Review: Lady Mechanika: La Dama de la Muerte #1 (of 3)
A steampunk adventure with a partly-cyborg lady in the lead. Add to this the stunning visuals that a certain Joe Benitez is world-famous for and all-around minuscule and intricate details by artist Martin Montiel and you really have an instant-classic in my book.
Kinda ridiculous to even start reviewing this book since, well… the conclusion will be “go out and buy this” no matter what I say, might say or will say!
As the team ( Joe Benitez returns to writing duties with assists from Tablet of Destinies and Lost Boys scribe M. M. Chen. ) explains this 3-parter will address “a dark tale from Lady Mechanika’s past” in which Lady Mechanika takes a trip to a small Mexican village just in time for their Día de los Muertos celebration.
The whole #1 is basically an introduction and explanation to the reason behind Día de los Muertos and why it is a celebration, rather then a mourning and during Lady Mechanika’s stay she can finally come to grips with her personal loss and the grief she has been carrying around.
There might be redundancy in explaining it all, but it never bored me at all. It is as though the writers were not deliberately trying to decompress the story (which allows of course more pages of art and that is never bad, when it is as good as it is here!) but rather take the time to really explain more about the culture and reasoning behind this festivity. And to make you feel welcome in this -for most- new celebration, which might easily become the “new Halloween” if the marketing-men get to work on this! But let us not divulge into the vulgarity that is money-driven marketing here!
The end of this #1 issue showcases a zombie-like creature and the opening of this issue showcases the Jinetes del Infierno, the mythical Hell Riders. I am sure this will lead into an action-packed #2 which will be sold out of stores as of November 2, 2016, I am sure!
All in all: apart from the nice storytelling, the gentle characters (old and young, all friendly) and the fact that Benitez just might convince everyone that Mexican people are the best in the world (please tell Trump!) and Mexico has the best legends to be found and are buried deep into the native culture… this is a visually stunning book. Period. Surely the coloring by Peter Steigerwald and Beth Sotelo is also partly to blame but the exquisite paneling, the details, the facial expressions and the dynamics of the story are really making me all warm and fuzzy.
So… like I said… go out and buy this!! I mean it!
And while you are at it, get the sci-fy horror story Wraithborn TPB (also by the same team!) which is out today as well!
About the Author
Richard Boom Richard is the driving force behind Comics for Sinners. His love and admiration for female comic book characters is virtually unparalleled, which immediately explains his biggest 'sin': his Hot Mummy fetish. This sketchbook theme is philogynistic in nature and even the source of his WIP comic book series "The Sisterhood".
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