After her mad-scientist father is killed by the world’s greatest spy, 13-year-old Annalise is left all alone in the world. Sort of. Her dead dad’s robot bodyguard is following her around for some reason. Now Annalise has a choice: try to lead a normal life for the first time ever, or seek revenge and maybe overthrow the world order in the process. We’re Taking Everyone Down with Us #1 is written by Matthew Rosenberg, drawn by Stefano Landini, colored by Roman Titov and lettered by Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Have you ever wondered why supervillains are so damn paranoid? Have you ever wondered why the likes of Doctor Doom keep those lairs locked down tight and those fortresses fortified? Have you ever wondered why they have so many robots knocking about their subterranean passages and winding hallways? Well, it turns out they mostly just need someone to look after their kids but, also, people really are out to get them. And when they find the time to extricate themselves from their drug-fueled sex benders, the people hunting them are pretty damn good at what they do.
A fortified fortress
Such is the case with Matthew Rosenberg and Stefano Landini’s new series We’re Taking Everyone Down with Us, in which the mad scientist known only as Vitruvian seeks to simultaneously shield himself from the “hegemonic” “society” that seeks to thwart him and the affections of his daughter Annalise. The first issue is a riotous dark comedy/spy drama that hinges on a fractious father-daughter relationship, and the revelation of a dark secret that leads to sudden tragedy.
What really works about this issue structurally are the stakes Rosenberg and Landini create to achieve the payoff. They establish a pervading sense of isolation, using the paranoia of the characters and the insularity of the secret lair setting to de-contextualize the action within the base from the world outside it. This gives the sudden and violent intrusion from the outside world at the end of the issue a huge bang, which sets the agenda for the rest of the series.
Landini’s art establishes the sense of confinement in the issue’s early pages through a combination of overlapping panels that are both busy and narrow, with the connotative freedom of a child playing hide and seek disrupted by multiple robots appearing from the midst of a busy woodland scene filled with looming trees, the glow of their eyes punctuating the darkness. Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou’s letters add to this sense of claustrophobia by consuming panel space, which is offset by Roman Titov’s vibrant neon colors that keep the panels visually engaging. However, there is no escape into what her father dubs “childish pursuits” for Annalise; the island is designed to contain, to create a controlled environment in which everything is subject to testing and scrutiny. This sense of containment comes at the cost of Annalise’s childhood, symbolized by the fact that Annalise’s place of safety (her bedroom) is protected by a metal door that needs to be broken down just to serve her double chocolate mousse dessert.
Something something society
Aside from being an entertaining “preoccupied intellectual father” archetype who you suspect only begins showing interest in Annalise’s childhood as a rebuttal to accusations that he may be a bad father, Vitruvian is of course the architect of this containment. This is not just from a structural and environmental standpoint but as a consequence of his intense paranoia and fear of the outside world. Rosenberg’s dialogue has him make comedically vague references to the “entropy and atrophy of … society” and the “greater global political hegemony,” which is classic supervillain gobbledygook. It’s caricature deliberately dialed up to eleven, but it also deftly balances the tragic and comedic elements of the character.
Another key strength in his characterization is that the reader has no idea how Vitruvian’s eccentric villainy fits into the broader socio-political context. Has he actually done anything wrong? Are the vampire apes he has locked away actually shielding humankind from some kind of undead primate invasion? The reader is insulated from these external forces just as the residents of his hidden island are, which adds an element of mystery and intrigue. The art really sells this: The way Landini has designed the base to be architecturally oppressive juxtaposes Titov’s bright, effervescent color palette brilliantly, and imbues it with a sense of uncanny superficiality; a hyperreal world constructed to mimic and detach from reality.
The highlight of the issue is the scene where Vitruvian’s past sins catch up with him, with dire consequences, which is set up excellently by Rosenberg and delivered superbly by Landini. The break in Annalise’s world of childlike innocence happens with a flash of light, the world outside intruding on and illuminating her hidden world, casting shadows, before the explosion tears it apart. Her entire world goes dark, with her father’s voice, up until now the only guiding influence in her life, bringing her back to the light. But when the light returns, her life, and her father, have changed completely. You immediately feel empathy for Annalise and her fear at her world changing in an instant.
Sex, drugs and 15-panel grids
Let’s look at this tale’s key players, starting with our protagonist. Annalise is a great lead; precocious and intelligent, she has a hint of Valeria Richards about her except she’s retained that childhood innocence and need for love and validation. That makes her relatable, and ready to embark on a bildungsroman-style narrative arc that will be entertaining and cathartic. She’ll be accompanied by a robot who appears to possess her father’s consciousness. It should be fun to see Rosenberg exploit the endearingly awkward relationship moving forward in the context of the entropic and atrophic society we’ve heard so much about.
And finally, Agent Rook. I’m saving more detailed thoughts on him, but his scenes were a wild ride in every sense. Landini’s art amps up the comedy in these scenes as a 15-panel grid cycles through the absurd cocktail of drugs he is on. His roguish freedom provides a great contrast to the self-righteous insularity of Vitruvian, and by extension Annalise when she enters the real world. While they pair well together, the moral grayness with which Rosenberg has built this fictional world keeps things intriguing going forward. Roll on issue #2.
We’re Taking Everyone Down with Us #1 comes out March 26 from Image Comics. Buy it here. (Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, ComicsXF may earn from qualifying purchases.)
Jake Murray spends far too much time wondering if the New Mutants are OK. When he's not doing that, he can be found talking and writing about comics with anyone who will listen. Follow him @stealthisplanet.bsky.social.
