MADAME MIRAGE

"FADE IN" | "SNAP" | "GIRL TALK"
"THE GAUNTLET" | "MIRAGE AT BAY" | "FADE OUT"
Created and Written by: Paul Dini | Art by: Kenneth Rocafort
Colors by: Imaginary Friends Studios with Kenneth Rocafort & Blond on issue 1
Letters by: Troy Peteri | Edited by: Rob Levin

This one has been on my to-read list for about a decade. I first saw some promo art, or maybe covers, for Madame Mirage not long after she was created in 2007. She looked to be right up my alley -- a pulp-style heroine with an enormous rack, apparently wreaking vigilante justice in the thirties or forties, conceived by one of BATMAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES' best writers. I decided to pick up the trade paperback whenever it came out. I think I even ordered it at one point, but it was back-ordered or something and it wound up getting canceled.

Then, at some point, I learned that the series was not, as the promos had made me think, set in the past, but rather in the future -- that the series was basically sort of a sci-fi pulp thing. That revelation dampened my enthusiasm somewhat, and MADAME MIRAGE dropped down my shopping list, relegated to "maybe someday..."

Then, as I mentioned a couple weeks back, last year Comixology had a Top Cow sale and MADAME MIRAGE was one of the offerings. I decided someday had arrived, picked up the six issues, and here we are.

SPRINGTIME GRAB BAG

It's that time of year again, where I look at a few random items from the "to read" pile in what has become known (at least to me) as the Springtime Grab Bag!

All of the upcoming reviews will be digital books purchased in various Comixology sales. First, we'll look a couple pulp-influenced offerings from Dark Horse: THE BLACK BEETLE IN: KARA BOCEK by Francisco Francavilla, and CONAN AND THE JEWELS OF GWAHLUR by P. Craig Russell.

After that, we'll jump over to Image for a mini-series I've wanted to check out for quite some time, but just never got around to, MADAME MIRAGE by Paul Dini and Kenneth Rocafort. And then we'll wrap things up with a visit to IDW for a look at their BATMAN/TMNT ADVENTURES mini-series, a crossover between the definitive animated incarnation of Batman and one of the many animated incarnations of the Turtles.

With the Black Beetle, Conan, and Batman and the Turtles, I have some idea of what to expect, but I really don't know what Madame Mirage has to offer, so this should be an interesting few weeks. I hope you'll stick around to see how it all unfolds!