“I can do sweet. I’m just better at grouchy and pushy”
Creative Staff:
Story: Jen Van Meter
Art: Roberto De La Torre
Colors: David Baron
What They Say:
Occult investigators Shan and Hwen Mirage lived their lives in the thrall of an epic love that few will ever have…until Hwen died tragically before his time. Now, after a perilous trip through the underworld, Shan and Hwen are reunited…but Hwen is still an intangible spirit of the dead – incapable of opening a spellbook or even touching his wife.
Their options exhausted, the death-defying Doctors Mirage are about to enact a dangerous spell to restore Hwen’s solid form…and grant his ghost a second life. But, in the wrong hands, their ancient rite will become a tool of terror – and unleash a force of pure, homicidal evil that lusts for the murder of the living and the dead alike… a torturous death that obliterates not just everything a person ever had in this world, but everything their ghost will be in the next!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I enjoyed the previous Doctor Mirage series overall, it was one that felt just a bit drawn out and more convoluted than it needed to be. Part of it is just the while serialized aspect of course, but that has its impact since that’s how most of us read it. The creative team for the first miniseries is back for this second one and I definitely have to say that I like these characters done with the miniseries approach as it makes it clear we’re in for a story that has a beginning, middle, and end while also having tangents that it can move forward with. Working with the events of the first series now that Hwen is back is definitely a positive and the new dynamic works well, even with some of the convoluted aspects of the time periods show here early on.
While the first series had the happy ending after all the struggles of saving Hwen, the reality of this new life is definitely weighing on both of them. For Shan, she’s continuing to work with Leo to get the whole paranormal investigators thing moving along and dealing with all that comes with it since money has to come from somewhere and they suffered a lot of losses recently. This isn’t exactly what Hwen is interested in, but he has to understand what Shan went through during the five years he was out of the picture – a recurring theme that’s almost amusing at times since she’s been all over the map with what she’s done. The investigator job is one that works well at the start here, though odd in how it gets underway, as they have to intercede at a wedding done at a haunted themed chapel where there are actual ghosts. It just goes too far as the groom does the wrong thing and puts the spirits in pain, but it opens up some intriguing avenues to explore now that Hwen can actually converse with them alongside Shan, providing a different kind of interaction.
Where the focus is set with this series beyond these character and setting building moments is that as glad as Shan is that Hwen is back like this, she really finds she needs more. And that means being able to touch and interact with him physically. This has them searching for a small selection of scrolls that exist that could help, though there are troubles with that along the way. When they close in on another through a friend, it’s something that turns darkly dangerous with what it presents as something else is inhabiting people and dealing with eliminating the scrolls. And doing so in a way that eliminates a whole lot of spirits in the immediate area. It’s an intriguing piece as we get to know a lot of the spirits in brief at the residence/business in question as much panel time is spent with them and it has some real impact as it plays out, setting the stage for motivation beyond Shan’s desires. It’s a solid push forward that doesn’t hurry to get there, which is to its advantage.
In Summary:
While I enjoyed the first series overall I’ll admit that I’m wary about the second series. It’s the ideal format for it but the convoluted approach that was used the first time around, and the somewhat drawn out nature of it as well, caused it to lose a lot of momentum along the way. This new miniseries is off to a solid start overall and I’m cautiously optimistic. Van Meter gives us a really engaging couple with Shan and Hwen while filling out the world with colorful and interesting characters and spirits, all of which De La Torre brings to life in his very interesting style and design. There’s a great look about it that totally fits the book, though at times it feels like we get less defined characters in distinctive ways, causing things to blend a bit more than I would care for. All in all, if you liked the first series there’s definitely a lot of potential here.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: December 23rd, 2015
MSRP: $3.99