Lady Mechanika is one of those things that comes out of nowhere suddenly, and immediately feels like it’s been around forever… like a new pair of underwear. This is the second issue, and I already feel completely at home. It’s the story of a kick-ass, sharp as nails Lara Croft-esque character with weird, unexplained mechanical physiology that makes her awesome, as well as giving her motive for doing stuff (she asks “who am I? why am I like this? who made me?” a lot).
It’s a sort of mix between Quentin Tarantino and Hayao Miyazaki… though I’m always fearful of that sort of description, especially if you add ‘on acid’ to the end. It has the kick-ass moments of Kill BIll, with the style and beauty of Howls Moving Castle. This issue spends most of its time in a mexican stand-off between two old enemies/friends in a sewer, and it lays on the tension with a studio ghibli style exposition heavy conversation, ending in a gunfight straight out of a Hollywood western. It’s a mix of styles that I know so well, which I think is the reason why I made room for the series so readily in my longboxes.
After a brilliant first issue to introduce the character and her world, this one is the introduction of the wider arc and it’s incredibly wordy, which is my only criticism in a review with nothing else but praise. You expect it with a brand new character with a shady past, but unfortunately you don’t get to find out much. All the dialogue is dedicated to teasing you about things we’re not ready to find out yet, though I only realised how wordy it really was after reading the issue, while I was turning the pages I was absolutely riveted.
The pictures are wonderful, and though the comic sometimes feels like an excuse to draw a beautiful woman over and over again, it doesn’t reach the gratuity of some titles. In fact, a lot of the fun is in the costumes, not the lack thereof. There’s a great deal of focus on character design, the heroes and villains all wear their character literally on their sleeve. You know the woman with the eye patch and breeches is a dick, and the guy with the waste coat and stripey trousers is a crack-pot inventor. In a note to the reader at the end of a previous issue, Joe Benitez explains his inspiration for the series is partly down to seeing steampunk cosplayers at a convention… which comes through, this thing is a cosplayers dream.
And now for my final thought: Lady Mechanika #2 is the continuing rise of a series bound for a long run… hopefully. I’d advise to jump in before the water gets too deep (as Will said once). With the release of this issue on the 13th July comes a reprinted collection of the #0 and #1 issue, so catching up couldn’t be easier… though there’s not that much you need to catch up on, we haven’t been told anything.
Joe Innes.
P.S. I thought I’d throw in this page as a bit of a preview, because she has a wonderful hat.
