Madame Xanadu? But isn’t she in “Justice League Dark” and “Demon Knights?” Quiet, you. Just look at the lovely Fiona Staples cover and forget ever caring about things like continuity — and then continue to read the review, of course.
Written by Rob Williams
Illustrated by Trevor Hairsine– The once-famous tarot card reader Madame X now works at a law firm as the resident “psychic” — but can her “powers” help her solve a complicated new case?
– From the acclaimed team of Rob Williams (Iron Man, Cla$$War) and Trevor Hairsine (Captain America, Cla$$War)!
Rob Williams is no stranger to character revamps, having created the new Ghost Rider in her self-title ongoing and re-defining Daken in “Dark Wolverine,” and, as such, makes for a reasonable choice for a line such as “National Comics.” In case you couldn’t make the connection, the titular Madame X is a modern interpretation of Madame Xanadu who works as a consulting psychic for the a law firm — though it is very difficult to tell whether this is the same Xanadu as in “Justice League Dark” and “Demon Knights,” but that’s more DC’s gaffe than Williams’s. This new placement for Madame X is a major shift that will allow Williams to use the character in areas that she is normally removed from, making an already versatile character even more malleable. More interesting, though, is the modification of her powers. Isolated, concrete flashes of the future are as much of a burden as they are a boon, and allow for all sorts of unique approaches to storytelling — sure, it’s definitely worse than true omniscience, but could it very well even be a worse fate than seeing life as normal people do?
The story in this one-shot is nothing ground-breaking, but it is executed well enough. Williams has a good ear for dialogue, and is able to avoid both making all of his characters sound the same and relying on gimmicks to make individual voices stand out. Most impressive, though, is Williams’ use of the space he has been given. Like Jeff Lemire’s “Eternity,” “Madame X” tells a full one-and-done story in thirty-two pages, a rarity in this age of writing for the trade. With decompression in comics at an all time high in comics, it’s a relief to see that there are writers out there who still know how to tell a tale within a single issue. The story in question seems like it could be expanded into a larger arc, but it never feels like it should; Williams uses his space wisely and fits a plot with multiple twists and turns into a limited amount of pages without the slightest hint of compression or cramming. Unfortunately, the foreshadowing at the end of the issue is one of the easiest and most plain story hooks that could be done for this kind of character, and indeed has been done again and again.
Trevor Hairsine’s line work appears to be a deviation from the 90’s Image house style, forgoing excessive stylization in favor of more realistic proportions (insert joke about how that’s all the old school Image house style was). His technique is also comparatively looser; despite the level of detail in Hairsine’s work, it still somehow manages to come off as thin and undefined, even though it is anything but — take a look at how well he draws dreadlocks, for example, which would normally drive an otherwise fine artist to insanity. It’s a strange paradox of asethetics that is confusing and distracting — it isn’t fair to say the art is “bad” when it is technically sound, but it certainly is odd. Still, Hairsine’s pages read fine; his layouts may not be anything special, but there are few, if any, instances of stiff motion or bewildering character placement. Simply put, he gets the job done, and I’d prefer that to someone whose art is “pretty” but better suited to pinups.
“National Comics: Madame X” is not the comic of the year, but it’s the perfect example of a comic worth picking up if you have a few bucks more than you thought to spend for a few reasons: first, and most importantly, it’s a well put-together read; second, you can approach it without any knowledge of the character or the DCnU in general (thanks, reboot!); finally, as a one-and-done, this is one of the few $3.99 comics on the shelves that is worth the price of admission. It doesn’t read through in half a minute, and it doesn’t make you feel obligated to pick it up next month to find out if you like it or not. “Madame X” is an example of what more New 52 books should have been like, and perhaps more will be like it if enough people buy it — though, as mentioned earlier, I am personally not a fan of the dangling plot thread Williams left.
Final Verdict: 7.4 – Pick it up if you have the space.
