Bedlam Vol 1 TPB - Grade B+

Title:	Bedlam
Contributors:	Nick Spencer Riley Rossmo Frazer Irving
Publisher:	Image Comics
Issue #:	Vol 1 TPB
Year:	2013 - 2014
Pages:	184 Pages
Age Rating:	16 (Language, Violence, Gore, Nudity, Drug References, Adult Themes)
Story Grade:	A
Art Grade:	B+

Bedlam was the first Trade Paperback I purchased when I got back into comics. I wasn't sorry. I was looking for a dark, gothic horror based comic with adult themes and I got exactly what I asked for. Bedlam is a Batman meets American Horror Story meets Max Comics; a little super hero/supervillian mixed with a whole lot of "what the fuck" mixed with the grittiness Marvel achieved with its Max Comics series.

The story is loosely this; a former maniac crime boss gets caught, given therapy and released back into society as a "changed man". The problem is nobody knows if he can be trusted. And by nobody, I mean not the police, not his doctors, not even himself. And who can blame them. After what he did before, he should have been locked away for life, or put down if you are proponent for capital punishment.

My issue with the story is that is can be a little hard to follow, being a newcomer back into comics. The story bounced around a lot between the past and present, and it took some perseverance to stick with it, again as a newcomer. But, since then I have adapted to this type of storytelling, very non-linear, being the norm and don't struggle with it as much.

The artwork is pleasant. It is clean, thoughtful and compliments the story being told within the panels. The artist loves the use of blood spatter, which can add to a grisly nature of a scene, but wasn't really applied dimensionally in the case of these pieces of art which makes the blood feel removed from the scene and therefore feels like it was added more for shock than value.

This TPB all in all was an impressive first reintroduction back into comics after a break of some years. It was good enough to get me to add the comic to my monthly pull list and to anticipate a possible movie deal for it. If it were done right, true to the comic, it would be a smash, but alas, most of the time, studios screw those things up.

All in all I grade Bedlam Vol. 1 a B+. It is a visceral examination in the possibility of forgiveness of others and of one's self as well as whether the rehabilitation of psychopaths, no matter how extreme, is possible or if it is simply a waste of time and money.
Until next time, happy flipping.