Michael William Kaluta

I have a lot of time for Matt Wagner -- I especially enjoyed his later Grendel books. However in spite of his best efforts -- including a cameo from the original gas-mask wearing Wesley Dodds in this volume, Madame Xanadu just doesn't seem a very interesting character. In the 1940s, Madame Xanadu gets a slightly supernatural brief from a customer and she ploddingly solves the case with the help of her magical tricks. At almost no time is she really in danger. There are flashbacks to the show more Spanish Inquisition in 1493, which time is relevant to both Xanadu and her case (but without much more crossover than that). She seems to identify the problem and solution early; her biggest problem is convincing her client's associates that there is a problem. Madame Xanadu has lived for thousands of years but doesn't seem to have gained great insights in that time. It's all a bit pedestrian. show less

My stepdad introduced me to Starstruck back in the mid-1980s, and I was impressed at the depth of creativity involved in the stories of a far-future galaxy. The storytelling is nonlinear, and the entanglements between the characters tricky to follow, but the richness of the universe makes it worth the effort. As Tym Stevens puts it, “You didn’t read STARSTRUCK...you held on like a rollercoaster and tried to keep up.” So when I found out that the whole thing was being collected and show more republished, I put in a preorder.

The good news: the deluxe edition fills in more of the back story that was hinted at in the original comics, giving more perspective on the multilayered intrigue going on. It also comes with a lot of extra fun details, tales of Brucilla’s past among the Galactic Girl Guides, writings and postcards from inside the universe, and bonus art.

The bad news: there’s still a big honking To Be Continued hovering there. According to an interview with Elaine Lee, this is about ⅓ of what she has planned. So if you’ve been waiting for a quarter of a century to find out what happens next, you have to wait some more— but you should pick up this volume now to encourage the next one to come out. show less

I really enjoyed the first collection of Matt Wagner's Madame Xanadu. This one didn't do it for me though. The story follows Madame Xanadu as she does some old-fashioned detective work in 1940, following a series of mysterious deaths and reliving memories of her life in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition.

I thought the plot dragged on, with occasional highlights, such as cameos from Dian Belmont and Wesley Dodds. The storyline following her time in Spain was fairly predictable - no big show more revelations when Nimue's nature causes problems with the Inquisition! The dialogue is also pretty bad - particularly the scene with the showgirl and Richard Miller.

Most of all, I didn't like the artwork. It felt very messy and busy, particularly compared to Amy Reeder Hadley's gorgeous work in the previous volume. Some of the characters' expressions were hilarious given the context of the scenes. For example, when Nimue's lover has been taken by the Inquisition and a neighbor confronts her with this news, her expression reads as... sleepy.



This mysterious killer releasing his demon dog to kill a man... cross-eyed? Detecting a bad smell?



And good old Tomas de Torquemada... Indiana Jones-style face melt? Look at those teeth, they're horrifying!



With a subpar story, dialogue, and artwork, I'd say this one is skipable. I'm hoping the next collection is better than this one. I like the Madame Xanadu character, but it felt like she didn't have to make much effort here to solve the mystery and defeat the villain... because who doesn't have mummified shards from the brain of a kraken lying around? Seriously. I feel that Wesley Dodd's and Dian Belmont's perspectives would've been much more intriguing than what we get here. show less

A well-done graphic interpretation of one of Robert Howard's classic Conan tales. I find REH a bit inaccessible in print, so I prefer the graphic versions. This book is different from the Conan comics by Barry Windsor Smith (also by Dark Horse) because it is pretty pure Conan writing. Windsor Smith had to plunder non-Conan writings by Howard and later by other authors too simply because there wasn't enough original material to sustain such a long-running comic. This adaptation however sticks show more to the source, accompanied by a pleasant graphic style. show less