Here is where we'll be discussing Lady Mechanika from Aspen Comics.

I just wanted to give my impression of this book based solely on the cover. I think this is a great cover that really made the book stand out on the shelf. The use of the map as the background and the metallic oval framing the figure really allowed the character to be the focal point. The red dress and gold accents makes her stand out. I also love the subtle touch of the title fading on the left and becoming more solid on the right.

Also, I must admit that I found this sort of surprising of a concept to be coming from Aspen. I really just think of them as being more of a GGA sort of company. While this character is most definitely female, it had a different feel than just another T-n-A book.

This book is testing my resolve in not buying anything but Batman, which is saying something as it's been easy dropping everything else the last few months.
The cover looks interesting and the concept has me wondering just how good the book is.

Well, run and pick it up to see! Then share your thoughts here.

I plan on reading it tonight.

***SPOILER WARNING***SPOILER WARNING***SPOILER WARNING***

I didn't know if this was really necessary but I figured I would let you know just in case. I will be mentioning some plot points from the issue in my review. If you don't want to know what happens from me, run, don't walk, to the nearest LCS and pick it up for yourself. Here goes...

The opening splash page lets you know that it is set in 1879 England. It shows a young girl running through the woods. The hem of her dress is torn and her hands look like the claws from Cyberforce's Ripclaw. It is pretty obvious that she is running from something. I assume that it is the lady on the cover as a little girl.

I really like the art, inking, and coloring on this page. The forest has a really foggy look, and the greenish tint sets the mood perfectly. The eyes on the girl are really the focus point of this page. The metallic gray color lets you know that this isn't an ordinary child (if the really big claws didn't give that away ).

On the next page, the something she is running from catches up to her. It is a squad of military-type people (dressed sort of like the Nazi assassin from the Hellboy movie). They are completely covered in a leather suit and they are wearing goggles that glow. The weapons they use to catch her are like cattle prods. They want her alive. She resists pretty rough so out come the handguns. These aren't your typical 1879 handguns though because in one panel one of them fires off three shots. They wound the girl and she falls off a cliff. When they go to see if she survived, they discover she has fallen onto a train. The leader of the squad shows up and kills the field leader with a sword for failing to capture the girl. They then have a splash page showing the female leader, Commander Winter, dressed in a white outfit with a patch over one eye.

I thought the fight scene was handled pretty well. It was unexpected when Commander Winter killed the field leader for his failure which really helped set up the antagonist as being a hard-arse. The splash page was handled really well. Her white outfit really stood out from the muted background and the lighting was done as if the sun was just rising over the horizon (which it was).

The next scene shows the train riding into the city of Mechanika with the little girl laying on top of it.

The city is presented just as the sun is rising over the mountains. The city does have a steampunkish feel to it. It isn't really detailed at this point but their is a sign proclaiming it "The City of Tomorrow".

The scene cuts to the people in the train station. There is a conversation going on between a father and his child but you don't see them. The girl from the woods stumbles in and collapses in front of a police officer. As people gather around they call for a doctor. They also notice the girl's arms are metal and say that it is the Lady Mechanika. The father from the conversation is a doctor. He goes over, examines the girl and declares her dead.

This was the first mention of the title character and from the way it was presented, she is an important figure in this city. They do share a name so I guess that makes sense. The coloring is again really good. It has that early morning lighting down pat.

The cut scene is back to the forest where Commander Winter is talking to someone on a military-style radio. She is telling the person that the girl was on the train heading to Mechanika. They mention running into her and having a score to settle. You don't see the other person except for the bottom of his face. His (or her) jaw has been replaced with a metal one.

This scene obviously sets up that both Commander Winter and the person she was speaking to have been wounded by Lady Mechanika. It also shows you that Commander Winter is actually the "lieutenant" to this currently unknown boss. It was another one of those little twists.

The next scene is Lady Mechanika showing up at the doctor's house to question him about the girl. She interacts with a maid first and then they do the big splash page reveal. She is dressed in a dark green and blue dress with red glasses and what appears to be really long leather gloves.

This big reveal page seemed a little too dark to me. The background was a maroon wallpaper so the whole scene was just plain dark and sort of hard to see. I thought that it would have been better to have some sort of light source especially since you are introducing the main protagonist. The one thing you do notice though is the similarity between the goggles Lady Mechanika and Commander Winter are both wearing.

The little girl comes into the room while the maid goes to fetch the doctor. The girl does not believe that the lady is in fact Lady Mechanika and proceeds to tell her why.

This was an absolutely entertaining little exchange between Lady Mechanika and the little girl. The letterer did a wonderful job with the use of bold letters to denote emotion. When the little girl calls the clothes Lady Mechanika frumpy, you can just "hear" the tone of indigence. A great little scene all around.

L.M. then talks to the doctor about what he saw earlier in the train station. It appears that the girl's mechanical parts are cruder than L.M.'s. She also seemed to have petroleum instead of blood in her body. When the doctor goes to examine L.M.'s arm to determine how similar her parts are to the girls she smacks him. It appeared to be an involuntary reaction of the arm itself and not L.M. She also had the doctor close the curtains to make it darker. When L.M. takes off her glasses, her eyes are glowing red.

