Cyan is on the search for information, but if she’s going to figure out anything, she’ll have to survive her first night in the city. Your Major Spoilers review of Misery #1, awaits!
MISERY #1
Writer: Todd McFarlane
Artist: Szymon Kudranski
Colorist: FCO Plascencia
Letterer: Andworld Design
Editor: Thomas Healy
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $2.99
Release Date: June 19th, 2024
Previously in Misery: Cyan Fitzgerald is the daughter of Wanda Fitzgerald, the one time wife of Al Simmons AKA Spawn. With her mom having been killed recently, Cyan is determined to do something about it.
BACK IN THE NEW YORK GROOVE
Misery #1 begins on a sunny morning in New York City. A person is trying to cross a street, but the light suddenly changes and he is run down. This leads to a woman being late to get home, which her abusive husband doesn’t like. Things then switch over to Cyan and her father Terry in the middle of an argument as she packs her bags. Cyan is convinced that her mother was killed and that her dad isn’t doing enough to find the perpetrator. She reveals her powers to become invisible, and then says goodbye to her family. Later on she finds herself in the city where she meets up with an old friend. They decide to go have some fun, but while in the subway, they’re accosted by a group of men. The encounter turns violent and Cyan tries to fight them off, until something happens and she’s able to incapacitate the men by forcing them to see all the pain they’ve caused. Later on while speaking to the woman from earlier, Cyan gets a sense of what her home life is like, but before she can be asked too many questions she disappears.
A TROUBLING, YET EFFECTIVE INTRODUCTION
I haven’t read a Spawn-related title in close to ten years, which is one of the reasons why I decided to give Misery #1 a look. I was curious about what the onboarding process would be like. Surprisingly, it felt pretty easy. Are there some things that don’t make a ton of sense to a new reader, sure, but for the most part this issue provided enough information to make what is happening here, make sense. Also, when it comes to Cyan and her abilities, things are pretty straightforward with what she can do and who she is, even though so far, her powers come off as nearly identical to Ghost Rider. Where things don’t quite work is in the things that she and the other characters of this issue go through. Not to diminish the topics of sexual assault or domestic violence, but they are utilized here not in any sort of way that is integral to the plot, but more for shock value and shorthand to make sure the perpetrators come off as gross as possible, which they do. This approach makes the issue come off as cheap and another case of a creative team that has equated the act of experiencing violence with character development.
PRETTY BUT MOTIONLESS
The art in Misery #2 is gorgeous. It has a painterly look that utilizes light in captivating and beautiful ways. The issue with these sort of classic approaches to comic book art is that they don’t always convey a sense of movement that is important in comics. Instead, this feels like a collection of loosely connected portraits and still lifes that need just a couple more panels to make it easier for the brain to fill in the blanks.
BOTTOM LINE: THERE’S GOTTA BE A BETTER PLACE TO JUMP INTO THIS UNIVERSE
Misery #1 is accessible for new readers and is pretty to look at. After that, there’s nothing else in this issue that I would consider a positive, with some things being downright distasteful. I understand that titles connected with Spawn don’t shy away from dark and troubling subject matters, but the way they’re utilized here comes off as cheap and as a misguided and lazy attempt to create depth for the characters experiencing them. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
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Misery #1
For those who are desperate to jump into the Spawn-Universe, Misery #1 is certainly one way to do it that won’t leave readers confused. But, it’s handling of subjects like sexual assault and domestic violence is troubling and cheap, which overshadows any of the good things about this issue.
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Writing4
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Art6
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Coloring7
