Murder Kingdom #1: Working Here Will Kill You – Literally & Figuratively

Murder Kingdom #1 is the newest series from Mad Cave Studios written by Fred Van Lente. The story’s protagonist is Tanith, an amusement park employee with aspirations of creating escape rooms, contemplating quitting college, and feed up with her job a fairytale-based amusement park.

From the first page, it is easy to see that Tanith really doesn’t want to work there but considering her alternatives, the best option, until a funny and somewhat plausible incident makes her determine to quit until she is approached to fill in for the cosplay role of a lifetime, or at least what passes for it at the amusement park.

Van Lente doesn’t skimping the humor and commentary on what it must be like working for a Disney-esque amusement park. There is the conflict between coworkers, overbearing management, and even overzealous park attendees that round out the issue until the reveal at the end that a murderer is on the loose.

The artwork is stunning, especially the panel of Tanith on the employee elevator. The color work is vibrant, but also dialed down when need be in scenes as those that take place in the tunnel used by the employees. The six panel page depicting a park goer live streaming a park actor getting drunk and berating people looks very realistic and shows the action of the character nicely.