‘Murder Kingdom’ #1 Review: Murder In The Happiest (But Legally-Distinct) Place On Earth!

“What if there was a murder in Disney World?” is essentially the premise of the aptly named Murder Kingdom #1. But rather than spend much of its page count establishing the circumstances of the murder and the question of whodunit, writer Fred Van Lente and artist Chris Panda instead focus on introducing the story’s central character and the familiar-yet-unique setting. The end result is a strong debut issue which manages to be engaging past its initial catchy hook. 

The story is set in the Disney World-esque Storybook Kingdom, a theme park not unlike a Disney park: there’s roller coasters and themed lands and costumed characters who are never allowed to break character. Van Lente and Panda use readers’ familiarity with the trappings to quickly sketch in the setting, there by highlighting the differences — or, at least, the embellishments — like the massive underground complex running parallel to the park, or the elevators with enormous “Remember: NEVER BREAK CHARACTER” signs in them.

Pointedly, this is not a world without Disney. Though the company goes unnamed, it’s made clear that Storybook Kingdom co-exists in a world with Disney as a sort of public domain version of the other park (in a fun Easter Egg, Storybook Kingdom is said to be owned by the Oswald Family; this is presumably a reference to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney and Ub Iwerk‘s pre-Mickey Mouse animated creation). Panda’s art fits the setting well, the bold colors and thick lines giving the book a look like animation. The overall “brightness” of the visuals also helps the reveal of the murder land with more impact, the brutality of the crime in contrast to the cheery visual disposition. 

The series’ guide to this alt-Disney World is Tanith, an operator of one of the railroads desperate to find a new job and leave behind her theme park “career.” Van Lente and Panda use Tanith as a point-of-view character, expanding readers’ understanding of Storybook Kingdom as she goes about her day and gets embroiled in the murder at the center of the plot. It’s a smart and efficient bit of construction, putting both the character and setting hand in hand so both get revealed in greater detail in parallel. This leaves room for Tanith to come into her own as a more well-rounded character before the plot really kicks into gear.

At first, she seems like a stock character, the sort of “too cool for school” jaded twenty-something who hates her job and has little patience for the kind of “draconian control in the name of ‘magic'” expressed by her employers. 

Yet over the course of Murder Kingdom #1, Tanith undergoes a transformation. After telling her coworker Richard she’s quitting once-and-for-all after getting hit with a facefull of a park goer’s meemaw’s ashes, Tanith gets plucked from the locker room by Mrs. Dean, the head of casting, to fill-in as the park’s Briar Rose (the legally-allowable version of Sleeping Beauty).

It’s a transformation not unlike those undergone by the fairy tale characters whose likenesses populate Storybook Kingdom (a fact lampshaded unnecessarily by Mrs. Dean). But surprisingly, rather than double-down on her feelings of annoyance & resentment, Tanith finds herself enjoying the role of Briar Rose and buying into the “magic” of the park. 

It’s an important development because it makes Tanith a more complex character while also adding an additional layer of tension into the story. The tension at the heart of the story involves the presentation of Storybook Kingdom being (one of) the happiest places on Earth getting shattered by the brutality of the murder at the center of the plot. If Tanith had no personal investment in maintaining it — if the Tanith of the opening pages had never found herself overcome by the power of Storybook Kingdom, then the murder would feel less personal to her and, because she’s the POV character, be less impactful for readers. 

What the issue builds to in its closing pages isn’t exactly a murder mystery (the apparent killer is seen watching from the shadows as Tanith discovers the victim) but there is mystery afoot. Even beyond the unknown motivations of the killer, there’s an air of something sinister permeating the issue.

From subtle malevolence of Mrs. Dean, who can open Tanith’s employee locker at will, that might just be a commentary on the controlling nature of the massive companies which run these theme parks or might be a hint at something even darker to the eerie silence when Richard refuses to speak as he leads Tanith to the victim (Tanith chalks this up to him being in costume as a silent character — remember, NEVER BREAK CHARACTER — but it seems pretty obvious it’s not Richard in that costume at that time), it’s clear there’s more at play than “simply” the murder.

By putting in the work to make its main character complex and its setting well-realized and familiar, Murder Kingdom #1 makes for an entertaining read in its own right while expertly setting the stage for what’s to come.