For superpowered thief Sarah, it’s one last gig, the one that’ll set her and her family up for life. You can guess how well that goes, your Major Spoilers review of The Madness #1 from AWA Studios, awaits!
THE MADNESS #1
Writer: J. Michael Straczynski
Artists: David Lorenzo and Aco
Publisher: AWA Studios
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: August 9th, 2023
Previously in The Madness: Sarah Ross has been using her power as a thief, stealing from the rich and…well, keeping it. Until the day she stole from the wrong person, a highly placed official who pressures the government to assassinate her.
TIME TO RETIRE
The Madness #1 opens with Sarah Ross approaching a convoy of trucks carrying a ton of gold out of a Middle Eastern country. During her approach, she explains to her boyfriend that she’s tired of just getting by and she wants to do one big job to set them up for life. She then attacks the convoy and is able to make out with the goods. Later on, advisors meet with the U.S. President, to inform him that due to the theft, their diplomatic relationships in the Middle East are on the verge of collapsing and putting hundreds of soldiers at risk, unless they do something about it. They decide that the best way to go about it is to track Sarah down and have a superhero throw a missile at her. A group of superheroes then debate the morality and the need to carry out this mission before ultimately deciding in its favor. In a remote cabin, Sarah and her family are celebrating the success of the score, unaware of the incoming threat.
A NICE TWIST ON AN OVERUSED TROPE
The Madness #1 features a story element that I have come to really dislike over the last ten years or so. That being, the morally ambiguous and/or compromised superhero team. Titles like The Boys and the Injustice books have garnered a lot of popularity by taking either actual beloved characters or facsimiles of those characters and showing them in twisted, dark, sociopathic, and deranged lights. This of course has led to many imitators. So when this issue introduced a superhero team that seemed willing to commit murder at the behest of the government, I was ready to at the very least, roll my eyes. But, as the team works through the moral quandary they’re presented with, they actually take a pragmatic approach and they don’t come off as completely bereft of humanity, as is often the case in stories that have similar elements. Sarah’s character also brings a breath of fresh air to the comic book industry. It’s not that her powers are unique, but she has an interesting limitation to them that looks to be an integral part of the plot going forward.. The story here is a bit on the boilerplate side of things though. It really does boil down to a revenge tale, with a superpower twist, but it works as an effective set up for the rest of the series.
HECK OF A LAST PAGE
The art in The Madness #1 is really solid, especially when it comes to the facial expressions of the characters. Subtle things like concern, consideration, and confusion are clearly shown here and there’s really no mistaking what each character is feeling. There’s one page though that deserves a special call out and it’s the last one. Horror and real scares are hard to do in a non-moving, soundless medium, but the last page gets really close to being a comic book jump scare, so kudos to David Lorenzo and Aco.
BOTTOM LINE: DOES ENOUGH TO SPICE UP A PLAIN STORY
The Madness #1 is definitely not reinventing the wheel here. Instead, it seems to be trying to take the wheel and put it on a really cool bike. A uniquely powered protagonist, mixed with a complex set of threats, lets the standard plot feel new and maybe more interesting than it otherwise would. 4 out of 5 stars.
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The Madness #1
The Madness #1 takes a well-trodden path, but manages to do just enough with it to make it feel fresh and intriguing.
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Writing7
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Art9
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Coloring8
At a young age, Jonathan was dragged to a small town in Wisconsin. A small town in Wisconsin that just so happened to have a comic book shop. Faced with a decision to either spend the humid summers and bitter winters traipsing through the pine trees or in climate controlled comfort with tales of adventure, horror, and romance, he chose the latter. Jonathan can often be found playing video games, board games, reading comics and wincing as his “to watch” list grows wildly out of control.