The occult just got a lot more interesting.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jen Van Meter
Art: Roberto De La Torre
What They Say:
Death was just the beginning…
Doctor Mirage talks to the dead…but the only spirit Shan Fong can’t find is that of her late husband, Hwen. Instead, America’s favorite semi-retired paranormal investigator is haunted and raw, using her gift to solve homicides and bring peace to the recently bereaved. But when a big-time occultist with a classified military past hires her for a special job, Shan discovers a lead that might close the greatest mystery she’s ever tackled – how to get Hwen back. Now, Doctor Mirage must enter the undiscovered country and cross all the realms of the underworld, if she has any hope of rescuing the man she loves…or be forever lost beyond the earthly plane.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I own a number of the old Doctor Mirage books that Valiant put out in the 1990’s, I’ll be damned if I can really remember anything about them. A skim of covers reminded me of the designs of it all, but the series is not one that left an impression. But working with properties like that and bringing them back after so much time away can be a freeing process, and it looks like Valiant is working that angle well here as the title returns to the racks once more. With a good bit of variety to her career since starting back in 1998, Jen Van Meter has the interesting task of breathing new life into this character and doing so with some really interesting artwork by Roberto de la Torre that has a dark and creepy feeling about it, a roughness that feels wholly appropriate to it all.
The series revolves around Shan Fong, a woman who uses her abilities to talk to the dead to help others cope with what they’ve been through. We get that in the first act here where she’s been brought in to talk to the dead for a group of widows so they can get some closure, understanding and useful information on how to live their lives and move forward from those that meant something to them. It’s a difficult thing for Shan because she lost her husband Hwen herself and he’s the one person on the other side that she can’t seem to find to get into contact with. That brings a good bit of pain to her life, but she also knows she can do some good and you have to believe there’s some hope that the more she communicates with the other side, the greater the chance she might come across him somehow and figure out what happened. But while she does the job and does it well, she’s hiding a good bit of pain, anger and sadness as well that bleeds out from the pages.
Shan’s now being brought in to meet with another widower, a man named Linton March, who lost his wife a year back. He’s not a nobody though as he’s a military contractor of some sort with billions of dollars and an easy thirty grand for her for just a meeting. She’s not exactly keen on it, but takes the job and finds herself being drawn into something much larger. The opening issue dances around it a bit as March reveals his tale of why he wants to work with her and it is an elaborate dance until she just pulls aside the curtain and wants to get to the heart of the matter directly. There’s a lot of history here, going back to the Nazi’s and what happened to all their occultists that Hitler had brought to service under him, as there was just as much a push to get them as there was to the scientists in general. With what Shan discovers here, there’s potential to reach to something bigger and a desire to reach for it because it will take her to the darkest parts of the underworld to get it.
The design of this first issue, both in terms of dialogue, structure and artwork, makes it a complicated read in a way because of the dance it wants to go through to get to the point. That’s not a bad thing at all, but like Shan you start wondering what the point is along the way and get anxious to get to it a little bit before she does. Seeing what’s going on here, and the way its presented with its layouts and with the really interesting character designs, makes this one of those tougher books that could have a lot of payoff. The darker side of the Valiant universe has plenty to explore and Shan as a character by herself has the potential to be a strong character to really get involved with. What we see of her here, working with widows, working for her own goals and taking on jobs that could help her reach them even if they are dangerous paints a good picture of her. This feels even more so because of the nature of her relationship with Hwen, that she’s not a teenage hero bopping around and that there is an earthy feeling to it that gives it weight, Doctor Mirage stands out well against the other Valiant books but also stands out well alongside them.
Digital Exclusive:
I hadn’t seen any of the digital exclusive editions from Valiant before, so I was certainly curious to see what would be included. What we do get here are a few pages of the book done without any of the coloring on it, so just the pencils and inks by Roberto De la Torre. And boy does it make me wish the whole book was done this way because it’s so much more evocative, for me, than the colored version of it.
In Summary:
While a lot of new books you can read and just go “aha, that’s what this is.” and move right along, the last few new Valiant books require a couple of reads to really get into and even a little dialogue with yourself to try and ferret out what they’re looking to accomplish. I found this with The Delinquents as well. Doctor Mirage is pretty much free to go its own way and it’s doing so with a kind of style that can draw you in slowly if you let it. It’s reminiscent of certain kinds of 70’s and 80’s horror books, especially from DC Comics for me where it’s focusing on the story through the characters so well, and going for a natural kind of horror that seeps out and infects you the more you understand what it is. We’re dabbling at the very edges here but what we get is really interesting and leaves me hoping for a lot more to come.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment via ComiXology
Release Date: September 3rd, 2014
MSRP: $3.99
