Eriq LaSalle, story; Doug Wagner, writer; Tony Shasteen, art + cover; J.D. Mettler, colorist; Ed Dukeshire, letterer; Published by 12 Gauge Comics

Three African-American police officers are publicly slain in Virginia in a matter of weeks. The case proves to be beyond the scope of traditional law enforcement, so an elite FBI team, with special privileges, is called in – a group that bends and twists the law ever so much as to wrap the cases cleanly and quickly. This special FBI unit is designed for the sole purpose of dealing with high profile cases in ways “untouchable” by traditional crimefighting avenues.

The unit is headed by Special Agent Gabriel Santana, whose crack team uses hardened criminals in a profiler fashion. These are always criminals who have committed crimes similar to those being investigated at the time. In this issue they have to resort to bargaining with the incarcerated leader of a Nazi white supremacist militia cell, who is less than cooperative at first due to his applauding the murder of three black cops. Santana, himself black, or black/ latino, however, doesn’t play by the usual rulebook or peddle a soft shoe; he offers the Nazi an offer he finds impossible to refuse.

It’s hard to say to what extent creator Eriq LaSalle himself had a hand in the story, but writer Doug Wagner overall does an excellent job. At times 25 to Life reads like a gritty mystery novel; at times it’s flavored by like-minded television series from The Wire to Law and Order: Criminal Intent – even The Unit (sans the military setting). It is sometimes redolent of pseudo-”hard-boiled” comics by the likes of Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker. The likenesses to Bendis’ are minimal at best here; otherwise there is no way I could give this book a favorable review.

The book moves briskly, starting with the action and then propelled towards its end by the fast paced dialogue. Wagner is skilled at using the hook of LaSalle’s premise to keep the reader intrigued.

Tony Shasteen’s work I was initially aware of via OCT (Occult Crimes Task Force) (co-created by Hollywood polymath Rosario Dawson). I had the pleasure of meeting the OCT crew, including Tony and the lovely Ms. Dawson, at HeroesCon in both 2006 and 2007. Tony’s painted work on OCT was nothing short of amazing and seeing his originals totally blew me away. On 25 to Life, Tony has dropped the painted art and opted for a more straightforward ink brush style but his dead-on realism remains intact. As in OCT, his figures are photorealistic and extremely expressive in a minimum of brush lines.

25 to Life is being compared by some to 48 Hours meets Silence of the Lambs – a rather misleading comparison. The dated “buddy cop” comedy of the former, and the outright horror of the latter are absent here (though, given the end of this issue, we may be veering into Thomas Harris territory shortly). Certainly the FBI profiler theme is there; a trope that arguably became ubiquitous in books, TV, and films, post-Silence, but stylistically there are major differences. The bottom line is, there are many inputs at work in 25 to Life, but I, for one, am impressed enough to see it continue to find its own voice.

Written by Vince Hernandez

Illustrations by Khary Randolph

Colors by Emilio Lopez

If you have not been following the Charismagic story line, it is time to go pick up the other four of the series that are out there. You will want to read them because this is an awesome comic book about faith, magic, mayhem, and super kitties. We all know the internet was made for cats, but Charismagic was made for awesomely cool cat totems that simply hack slash and shred their enemies when they are not getting seriously beaten up by evil magic users. This book has some very good detail to the story line that is going to keep the reader engaged. There is some smooching and sharing of thoughts and feelings in this book between the two main characters, Sudana and Hank.

The two main characters along with their super kitty are on a quest to transport the evil Samsun into the void realm. The void realm is a place without time, form or meaning so you cannot even talk to your friends, it is absent of time. Marching through the jungles of Costa Rica to a special temple Sudana and Hank take some time out from their quest to share their innermost feelings and thoughts about Hanks first kiss. Honestly if you could share your innermost feelings and thoughts with people that would probably solve many problems in the world, and the scene is handled very well in the story line. Once they get to the temple an epic battle takes place that will solve the problem of magic, people, evil, and good.

In many ways Hank seems like a reluctant hero who simply dives in when he is forced to do so, or when there is no other option. Rather than go out and seek villains to destroy, Hank is approaching the problem of Samsun in a way that is more tagging along until the final battle. This is where the flawed reluctant hero Hank really steps into the story line and faces the now, rather than the past or the uncertain future of where the world is going. Sudana is an awesome counterfoil to Hank, as she seems more assured, and more able to deal with the vagueness of now without much thinking about what has happened in the past in the story line. It is refreshing to see that there are things she wants to do in the future so lets’ get this battle over with so I can go see more of the planet.

