Writer: Joshua Williamson / Penciller: Riley Rossmo / Colour Artist: Ivan Plascencia / Letterer: Deron Bennett / Logo Design: Tim Daniel / Original Series Editors: Amedeo Turturro, Mark Doyle / Collects: Deathbed (2018) #1-#6 / TP / DC Comics
Review by: Paul Dunne
17th January 2023 (Released: 3rd January 2023)
The Pitch: From writer Joshua Williamson and artist Riley Rossmo comes the tale of Antonio Luna, the most remarkable man in the world. As Luna lies on his deathbed, dictating his memoirs to failed novelist Valentine Richards, things get strange when they learn that someone is murdering everyone from Antonio's past who could corroborate his wild tales of alien mutants, mummy ninjas, and cannibal cults! Can this unlikely pair solve the mystery of who's trying to purge Luna from history before his life comes to a close?
When you think about it, the only part of our lives we get to write is the middle. The beginning is already in motion by the time we arrive, the end... Out of our hands, the scales tipped by earlier decisions on how we live and who spend our time with. Not to mention, of course, the fickle finger of fate, which rolls dice for us without our consent. What will our endings be? Can we force an ending on ourselves that matches our glorious fantasies? And what about that difficult middle section, where we're left to our own devices? Valentina Richards, our reluctant lead, is dealing with that part of her life in Deathbed's early chapters. She’s the writer's worst fears personified: permanently blocked, unable to write anything she isn't one hundred percent interested in, missing her deadlines, and accepting ghostwriting jobs for the money. Let me tell you, it's a fear that lives inside us all.
Val: permanently blocked, missing deadlines.
Antonio Luna, on the other hand, he’s a kind of cultural superhero, whose mentors and enemies have alliterative names like all good comic characters should have. He sees people only as tools for his own legend, there to build him up, and make him better. He leaves bodies in the street, both literally and figuratively, cutting people out of his life once he's done with them. What will happen when Valentina finds herself accepting the excitement to ghost-write Luna's autobiography?
Chaos.
Anotnio Luna: Born for chaos.
In a way, this comic is the ego boost Luna wants - telling his story in double-page spreads full of sex, adventure, and... Alien Mutants from Area 51. Too bad Luna isn't real. He'll never know about the picture book that spilled his exploits to the world. Never know his own fame. That would, deliciously, wind him up. From the get-go, Deathbed is a bawdy comedy of errors as Luna drops himself and Val in the shit again and again by just, well... Being himself. His own, spectacularly inappropriate self. He is not a guy you root for. He even has his own Cult. One that he started. And yet, he seems unaware of his own bullshit. The book asks if we can be unreliable narrators of our own lives. Can we lie not just to people in our life but to ourselves, building our own legends as we strive to be an inspiration to others? And is that in itself a not entirely altruistic act? Ultimately, the altruistic act could be that as children, we become the dreams of our parents, fulfilling their deepest wishes. How then, do we find our own identity? Whose story are we really living in if not our own? Can the ego quest become the catharsis?
Val, dropped in the shit by Luna, again.
OK, so these are serious themes we're saddled with here. Shouldn't comics be fun? Well, yes and no. The book has a daffy, Umbrella Academy-esque feel. Luna is a great creation – a pompous, puffy twat whose ballooning ego needs pricking. But he's not the only one. Val's ego operates differently but is still just as self-involved. Will the chaos of Luna's existence and his man-child-like behaviour snap her out of the rut she's been in for years? Let's hope so! Williamson writes both these characters with a knowing unlikeability, putting them in situations that bring out the worst in them, like a sitcom from hell. The story is zippy and weird, showcasing the truly mental sci-fi life of Luna, but also telling you what a sham it all is – even though it definitely, definitely happened... just not in the way Luna's skewed self-absorption said it did. It's a text-heavy book with a lot to say, but the syntax just flies along in punchy sentences that make each issue a joyride to read.
The ecstatic art of Riley Rossmo.
Rossmo's art is equally ecstatic. He creates dynamic page after dynamic page, filling every available space with excellent panel work. His cartooning style is expressive and OTT and that works magnificently here. He balances melodrama, horror, and downright insanity perfectly. It makes me sorry I missed out on this the first time and only really caught him on The Martian Manhunter series a couple of years ago. Plascencia's colours spray the whole thing in warm, lovely tones, bringing out the energy and electricity of Rossmo's art. Bennett's letters are excellent, giving Luna's commanding voice a wounded dog feel that betrays his ego, whilst Val's constant shock at the state of Luna's – and now her – life, is given impact by his work. This is a great, stand-alone collection that deserves attention five years on from its original release.
Deathbed is available now.