Mystery Girl #1
Written by Paul Tobin
Art by Albert J. Alburquerque
Dark Horse Comics
It was Albert J. Alburquerque’s art that made me pause to read Mystery Girl #1.
I like the slightly exaggerated, Saturday morning cartoon look. It’s bright, fresh, catches the eye. And that was enough to start reading.
Trine Hampstead is Mystery Girl. She is a ‘street detective’ with an ability to solve any mystery a person brings her. There is no sleuthing here. Trine sits on a carpet on the street, people stop and offer up their mysteries, and she solves them. An example is her receiving gushing thanks from a woman who had wanted to know where her soldier husband’s remains were. Trine had offered up a GPS location, and of course it was right.
However, writer Paul Tobin has thrown a wrinkle into the story. The one mystery Trine can’t solve is her own, the question of how she can do what she does. She does recall a meeting with a woman, although her face is lost to her. It was just after the meeting she found she knew the answers to mysteries. That is plot thread one.
Then there is the hired killer with a penchant for killing people he feels like killing. It turns out after being handed a picture of Trine he is intrigued. “She has that special something. I want to shoot her,” he says. That is another plot thread.
Of course by that point Trine is headed to Siberia to find a preserved mammoth frozen in the cold. It had been discovered by a group of explorers who died. The few remnants of the group’s journal had been found mentioning the mammoth and of course someone wants to find it again and they turn to Trine. She says she knows the spot but will only reveal it if she can go with the expedition.
Oh and she has also ascertained the frozen mammoth is not exactly unique as living mammoth exist in Siberia too. Another thread woven into the story.
While not head over heels in love with Mystery Girl after one issue, it does offer enough to suggest checking it out.
And I will be watching for #2 to be released.
Limbo #1
Writer by Dan Watters
Art by Caspar Wijingaard
Image Comics
I have to start with the art in this one.
Artist Caspar Wijingaard uses lots of reds and pinks for shadows, and blue washes over scenes to create a book where the look is distinct.
That is a great thing as it sets Limbo apart when you pick it up off the comic store shelf for a thumb through.
Now not everyone will be enamoured with what Wijingaard is doing here, and that is simply the way with art, but it is something that should illicit a reaction from anyone checking it out.
Different art works here because different also sums up the story by Dan Watters.
Limbo is a sort of gritty PI story, set in a world where myth and magic, and good old fashioned weirdness are a matter of course.
Weirdness, at least for the most part, is a good thing in a comic, and for the most part it is here as well.
If you like your comics a bit twisted, a lot strange, and generally just a fun read, then look up Limbo #1, and indulge yourself.
