Gatsby and Merlin are the top team of operator and agent at The Observatory, but something seems to be trying to knock them off the pedestal. Your Major Spoilers review of The Guy In The Chair #1 awaits!

THE GUY IN THE CHAIR #1

Writers: Hannah Rose May and Utkarsh Ambudkar
Artist: Guillermo Sanna
Colorist: Dearbhla Kelly
Letterer: Steve Wands
Editor: Chuck Howitt-Lease
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: October 8th, 2025

Previously in The Guy in The Chair: Abhi works for a private military company as a tactical assistant for a field agent named Merlin. To his friends and family though, he’s just a normal tech support guy working in a call center, who has a crush on a woman he works with known as “Meridith”.

TOP SPOT

The Guy in The Chair #1 opens up with Abhi, whose codename is Gatsby, assisting Merlin as she infiltrates a party happening at a racetrack. With Gatsby’s help, Merlin is able to accomplish the mission and escape with only a few bumps in the road. After the mission, Gatsby is having lunch with his fellow operators, celebrating his and Merlin’s spot as the best team at the company. That night he goes out with his friend Evan. The next day, while hungover, Gatsby assists Merlin and another agent through a mission, with less than stellar results. That night, he meets up with his family, who pressure him about getting a partner. On Monday, Gatsby comes to work only to find that Merlin has died during an off-the-books mission over the weekend. Although some other things have him feeling suspicious about everything.

FUN TONE, A LITTLE PREDICTABLE, INTERESTING SETUP

The Guy In The Chair #1 is the next in a long line of properties that try to blend the world of espionage and assassins with white collar, office-space sensibilities. While it may not be the first to create a universe like this, it does set itself apart by having a well-established tone. Rather than trying to make hard shifts from dramatic spy action to sitcom hijinks, it gives everything a more lighthearted tone when it comes to the spy stuff and a suburban mundaneness to the rest of the story which is an easier shift to make. Some parts of this story do feel like clichéd foreshadowing, like the ever-present corporation that keeps popping up, the repeated scenario of Abhi having to come up with a lame excuse as to why this mysterious woman he works with can’t hang out in person, and the multiple instances of warnings in the background about agents and operators meeting in person. Some of this I thought could’ve been handled better, but it also feels like it’s being done this way to emphasize some of the rom-com trappings that this has.

JUST A LITTLE SOFT

For the most part, I think the art in The Guy In The Chair #1 works well with the story they’re telling. The lines are soft, and the colors are light and airy. Some of the color treatments feel like callbacks to campy spy thrillers of the past which are a nice touch as well. The one area that this doesn’t work completely for is the action sequences. The softness of the art made the action come off as not just lighthearted but silly in spots. It just fails to convey a real sense of danger, which makes the tension towards the end not come off as surprising, but out of place.

BOTTOM LINE: A NICE CHANGE OF PACE

The Guy In The Chair #1 isn’t what I would call a truly original idea, but its approach to the idea feels fresh. There’s an exceptional use of tone here to create a tension early that isn’t based really on two clashing worlds but more on how characters handle different aspects of their lives. There are some pretty obvious cliches and story elements here, which don’t necessarily hurt the story, but a more original approach to these things could’ve helped elevate this comic. 4 out of 5 stars.

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