I thought this scene did a good job of giving some hints about L.M. Her cybernetic parts seem to be more advanced than what other people might have. They also seem to have a sort of self-defense mechanism. The sensitivity to light appears to be a weakness that might be exploited in the future.

I forgot to mention, that there was a bug in the doctor's house so someone heard the conversation between the two of them. The bug was designed to look like an insect so it helped establish the steampunk setting.

When L.M. arrives at home there is an associate drunk on her couch. He designed the security for L.M.'s place so he knew the way around it. They have a quick conversation about whether or not they are friends while L.M. gets changed. they show an arsenal that she has in her house of various weapons and gear. While she is undressed you see that both her arms and legs are artificial. She puts on her leather catsuit and is going to see the body.

This scene was more of an establishing scene introducing what appears to be a supporting cast member. I did like that even though L.M. was undressed, she was in the old-fashioned type underwear. It didn't have a T-n-A feel to it at all. What that particular panel did though was establish that she is indeed different in that both arms and legs are artificial. I really liked how they did this without resorting to "cheap thrills" sort of art.

The place she has to break into is the Ministry of Health. What is going on on the inside does not seem to mesh well with the name. One scene shows someone disposing of corpses in an incinerator. It also appears that L.M. had spent some time within those walls and did not enjoy the experience. She finds the body of the little girl and examines it. She goes to remove it from the premises when she is knocked over by what appears to be a man with some sort of telekinetic power. He is only seen in shadow but appears dressed as Jack the Ripper is usually portrayed. He takes the body of the girl as L.M. lays there helplessly. As he fades into the shadows all she can mutter is "Bullocks."

I don't know if that is the man with the artificial jaw or another person but either way his appearance seems like it is going to cause L.M. some headaches.

Overall, I thought this did what an first issue is supposed to do. It set up the "players" and just briefly touched on some of the plot points. There was a reference to something in the Issue #0 but I don't think you needed to have read that to know what was going on it this issue. The artwork, inking, and coloring were just about spot on. The storyline is being set up well and the ending made me want to know what happens next.

One funny little extra included in the book is a couple of recipes for Ucky's Apple Pies and Jeweled Buttons. It seems that Ucky was a character in the #0 issue that was given an apple to eat. He later died but I don't think the apple killed him. The funniest part is that the recipes have the dotted line border like they expect you to cut them out of the book! I just thought they were a really cute touch to the book. Well, I welcome any comments about my comments and I apologize if I went too indepth with it.

I'm off Thursday... I'll try to swing by my LCS to pick this up.

I just finished reading issue #1 and I really enjoyed it. The story was easy to follow and the art is excellent. Aspen's put out a really nice book.

I like the little reference to werewolves. Just that little line in there expands the setting from cyberpunkish to include a touch of horror as well. I would love to see how the artist would portray a werewolf. I'm looking forward to the next issue.

This book reminds me of Van Helsing and although I thought the movie was...ok (nothing great), this book has all the ingredients for a great book.
1. Set in England during the 1800s (great time period for horror).
2. Gadgets (too advanced for the time period - but fun).
3. Sci-Fi/Horror (as Mike said - the city looked steampunkish and werewolfs?).
4. Female lead (more cleavage please ).
5. Good story - Some humor mixed in and has me wanting to know more (questions and more questions).
6. Great art - I checked out Joe Benetez's site and he has some really nice work for sale (I liked his work way, way back on Weapon Zero).

What more could you ask for (other than Halle Berry as the lead)?

You know you are getting a **little** older when your dream actress is in her mid-40s.

I'm with you though.... I don't even know the names of the 20-something bombshells.

A little? It's a lot these days (stuff hurts for no reason).

The covers look great and the stories sound interesting from what has been posted here - probably try and pick it up at some point but haven't prices gone through the roof on some issues?

Just on the variants from what I saw at Emerald City Con this weekend. What I don't get is why it's taken so fricken long to get #2 out? Seems like 0 and 1 have been out for awhile.

I was wondering if I missed #2 but it is just taking quite a while. It'd be a shame to see this series die on the vine so to speak because of late releases.

Anyone see a #2 yet? (pun not intended).

Someone on the Aspen forums said that their comic shop told them it wouldn't be out until June.

June? Why is it that creators still to this day put out books and not have at least the first six issues ready for release?

I'm a little confused about this as well since their site has an advertising for a Sneak Peek at #3. Maybe it'll be out before June but it was supposed to be out mid-January so who knows.

Last I heard was #2 should be out this week. I'm going to have to re-read zero and #1 because it's been so long.

Still not out yet!

Man, this series might as well be over. They lost whatever buzz they had going for them.

Maybe they should reboot to #1... call the first #1 a misprinted one-shot.

Finally! All I can say is I'm hooked on this book. Beautiful art and an interesting story so far. I had to buy a variant (last copy), because they sold out quick!

If anyone missed issues 0 and 1, you can get a Lady Mechanika collected that contains both issues for $3.99.

I'm having trouble getting a copy of issue #2. If someone else can post a review, I'd appreciate it!

*****

Found one! I'll get my review posted A.S.A.P.

Finally (again)! I picked up #3 a few days ago and have to admit this is one of t he top books of 2011. Great story and art. My only complaint is the 6 month wait time between books.

I have heard great things about this comic. I look forward to reading the TPB of the first arc in 2017.

Good grief! How can you remember what is going on with that long between issues?