The dangers ramp up significantly.
Creative Staff:
Story: Magdalene Visaggio
Art: Nick Robles
Colors: Jordie Bellaire
Letterer: Dave Sharpe
What They Say:
Danger lurks around every corner in this mind-bending ride by Eisner-nominated writer Magdalene Visaggio (Eternity Girl) and astounding artist Nick Robles (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers)!
The must-read supernatural mystery of 2019!
Will Doctor Mirage escape the clutches of the terrifying Embalmer?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The penultimate installment of this run of Doctor Mirage is an interesting one. Magdalene Visaggio has a lot of things going on here and plays in some interesting areas when it comes to philosophy, history, and the meaning of life and death. It’s pretty expansive but still distilled down to the two characters at play here and the off-panel Hwen that Grace talks to. What helps to bind it together is some absolutely gorgeous artwork from Nick Robles as we deal with this otherworldly place and all that it represents, take a dip to the ancient past, and then still explore some downtime in the mundane world. With Bellaire’s coloring on it elevating it to a whole other level, it’s just a captivating work in this sense.
The encounter with the Embalmer has not gone well and it has turned as bad as it has for Shan in that she’s facing some “justice” from it by being thrust into oblivion where nothing makes sense anymore as it becomes more and more bleak. It’s only the moment of Grace breaking through and pulling her out and into the real world that snaps her out of the situation and even then just briefly as she’s ready to go back to deal with more. But there’s a secret here as Grace, exhausted from rescuing Shan, makes hint at an immense amount of time in the afterlife that it took for her to actually save Shan. You get the sense that while time didn’t move forward much in the real world it was an eternity here for Grace and that’s taken its toll. And it’s taking a lot for Shan to truly recognize this as she’s still so focused on what she’s trying to do in rescuing Hwen.
This installment takes the downtime and recovery as a point where Shan can go into the history of the blade that Grace has which allowed her to break through so that we understand its place in history and importance, which is key to much of what Shan does. But we also get a breakthrough with Shan as she finally starts to understand what Grace has been going through since unlike Shan she hasn’t spent her entire life with the dead around her. All of it serves to work that quiet time with some mild arguing to get them to be on the same page again and move forward, which means trying to go back to the land of the dead. Which is pretty ready for them this time as we see the pair split and Shan facing even bigger odds than before. Which is pretty much how her life rolls, which is why I enjoy reading these books so much.
In Summary:
Part of me still kind of wishes for a Doctor Mirage book that was a little more settled and less in dealing with the whole Shan/Hwen storyline, but I don’t follow Valiant much so I may just be missing the books where they happens. This miniseries continues to be a pretty strong one that delivers an engaging story that has me wanting to know more about Grace and what the bigger story is with her and her connection with the couple. While the story is certainly engaging, the artwork here and layouts are fantastic and it’s worth it just for that alone at times to pick up with how great it all comes together. Doctor Mirage still doesn’t feel like it’s a for everyone kind of book but for those that it clicks with like myself, it’s a wonderful little treat.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 12+
Released By: Valiant Entertainment
Release Date: November 13th, 2019
MSRP: $3.99
