Leaving Megalopolis #1 Review - When Heroes Go Crazy

Writer: Gail Simone - Artist: J. Calafiore

Colorist: Jason Wright - Letterer: Dave Sharpe

Reading Leaving Megalopolis #1 could be categorized in a few different ways, but the one that comes to mind most immediately would be stressful.

I've never been stressed reading a comic before, but that was the prevailing feeling here, and I think it has to do with the direness of the scenario that writer Gail Simone sets up. There is a genuine feeling of helplessness that sets in once we understand how things got this way.

Leaving Megalopolis is centered around the tale of a beautiful city gone awry. Megalopolis was once protected by numerous superheroes, like Overlord, Southern Belle, and a host of others. At some point a creature from some unknown place rose out of the ground and poisoned a massive area, enveloping the heroes that were trying to stop it, and driving them insane. Since then the city has basically been split from the rest of the world, quarantined, but also ruled by the crazed superheroes that used to protect it.

Maybe it's the fact that it isn't their fault. That they are indeed victims as well as the citizens that they used to protect. The boundaries of empathy are stretched, however, as these characters are outright evil, and hold no boundaries themselves.

Since the villains have taken a part of the city as their kingdom essentially, there are still people over there that didn't make it out. Early on we meet Harold Lamb, who was one of the few survivors to make it out of the city after the madness hit, and is now left with some knowledge that just might make him go back.

Simone does crazy really well, as we've seen in past books of hers like Welcome To Tranquility and Secret Six, but artist Jim Calafiore should also be commended on some of the strongest stuff I've seen from him in awhile. The heroes he depicts, just based on their facial expressions alone, look evil and crazed. The color work of Jason Wright also deserves praise, as he just reinforces the gloomy nature of the story with heavy shadow work.

If you're looking for something upbeat, this isn't it. If you are however looking to be sucked into a dire world that could use some hope, then Leaving Megalopolis is right up your alley.