Dark Horse Comics has a really strong slate of intriguing books getting underway next year as part of the Berger Books branding as Karen Berger gets back into the comics game in a big way with titles she’s editing and one of the inaugural ones is Mata Hari. The series comes from writer Emma Beeby and artist Ariela Kristantina as they look to explore this fascinating person in comics form. With it set to debut on February 21st, 2018 and retailer cutoffs coming up they’ve got a new short preview of the artwork side of it that will catch attention as Ariela Kristantina has done some fantastic work over the last few years, particularly with Insexts.
Check it out below!
Plot Concept: Dancer. Courtesan. Spy. Executed by a French firing squad in 1917.
100 years on from her death, questions are still raised about her conviction.
Now, the lesser-known, often tragic story of the woman who claimed she was born a princess, and died a figure of public hatred with no one to claim her body, is told by breakout talent writer Emma Beeby (Judge Dredd), artist Ariela Kristantina (Insexts), and colorist Pat Masioni drawing on biographies and released MI5 files.
In this first part of a five-issue miniseries, we meet Mata Hari in prison at the end of her life as she writes her memoir–part romantic tale of a Javanese princess who performed ”sacred” nude dances for Europe’s elite, and part real-life saga of a disgraced wife and mother, who had everything she loved taken from her.
But, as she sits trial for treason and espionage, we hear another tale: one of a flamboyant Dutch woman who became ”the most dangerous spy France has ever captured”–a double agent who whored herself for secrets, lived a life of scandal, and loved only money.
Leading us to ask . . . who was the real Mata Hari?
