MidState #1, A Comixology Original. Chaos for the Mind

Creative Team-

Lee Loughridge (author, colorist),

Mack Chater(cover art, artist),

Rob Tweety(letterer, design),

Will Dennis(editor)

Publisher- Zylonol Studio/COMIXOLOGY ORIGINALS

Starting our story in Ft. Arlington, Virginia, we begin outside a diner in the middle of town. After hearing some snide comments about himself, Paul Rinaldi, can get a pretty good idea of what the diner experience will be like.

Greeting the chief of police, we see exactly what Paul is going through. “Let’s see if today is your day”, says the chief, implying this is a daily occurance. The chief demands for Paul to tell him what he ordered for breakfast.

After resistance from Paul, the chief insists. We can already see the frustration that Paul has to endure, and immediately I find myself sympathizing for him. Even the waitress gets in on the bullying.

Paul guesses incorrectly and the chief it very well known that he’s wrong. Being labeled an idiot, Paul leaves the diner and all its laughing customers in a hurry. Paul angrily makes his way to Arlington Books, makes his way in, and is greeted by his mother.

“Well, you’ve always had an overactive imagination”

She states that she assumes he guessed wrong again, which brings even more frustration to our main character. “It doesn’t work like that mother!” Paul says. She has absolutely no sympathy for what her son goes through on a daily basis. Seeing her tell Paul that she’s never believed him really shows exactly how alone he is in all this.

Our boy has no one on his side. She comments on Paul having an overactive imagination which was just enough to make Paul leave the room but not before he says “it’s a fucking gift!”. Leading to his mother saying that there’s no need for that type of language, and that Paul is too smart for those words.

Paul goes to his room, questioning himself on how his life could have become this pathetic. Something I found refreshing about this first issue is the struggle the main character is going through, and going through it alone. So far, every other character we have seen interact with Paul has offered no support, no kindness, no understanding. Perhaps that’s something dark to appreciate but you have to admit, it’s not the usual comic trope. All Paul has is himself and the readers to understand what’s really going on with him.

Parlor tricks in action

Paul, our alleged clairvoyant, says the one place he feels in control is when he’s asleep, so off to sleep he goes, now feeling in control. What we see next can only be described as ‘bananas’. We see Paul’s vision, officially cutting out the “alleged” portion of my previous description.

This spectacle of a vision is as dark as you’d imagine it. We see a blonde girl in a pink dress with her hands crossed on her chest, implying she’s dead.

Surrounded by beautiful red roses, some petals flying in the wind. But that peaceful scene changes dramatically to the deceased blonde girl screaming, eyes wide open, with what appears to be blood gushing from under her crossed hands. Paul springs awake terrified.

“Surprised you didn’t see that coming, Paul!”

Paul jumps into action! Yelling he needs food to his mother as an excuse, he runs onto the street. More comments at Paul’s expense flying in the air from random townsfolk. Frustrated but determined to get to his destination, he runs into a man in a wheelchair being pushed by a tall blonde woman.

Offering apologies for nearly running them down, Paul is replied to with the strangest response. “No need for an apology, God already did his damning with this one”. Paul and the readers are left scratching their heads at that random and dark comment.

We get a “w’ the fuck” from Paul, which was my reaction as well, so that’s fair. But something weird is said by the already strange woman. She says there’s no need for that kind of language, that Paul is too smart for those words. Okay, what?! If you’ll remember, that’s exactly what Paul’s mom said! What does this mean?! If you weren’t hooked to this comic already, I bet you are now.

Arlington Police station

At Arlington police station, we meet Abi, who’s a police officer working alongside the Chief, who’s taken a break from ridiculing his citizens in the local diner for not knowing he ordered scrambled eggs. Maybe I’m a bit bitter, but who wouldn’t be? Abi tells the chief that she received call about another missing persons case, which adds to the other six missing civilians.

Someone by the name of Dan O’Conner was seen three days prior on a train that’s six hours from where this conversation is taking place. Oddly enough, the local police department has no record of O’Conner getting onto the train or his ticket even being scanned. So clearly some wild moving parts are happening that we aren’t able to see yet.

The chief brushes it off, saying people who take the train are usually running from something, so the missing person inquiries aren’t something to get excited about. He accuses Abi of letting her imagination get ahead of itself out of her own boredom. Despite the chief’s reassurance that it’s not a big deal, Abi knows something is off about this whole situation.

