Lady Mechanika
returns this week after some delay which Aspen is probably not too thrilled
about since the first two issues (one of them was a zero issue) sold out and
quickly became a hot property for them. Now it’s been a few months and
retailers are probably unhappy that interest has dwindled in the book and Aspen
is probably even less thrilled about it. To make it up they’re releasing a double-sized issue containing the zero and the first issue. Some fans and retailers
may still be unhappy about the delay, but to be fair it happens in comics far
too often. With a property like this you need Joe Benitez’s art to carry the
book or you end up with Final Crisis
with as many artists as possible to finish the book on time.
The problem with basically all creator/writer/drawn books is
that artists are pretty bad storytellers… nah that’s not a fair assessment. Artists are bad at dialog and the pacing of dialog.
Benitez is no exception as he has the characters spout off tons of exposition
that neither makes sense in terms of where the story is or in believability of
how human beans speak in general.
The story begins with Lady M breaking into the Ministry of
Health. She’s soon ambushed by her old friend and now enemy Commander
Katherine. They break into several pages of exposition in which they explain
their entire past to the audience and literally leave no mystery unsolved. Lady
M then shoots Katherine's men and blows off the Commander's trigger finger. From the explanation of
their past you actually feel sorry for Katherine as it seems that she has
terrible, terrible luck. From there Lady M dives into more exposition with some
drunken inventor about the man who possibly created her and how dangerous he
is. Then she goes to the circus… that’s how that sentence has to end.
So the story, again, isn’t the strong suit of this comic. It’s
a great concept, but Benitez’s really needs to work with a writing partner on
at least the dialog. Normal people do not recount their history together
especially at gun point. One of the real reasons to enjoy this book is the
art. Steam punk inspired half organic, half mechanical and total mega hottie
this book really is all about the art. Again the concept is interesting, but
without the art and the world it’s placed in this series would have been
cancelled before the second issue not brought back.
There’s probably going to be a small percentage of people
that actually enjoy the story and good for them, personally I’d get this book
just for the art. Benitez’s style and character designs are a thing of beauty
and if he’s careful he could become one of the industry’s top art talents like
Aspen founder Michael Turner.