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Lady Mechanika #2
Publisher: Aspen
Writer: Joe Benitez
Artist: Joe Benitez
Cover: Joe Benitez

First, I’ll just say that anyone who complains about the length of time it took for this issue to come out needs to just chill. Aspen released Lady Mechanika #0 and #1 together in one issue the same day this one came out to accommodate anyone who wasn’t up to speed on the story. Plus, when you’re getting this level of quality in both story and art it’s worth the wait. I’m also more inclined to give a guy a break who’s writing and drawing the book.

Lady M continues her search for clues to her origin, as well as the death of the mysterious girl from the previous issue. She’s caught snooping around by a former friend and her team. This is where we learn a bit of history about both characters, then Mechanika promptly shoots a finger off of the woman and makes her escape. As she continues her search for answers, her accomplice Mr. Lewis fills her in on the bad guy of the story. She follows up on a lead she discovered earlier in the issue which leads her to a circus. A creepy one at that.

The only problem I had with this issue was the extreme amount of exposition during the conversation between Mechanika and Katherine. It’s always cool to get a little back story on the main character, but their conversation just went on a bit too long for my tastes. Now, when Benitez has Mr. Lewis explain the bad guy, that sequence worked a lot better in terms of pacing and content. There was also consistency with the accents of the character, which was a great relief. Since Benitez is also pulling double duty as the artist, you’re treated to some of the best visuals in the comic industry. Each page has something to catch the eye, and even though I’m not a huge steampunk kind of guy I was really diggin’ the entire look of the world of Lady Mechanika.

Release issues aside, Lady Mechanika is a solid read that looks fantastic. I’m hoping that it hits shelves a bit more frequently in the future, because Benitez has piqued my interest here. We’ve got a character who doesn’t know why she’s part machine, a murder mystery, and Mr. Lewis is hiding something as well. I’d also like to know how the midget clown got away with all of Mechanika’s bullets. So if the first two issues caught your attention, you’ll want to pick this one up as well.

Infinite Speech
infinitespeech@comicattack.net

Review copy provided by Aspen.