Review – Leaving Megalopolis: Surviving Megalopolis #3 (of 6) (Dark Horse)

Posted on March 7, 2016 in Dark Horse Reviews

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Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer: Gail Simone
Artist: Jim Calafiore
Release Date: 9th March, 2016

“Not everything bad in this city wears a cape.”

As Tanner’s team continues their rescue mission on the devastated streets of Megalopolis, his words turn out to be eerily prophetic as the team encounters a chilling new obstacle in the form of a pack of roaming wolves who have developed quite a taste for human flesh after gorging themselves on the fallen inhabitants of the city. For this latest issue, Gail Simone does a great job of ramping up the oppressive horror of the city without relying on the ‘crazy capes’ themselves to do so, making the survivors’ mission appear even more daunting in the process.

The pacing is a little slower here, with the separate plot threads each being given a brief moment to breathe. The Cohens continue to pursue their own agenda as they venture into the hole that birthed the monstrosity that caused the heroes to go crazy in the first place, while Mina and Crimson Shadow visit an interesting subterranean location of their own. While it hasn’t necessarily had that one standout moment yet, this second series feels a lot more confident and structured than the previous Leaving Megalopolis story, and it’s obvious that both Simone and Calafiore have a lot of tricks up their sleeve for the remaining three issues.

On the visual side of things, Calafiore’s artwork is a little more uneven than usual here, with the occasional uncharacteristically awkward-looking facial expression and some cluttered action sequences. That’s not to say that this is a bad looking book by any means, more that Calafiore has set the bar so incredible high with his work on both arcs so far. Plus, he still manages to cut loose with some truly fantastic moments, including the brief return of ‘crazy cape’ Ribbon, and an absolutely jaw-dropping final page.

Ah yes. That final page. While this may be a slightly slower issue in terms of overall storyline development, Simone uses the closing couple of pages to jerk the wheel and send the series careering off into an exciting new direction. The change in dynamic is so completely out of left field and yet, at the same time, so wonderfully obvious that it’s amazing it hadn’t occurred to me earlier. One thing’s for sure though, both the pace and the stakes are about to be ramped up to a whole new level for the second half of this series, and you can most definitely count me in for the remainder of this white-knuckle, homicidal superhero ride.

Rating: 4/5.

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