Written and Drawn By Joe Benitez
Colors By Peter Steigerwald
Letters by Josh Reed
Published by Aspen Comics
This is number one of an eight part series, the mystery of the Mechanical corpse. The story line is very interesting and fits in with the idea of the super detective series like Sherlock Holmes. The premise is that a young woman is found locked in an abandoned laboratory where an evil serial killer has been kidnapping and killing people in London. She is surrounded by the dismembered bodies of many victims of the killer, with no memory of her past, or why she was given mechanical arms or even allowed to continue to live. The newspapers called the sole survivor with mechanical arms “Lady Mechanika”, and thus the new life begins as a super detective. She uses her own way of looking at the world to solve crimes that no one else is interested in or is looking to try to solve.
Even with her newfound fame, she has never stopped wondering, or the reader gets some interesting side panels as she works on the greatest mystery of them all, who she is. This first issue of the mystery of the mechanical corpse layers many steam punk thoughts, ideas, imagery, and processes including the occult into one very well done and one very enjoyable steam punk comic book. Being the first in the series, this is really all about setting out the groundwork of the story. Introducing the major characters, the first real detective case, flashbacks, and introducing what are most likely going to end up being minor characters.
Overall, this is really well done and shows Aspen Comics reaching well beyond the normal series that they usually produce like Fathom of Aspen Seasons. Rather than a comic book filled with beautifully drawn women, this one is more about the story line, and shows Aspen comics seriously starting to take the art of comic book story telling. Joe Benitez has done a wonderful job with the artwork, the letting is well placed and easy to read, and the entire flow and feel of the comic book reminds me of Steam Con here in Seattle. They did very good with this comic and is a welcome addition to the steam punk genre, rather than trying to be something it is not, this comic has the look, feel, and flavor of steam punk. This was a joy to read and gets a five out of five stars on the rating scale here at Comics Forge. Really, this is probably the best work I have seen Aspen produce, and looking forward to seeing more of this story line. You need to own this comic if you are into steam punk, you want to read this story even if you are not. It is that good.
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