Paul Dini, Author; Kenneth Rocafort, Artist; Troy Peteri, Letterer; Blond, Colorist; Rob Levin, Editor; Top Cow, Publisher
On an alternate near-future Earth, shortly after the turn of the 21st century, scientists used bio-engineering and cybernetics to create the first real superheroes. Inevitably, there were those who turned these gifts to the pursuit of crime. In time the mega-heroes were overwhelmed by the rising tide of enhanced supervillains. Soon, mega-tech was banned and its surviving inventors driven underground. Faced with these edicts, the few remaining mega-heroes surrendered their positions in society, only to be imprisoned and mistreated for their troubles.
In this atmosphere, fugitive supervillains found ways to slyly assimilate into society as businessmen (of the most corrupt stripe, of course) through bribery and shady deals. Thus they could covertly use their powers, sans costumes, by hiring themselves out to the highest bidder. They practiced their perfidy largely untouched, chiefly under the banner of a corporation called Aggressive Solutions International (hence ASI).
Until Madame Mirage.
Mirage is a gorgeous and deadly woman who can outwit and actually provoke fear in the minions of ASI. Sometimes she appears as a wraith to taunt them; sometimes she is solid enough to send them to a horrid demise. Sometimes she works by proxy, as through her agent Harper Temple. Her modus operandi is almost reminiscent at times of the classic pulp hero, Kent Allard, the Shadow.
In this first issue, she stops a ruthless exec, Roger Maitland, from skipping the country with his ill-gotten gain from ASI, leaving a super-enhanced agent called “Dude” to kill Maitland’s girlfriend, an act Harper puts a stop to, but doesn’t manage to take down Dude himself, unfortunately. Mirage, however, manages to capture Maitland and literally drive him to his death, dissolving into mist, leaving no one at the wheel as he plunges to his well-earned demise, after which she appears and taunts onlookers. As the Shadow might once have cackled with glee, Madame Mirage leaves a huge flaming calling card dramatic enough not to be forgotten.
Such is the premise of Madame Mirage. And it’s a strong one; the strong first issue wastes no time setting up the world in which Mirage operates, and hits the ground running with action and intrigue. Writer Paul Dini (52, Lost), who famously cut his teeth on the Animated Series of Batman and Superman, is held in great esteem as an expert storyteller in the realms of comics and animation. Madame Mirage is perfect evidence why: Dini combines action, sci-fi, mystery, and old fashioned sex appeal on the canvas on which he works, and he has the perfect partner in Kenneth Rocafort. Rocafort’s art is reminiscent to me of the later work of Leinil Francis Yu on New Avengers, which I greatly enjoyed even though I despised the book itself and its’ writer’s work. Needless to say, Rocafort is a tremendous talent. The man apparently known only as “Blond” on colors does a wonderful, painterly job enhancing Rocafort’s illustrations.
Madame Mirage is off to a rollicking start, with enough of the aforementioned qualities that Dini brings to bear to keep it engaging and exciting for some time to come. Above all, Dini succeeds in setting up the question that will apparently drive the series and which he will likely take his time answering: just who is Madame Mirage?
