InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "CAPSLOCKERS DO IT BETTER"

bluefall (bluefall) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-07-21 03:36:00

Entry tags:

char: madame xanadu/nimue inwudu, creator: matt wagner, creator: michael kaluta, publisher: vertigo comics, title: madame xanadu

Yeah, I'm not fashionably tardy, I'm just straight-up late.
In honor of the IDF, some pages from the last couple issues of MADAME XANADU, in which we learn a thing that would never in a million years have even occurred to me which nonetheless makes more than perfect sense the moment it's there.

This series jumps eras a lot, intertwining WWII adventures with Jack the Ripper and Marco Polo via flashback. Our plot thread of interest involves what Mme X was doing during the Spanish Inquisition.

I read these pages and thought to myself, "I can't be reading this right. Can I?"

ZOMG, I totally was. :D :D :D

Then in issue #12:

For all its incidental treatment and utter tameness I actually think I like this scene better; it's about Marisol having meaning to her, about their relationship being the underlying foundation of her life here rather than just a thing she does among all the other things she's doing. It's all going to end horribly of course - if Marisol doesn't die a hideous fiery death before the storyarc is out I'll be genuinely shocked - but this makes it seem... honest, I guess, rather than cheap and hollow as such things usually are.

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red_cyclone
2009-07-21 08:38 am UTC (link)

Oh wow. I love Madame Xanadu, but I just can't afford to buy it in singles, so I'm getting the trades, which means it'll be a long time till I get to read the rest of this, still, this has made sure that I will be.
Not sure how I feel about the art though, I means its nice and everything, but I loved Amy Reeder Hadley's so much.
Also, yeah, cue being burnt for being a witch :(

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statham1986
2009-07-21 09:15 am UTC (link)

Isn't the first trade out this week, with the first ten issues inside for ten dollars, I think? It's a bargain, and whilst I can't afford singles, I'm definitely grabbing that. I loved the scene with Death, Hadley made her so cute.

But I'm with you on the art. Kaluta (this is Kaluta, right?) did amazing work and I love his depiction of the Shadow, but Hadley set a really, really high standard with her issues.

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	bluefall 2009-07-21 10:13 pm UTC (link)
	'Tis indeed Kaluta. I think in general I prefer to look at Hadley's art, but Kaluta seems more suited to the type of story being told here. Particularly given the connection to SANDMAN MYSTERY THEATRE in the A-plot, there's a bit of a stylistic bridge there that I like. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	comicoz 2009-07-21 03:10 pm UTC (link)
	The first trade is dirt cheap, I forget the price but it's completely worth it and at a price that really makes me wonder if it's a clericial error gone unnoticed. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-07-21 03:35 pm UTC (link)
	First trade is out! 12.99 for the first 10 issues, and the second trade's out in February, apparently. (Reply to this) (Parent)

kamino_neko
2009-07-21 10:31 am UTC (link)

if Marisol doesn't die a hideous fiery death before the storyarc is out I'll be genuinely shocked

Half of me is thinking the foreshadowing about her death is so blatant that he must be planning to pull a switcheroo, and have her live...

The other half can't figure out a way to successfully pull off the switcheroo and have it feel...erm...natural, for want of a better word.

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	jlbarnett 2009-07-21 11:12 am UTC (link)
	she stops drinking the anti-aging thing? (Reply to this) (Parent)

kenn_el
2009-07-21 12:06 pm UTC (link)

It's the problem with writing an immortal character. They're going to outlive their paramours one way or another. Xanadu's already outlived Zatara, whom she hooked up with in a previous issue. Marisol's loss will be more heart-wrenching, I assume, because it should tie in with the main story, and, unlike Zatara, she was created for the story.
Both artists on this series are fantastic.

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	perletwo 2009-07-21 05:21 pm UTC (link)
	Turn love into hate and make Marisol into Mme.'s immortal nemesis? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	scottyquick 2009-07-21 12:49 pm UTC (link)
	"Mommy and daddy stuff ... but with no daddy" BRB, dying of laughter (Reply to this) (Thread)

	comicoz 2009-07-21 03:12 pm UTC (link)
	Isn't that a great way to put in risque text without making it sound like it? (Reply to this) (Parent)

	thebigapricot 2009-07-21 10:17 pm UTC (link)
	ITA. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	runespoor7 2009-07-21 10:50 pm UTC (link)
	Cutest line. (Reply to this) (Parent)

	unknownscribler 2009-07-21 01:16 pm UTC (link)
	I found the bit with the drug in the first sequence troubling -- it has the unfortunate implication that their relationship is at least in part based on Xanadu slipping her girl ruffies in order to make her receptive. (Reply to this) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-07-21 10:09 pm UTC (link)

Eh, I don't see it. She says she's been giving Marisol the drug since they've been living together, and I hardly think they moved in the day they met. If anything, the second scene sells to me that Marisol is more into the relationship than Mme X is (the "it's cute how you don't like men, dearie" and especially "she doesn't know what a gift this is" come across like the whole thing, sex included, is her indulging a favored pet), which is why I like the third scene - it actually makes Xanadu seem like she's in it too, and shows that she actually does want and need Marisol as much as Marisol does her (she says she's in love and staying in a place she loathes just to be with her).

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	kaetepixie 2009-07-21 02:15 pm UTC (link)
	Golly, I love the art here. It would be so interesting to see the pencils. I really, really, REALLY hope Marisol just splits up with Xan upon finding out she's an immortal otherbeing and moves on to live happily into old-grey-womanhood with another lady. Pleaaase don't go where it's probably going... crosses fingers (Reply to this) (Thread)

	bluefall 2009-07-21 10:15 pm UTC (link)
	Unfortunately, a Skeezy Man Of Authority has his eye on her. She was doomed before she and Xanadu ever met. ;_; (Reply to this) (Parent)

	chthonicspirit 2009-07-21 04:35 pm UTC (link)
	This is nice, but I'm kinda leery of the history involved. Blame the Spanish Inquisition for religious persecution, sure, but this is written like they are also responsible for World War One, the common cold, and stuff getting lost in the mail. (Reply to this) (Thread)

	bariman1987 2009-07-21 10:28 pm UTC (link)
	No one expects the Spanish Inquisition! Their chief weapon is surprise! (Reply to this) (Parent)

psychop_rex
2009-07-23 06:09 am UTC (link)

Well, but the Spanish Inquisition actually DID all the stuff they're presented as doing here, and plenty more. They burned people at the stake - thousands of them - they tortured and persecuted and interrogated and generally went crazy for a while. I mean, they actually looked into the past of people who were already DEAD, and, if they were deemed to have been heretics, they dug them up and had their relatives denounce them. I'd say that the depiction of the Inquisition here is not only fair, it's extremely mild.

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