Madame Xanadu #25 – Review

by Matt Wagner (writer), Laurenn McCubbin (art & colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: A 1960s ad-man starts to hear the people around him say horrible, horrible things.

What’s Good: What a downright creepy and generally unsettling story…  I’m beginning to get the sense that Extra-Sensory is more a horror arc than anything else, and this month’s offering is far more disturbing than last month’s, which already had its grisly moments.  This month’s issues focuses on hearing and, indeed, the things protagonist Spencer Wilkins thinks he hears are really vile; I was quite honestly shocked at how little Wagner held back.  This imagined dialogue is appalling and, Vertigo or not, there are a couple places where Wagner definitely pushes the envelope, often in creative fashion.

But it’s not just the sheer vulgarity and graphic content of this imagined speech that makes the comic disturbing.  There’s a sense of “wrongness” that dogs the issue throughout.  It’s not just these malevolent little imagined speech bubbles either, though they do interrupt and disrupt not just Spencer’s life, but the comic as well.  It’s also the narration.

And boy, is that narration creepy as hell.  Early on, though the narrator seems purely of the omniscient, personality-less sort, it shows little suggestions of sentience.  These little signs grow and grow until the narration, and the narrator, takes on a life of its own in reaction a sudden plot twist that I won’t spoil.  Suddenly the narrator is as much in communication with Spencer as us.  Not only does this bring us closer to the story, it also brings this demonic presence a lot closer to the reader.  The result is an experience that is skin-crawling.

Madame Xanadu #24 – Review

by Matt Wagner (writer), Marley Zarcone (art & colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: A girl in 60s Harlem, Rosy Mays, suffers visions where people around her appear horribly maimed.

What’s Good: This issue marks the start of “Extra-Sensory,” a thematically related series of one-shots, each drawn by a different female artist.  When I first realized this, I was filled with trepidation; I’m naturally uncomfortable each time someone other than Amy Reeder takes on Madame Xanadu.

Thankfully, though, Marley Zarcone steps up to the plate this month with an issue that entirely relieved me of my concerns.  While having a style of her own, Zarcone is a great fit for Xanadu that. While very different from Reeder’s work, she maintains a similar spirit.  Her work remains warm through its cartoonist’s sensibilities and slightly rounded feel, but she also channels a bit of an artsy, 90s Vertigo feel.  Zarcone also handles her own colors and does great work in this regard; her fires look absolutely magnificent.  Better still is how Zarcone makes main character Rosy Mays really stand out from her surroundings.  It mirrors her feelings of isolation while also subtly portraying the state of racial politics in 60s NYC.  It also bears being said that even though her style is by no means photo-realistic, some of the gore that Zarcone depicts is surprisingly disturbing.  A cut throat in particular actually made me wince a bit, and I have a fairly strong constitution.

Wagner’s script works very well in tandem with Zarcone’s art.  He works hand in hand with it in trapping and isolating his protagonist, Rosy.  Forced to see horrible things that are invisible to those around her, Rosy feels stuck in a world all her own.  It’s a very tight script that had me feeling the anxiety of Rosy’s situation as she is lost in a state of total incomprehension.  No one can understand her difficulties or her odd behaviour while she herself cannot understand what she is seeing.  Throughout the issue, Rosy seems trapped in a kind of existential solitude as we experience the horror of having a perception of reality that is not only unique, but unshared and unregistered by anyone else.

This makes Madame Xanadu’s role in the issue all the more powerful.  Though her presence is small, when she finally shows up, she’s the first character to give Rosy that feeling of understanding and as a reader, I felt that sense of relief wash over me.

Madame Xanadu #23 – Review

by Matt Wagner (writer), Amy Reeder (pencils), Richard Friend (inks), Guy Major (colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: Madame Xanadu faces off against Morganna in a final bid to save Betty

What’s Good: It’s sort of neat to see Madame Xanadu behave, in many respects, like an honest to goodness superhero.  Her final confrontation with Morganna and the magical battle that ensues is the kind of epic clash between good guy and bad guy that I wouldn’t necessarily expect from this book.  That said, it works, largely because Nimue is so naturally likable and Wagner continues to do an awesome job in writing Morganna.  I could not imagine a more humorously cackling villain.  I mean, how can you not laugh when a villain says “goblin balls!” as a curse?  With wonderfully written narration that always carries that simultaneous air of determination and vulnerability, it’s impossible not to root for Nimue, while with her continued mad arrogance, it’s equally impossible not to root against Morganna.

Then there’s John Jones/J’onn J’onzz who continues to be a joy to read under Wagner’s pen.  The character is continually written with that sly little wink as Wagner makes so much use of our knowing something that the characters do not.  He also makes us desperate to see J’onn in his true form, but he never quite lets us have it.  Instead, Wagner gives us little hints here and there of the Martian beneath the human form, always, delightfully, just on the periphery of Nimue’s awareness.  A blur of green might rush to her rescue and at one point, we even see a distinctly Martian looking hand reaching out to grab her.  Wagner teases us as much as he does Nimue herself.

Madame Xanadu #22 – Review

by Matt Wagner (writer), Amy Reeder Hadley (pencils), Richard Friend (inks), Guy Major (colors), and Jared K. Fletcher (letters)

The Story: Madame Xanadu and Detective Jones confront Morganna, only to discover her nefarious plot.

What’s Good: I feel like every one of my reviews of an Amy Reeder Hadley illustrated issue has to include a mandatory tribute for her work. Her high quality art is nothing if not consistent in its excellence.  Once again, Hadley does awesome work this month.  Morganna looks certifiably insane, Jones looks suitably inhuman when unleashing his powers, and the action is great, always carrying a kind of whimsical/slapstick feel.  Hadley’s work is always full of life and a kind of, for lack of a better word, happiness that permeates every panel.  For instance, even something like the grotesque, purple exploding cultists she draws this month carries a wink of comedy, regardless of the brutal circumstances.  As usual, Hadley also manages to slip in a pair of really fun, creative layouts.

Wagner’s script once again makes fantastic use of his supporting characters.  Morganna, for instance, has never been a more effective villain.  Wagner gives her a kind of hedonistic abandon, turning the character into a kind of mystic DC Caligula.  Her expressions of boredom and raving madness are perfectly accompanied by her merciless actions and when she makes two of her slaves fight to the death for her amusement, it’s a bit of a laugh.  Full of excess and caring not a whit for human life, she’s a perfect, classic sort of villain that fits the tone of the book wonderfully.