotion of Press and Acevedo.  Their quippy conversation upon arriving at the gory crime scene is a fine moment:  Press's near inhuman casualness at the sight of so many exploded bodies and her mildly amused acceptance of it.  After weeks, perhaps months, of working with one another, Fillmore begins to understand her sarcasm, but he humorously misunderstands the cause of her unease, concluding she must be fearful of being hit by more jumpers.  Unfortunately, the remainder of their conversation in "Sticky Tricky" is mostly business without the charm.

Ryan Browne's Madder Red sequences continue to impress, surpassing (if possible) the standard set by Rossmo.  Browne's Red is more cleanly expressive.  With colorist Jean-Paul Csuka, he utilizes a wider range of greys and pinks in the otherwise monochromatic deathscape.  He captures with greater fervor the twisted whimsy and homicidal play of Madder Red's games.  Nevertheless, Rossmo's shadow continues to hang over Bedlam's style.  Browne's command of Bedlam's art continues to improve considerably, but his rendering of character faces—particularly, Detective Acevedo and Fillmore Press—is still occasionally underwhelming.  His full-page splashes in "Sticky Tricky" are exceptional, however:  the street carnage of the multiple suicides (8), the First in full costume and heroic posture (13), and the issue's final dramatic reveal (22).