‘Leaving Megalopolis: Surviving Megalopolis #1’ Comic Review

Leaving Megalopolis was created by Gail Simone and J. Calafiore, colored by Jason Wright, lettering by David Sharpe


Leaving Megalopolis: Surviving Megalopolis takes place one month after the events of the first Leaving Megalopolis series Simone and Calafiore had put out through Kickstarter late last year. Sadly, I have not read the first volume, but after a bit of Googling, I was able to bring myself up to speed enough to understand the situation and story going forward, and I don’t see any reason why new readers would have any trouble beginning with this volume.

The starting premise of the comic is that Megalopolis, formerly the safest city in the world and protected by a number of powerful superheroes, is now in complete and utter ruin. One month ago, something evil burst through the ground under the city, which engulfed Megalopolis in a sulfuric cloud and turned its heroes into sinister villains bent on killing the regular citizenry. In response, the whole city was blocked off and put into quarantine as an attempt to cordon off the homicidal “heroes.”

This volume opens with nine of the said heroes, all a little worse for the wear to say the least, standing at the edge of a collapsed bridge. The are apparently led by Southern Belle and are on a mission to dredge up the body of their former comrade, Overlord. Being a superhero of apparently considerable resilience, Southern Belle and the others are counting on him still being alive despite having been underwater for an unknown amount of time. They’ve brought with them a bag full of fist-sized eyelet screws, which they are planning on using to exact revenge on Overlord for betraying them…somehow.

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Meanwhile, several other players are going about starting their own plans. A masked woman is spying on the heroes through a rifle scope from a nearby crumbling high-rise building. An irate man, Harold, is approached at a bar by a talkative man with a proposition for him. Steadily, several pieces are put into place for what promises to be an action-packed series.

The artwork for Leaving Megalopolis: Surviving Megalopolis is a style pretty typical of contemporary superhero/action comics. It’s drawn with hard lines and in full color; not something that necessarily stands out, but well-suited to the story and its tone.

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Surviving Megalopolis definitely oozes that post-apocalyptic vibe, though it is juxtaposed with the business-as-usual outside world where a number of the characters currently reside. It’s also kind of bizarre seeing these heroes, Southern Belle in particular, decked out in their brightly colored costumes that would usually denote their status as “good guys,” going around and planning things like mutilating a former ally with creepy delight.

Honestly, thought, I kind of like it that way. The sheer oddness of the situation kept me on my toes and made it so that the story wasn’t obvious or predictable. I’d recommend this comic to anyone who enjoys subverted superhero stories and/or post-apocalyptic survival stories.

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