Off to do some poking around

Abi heads over to Arlington Books, the same book store ran by Paul and his ever so supportive mother. After a little chit chat with Miss Rinaldi, Abi explains she’s there to read up on people who ride trains. She wants to know the type of person that rides trains. Paul sees that maybe this just isn’t the way to go about it, and they make plans to go and ride a train themselves. So off to the train station they go.

The two buy a ticket to the closest destination they can find so they can be back in a timely manner. Abi promises to buy Paul dinner and with that, they take their seats.

Back in Arlington

We see the blonde lady who made the strange remark to Paul when he ran into her and the man in a wheelchair. She’s having a completely normal interaction with her dog. Gives the little fella a taste of some turkey, then makes ANOTHER weird comment I can’t wrap my head around. She tells the dog that her sandwich doesn’t taste much better than its dog food, because she hasn’t “sorted out the whole taste thing yet”. I’m sorry, what?! Again, what does that mean? Did she not have taste prior to this? What does “sorted out” mean?!

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Moving on, she makes her way down to her dark basement where the man in the wheelchair is sitting, alone and in the dark. The lady who was perfectly normal to her dog changes at the drop of a hat. Throwing insults around such as “useless” and calling him a piece of shit. A lot of hostility towards a character who hasn’t even spoken yet. She mentions that she wishes the man was the one who died in the crash. Okay, so we’re getting a little more information about them, but still not enough to know what’s going on.

She turns toward what looks to be a medical bed, that has a body covered in a white cloth. We see the lights overhead that’s usually seen in an operating room. She says she wants to give this another try. What is “this”?! I swear this lady has me in a choke hold.

The nitty-gritty of these visions

We’re back with Abi and Paul, at the Roxbury train station. Abi mentions that Paul’s reputation proceeds him and we get some insight as to what’s made our main character get so much heat from everyone in his life. Abi lets the details fly, saying that Paul isn’t allowed to perform psychic readings in Arlington.

She mentions that they were something called hot readings, which Paul explains that hot readings means there was research done beforehand. Paul is adamant that he does actually have abilities. He says they’re like erratic and random lucid dreams that he has no control of.

The more he attempts to control them, the less he gets to see. It turns out that Paul performed a reading for the mayor, but all of the information he conjured up was available on the internet, so he was deemed a scammer. Paul doesn’t even use the internet, and had no clue he could’ve just looked it all up prior.

I can see why he would be labeled a scam artist, because I surely wouldn’t believe a single person who claimed they don’t use the internet at all. But that doesn’t mean the bullying and metaphorical tomato throwing was warranted. Paul still has my sympathy. The guy needs someone on his side.

Welcome to the wild, wild ending

We are back in Arlington, in the creepy lady’s basement. This time, she’s uncovering the body laying on the bed. When she uncovers it, we see the body is a man with long red hair who looks utterly terrified. She unlatches a neck restraint, while talking about how perfect the hostage is. The hostage would’ve been perfect for whatever it is she wanted, but “ol’ crippled Carl” needs more information from him. So I guess the man in the wheelchair’s name is Carl. With a scream of “so let’s TALK”, she goes to stabbing him in the neck and that’s the end.

Final thoughts

I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I started reading. I felt so many emotions reading this first issue. Sympathy, anger, empathy, confusion, bewilderment. Watching Paul go through what started out as an average day of bullying, belittling, and frustration made me feel almost protective of him.

Seeing the people of Arlington treat him as if he’s a broken circus freak made me more angry than I expected. Seeing Abi be genuine with him, and try to hear his side of the story was heartwarming. You can tell that no one has ever given him that chance before.

The blonde lady who is one tall glass of chaos with the silent male companion allegedly named Carl made me question everything I had read. How did she know Paul? Did she even know Paul?

If she didn’t, then how did she say the exact same thing as his mom? Why did she hate Carl so much? What was her dog’s name? Why did she slaughter that poor red headed man? What did she need him for? So many questions I desperately need answers to.

Final score: 8 OUT OF 10

Personally, I wish there was a little bit more details with this, but I suppose that adds to the mystery of it all. I loved the characters and feel personally invested in each and every one of the them, even that chief of police who spends his days making Paul feel like trash. Well, I did say I was bitter!

The artwork was really well done. I especially loved the art that went with Paul’s lucid dreams. The artwork and the dialogue went together perfectly with the story.

I really can’t wait to see the next installment of MidState!