Aspen Comics was kind enough to send along the PDF for this comic book to us for review, and honestly, I was impressed with this series. It really seems that much like 215Ink, Aspen comics has come out of 2012 swinging and showing off the cool things that it can do. Aspen is becoming a serious contender in the world of independent comics, and Charismagic is another excellent series in the latest line up of what they have been putting out into the market. Yes Charismagic is worth the money for both digital and print, and I am rating this an enthusiastic five of five stars, it is worth getting and supporting this awesome story line. You will need to pre-order this with your local comic book store, it will not be out until April of 2012, but when you get your hands on it, you will not be disappointed.

Related articles

• Charismagic #1 (comicsforge.com)
• Preview – Charismagic #4 (graphicpolicy.com)
• Shrugged Zero Aspen Comics (comicsforge.com)
• Lady Mechanika Number 1 (comicsforge.com)
• Lady Mechanika # 0 (comicsforge.com)
• Scam by Joe Mulvey (comicsforge.com)

“Lady Mechanika in The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse, Volume One, Issue Zero:  The Demon of Satan’s Alley”

Created, Written, and Drawn by Joe Benitez; Colors by Peter Steigerwald; Colors by Josh Reed; Published by Aspen Comics

Beneath this lengthy title lies a fantastic example of the slow seepage of the steampunk subgenre from genre lit into comics. Creator/ writer/ artist Joe Benitez has come a long way from his work on The Darkness and The Magdalena, both for Top Cow and both nicely illustrated. But Lady Mechanika is a quantum leap forward, art and design wise from those titles. The elegantly designed pages and linework are captivating from cover to cover.

Set in an alternate history England in 1878, the book’s main character was attacked and ravaged by a serial killer. Her lost limbs and other body parts were replaced by mechanical parts, how and by whom she cannot recall. Most of her memory has been expunged, even that of her own real name. Now equipped with the requisite steampunk goggles atop her head, and fortified by mythical Victorian tech to be the proverbial “better faster stronger”, she is Lady Mechanika, a private detective to be reckoned with.

Her outfit has the de riqeur corset, but flesh and cleavage is hidden beneath her costume to drive home the fact her body has been mangled. The shapely curves are still there as in all of Benitez’s women, though. Mechanika’s clothing, indeed, is skin tight with snug trousers (no dress for this adventuring lass).

This premiere adventure deals with a killer on the loose – the “Demon of Satan’s Alley” – which leads our titular character to an underground lair where she scuffles with a curious creature called Ucky – a short battle as the creature is benign and quite affable actually. Ucky is also partially composed of mechanical parts and seems to hold a clue to our heroine’s origin. He knows her from a time before her memory was shorn from her. The real villain, reminiscent of Sherlock Holmes’ foe Professor Moriarty, soon appears in the form of Nathaniel Blackpool, whose sideman the Colonel, a psychopathic religious fanatic, dispatches the kind Ucky before Mechanika can learn anything more from him.

Blackpool and the Colonel also know Mechanika, though she can’t recall them either (not that remembering such men is necessarily a good thing). Blackpool also deals in steampunk tech through his Blackpool Armaments, and he soon kills the Colonel for his religiously-motivated bloodlust. Not that Blackpool is any better; far from it. He asks his men to “secure the girl” that he claims to be an admirer of.

Mechanika easily takes down three of the galoots at once and commands a doctor in the party to properly wrap Ucky’s remains. After Mechanika blasts the horrid Blackpool in the leg, she exhorts him to steer clear of her, after he regales her with an unctuous and predictable spiel about how they should work together, and “usher in a new era! The era of the machine!” Her appropriate answer is to smash his jaw with her boot heel. This spells “The End (for now)”.

There are two nice back-up features in the issue. The first is “Through Brass Goggles”, a look at Joe’s designs for Lady Mechanika. As he puts it: “I love drawing strong, sexy, female characters”. Several extrapolations on Mechanika’s look are featured. There are some lovely pencil sketches here. Among my favorites are images of Mechanika with a bowler hat and dress, and of her with her goggles over her eyes for once. The issue ends with a final, most unusual bonus feature: steampunk recipes! “The Steampunkitchen” showcases delicious-looking Mechani-Cookies (shaped liked gears) and steampunk tarts. This was a great and novel capstone to the book.

Benitez has certainly won me over with Lady Mechanika # 0, and I most eagerly await the unfolding of manifold mysteries alongside this captivating mechanical huntress.