Joe Benitez, arguably best known for his work on Top Cow’s The Darkness and The Magdalena, tries his hand at having total control over a comic (script, pencils and inks) with Lady Mechanika, a steampunk-infused series that revolves around the titular title character, who happens to be a half-machine, half-human mercenary. In this teaser of what’s to come, we’re introduced to Mechanika as she hunts down a monster that’s reportedly partly mechanical. She’s attempting to get to it before a weapons company called Blackpool does, as she suspects their intentions are sinister. Once she tracks down the monster however, she see’s its actually friendly and merely hungry. It also seems to know much about her and her “Maker”. Once the monster is about to spill the beans, Blackpool arrives on the scene and kills the monster. Their talk of only wanting to protect a lady seems a bit insidious, considering they know Mechanika is half-machine as well.

As an introductory story, this zero issue of Lady Mechanika lays things out pretty well, hitting all of the right notes when it comes to establishing a steampunk world with fantastic machines, mercenaries, evil corporations, and bounty hunters. It drops enough little tidbits on what’s to come, such as this “Maker”, to nudge the reader into wanting more. The foundation has quickly been laid out for Mechanika, one of a hardnosed, dangerous mercenary with heart as well as a driving mysterious past. It’s always fun to watch chicks kick the crap out of foul baddies, and Lady Mechanika certainly looks like it’ll be serving that up in spades.

The biggest draw here, even though for me personally the idea of a steampunk comic is highly appealing, is the artwork of Benitez. He’s come a long way since his early days at Top Cow and Weapon Zero, with his attention to detail sky-rocketing as well as his ability to design characters that are eye-catching and well-defined. Only time will tell how the character of Mechanika plays out in the public eye, but the design is spot-on and could certainly become iconic as long as the writing matches the high level set by the art. With this only being a zero issue, we have a little while to go before predicting much of anything, but this is certainly an intriguing first chapter.

The story of Lady Mechanika begins proper in this inaugural issue, as a mechanical woman, not unlike Mechanika herself outside of possessing talon-like cybernetic fingers, is pursued through the woods by a group of hi-tech soldiers. She quickly overpowers them, and their decision to use a gun wasn’t the wisest, as the force of the bullets sends her over a cliff and on top of a train. She’s still alive however, and an impressive-looking woman named Winter that’s leading the cadre of soldiers sends them in pursuit (and after a short call back to their enigmatic, faceless leader, it seems they know of one Lady Mechanika). The train is en route to the city of Mechanika, and once there the mechanical woman is discovered and her story hits all the papers. This immediately interests Lady Mechanika, who is eager to investigate any leads that could provide answers about her past.

The first issue of Lady Mechanika is almost like an expanded issue zero; again, a lot of groundwork for the future is laid, this taking place about a year after the events of issue zero, with Mechanika still attempting to discover her origins. The most interesting development here is that Lady Mechanika is actually named after the city in which she conducts the majority of her business, a futuristic metropolis drenched in Victorian-era aesthetics (this could likely be taking place in the 1800’s, although it has yet to be explicitly spelled-out). Also worth noting is that the series could eventually go down some supernatural and horror-laden avenues, as a drunken lackey of Mechanika mentions in passing a village being attacked by werewolves and night creatures before she heads off to find the mechanical woman she’s been reading about in the papers. Obviously the zero issue hinted a bit at monsters, but the one we saw there was partly artificial; it would be interesting if in this world of steam engines and airships there are also full flesh-and-blood monstrosities as well.

Once again, Joe Benitez’s art is nothing short of amazing. In fact, the quality already looks better than what it did in the preview issue. The most noteworthy panel is the reveal of Commander Winter, dressed to the nines in all-white militaristic regalia with a shock of blood-red, waist-length hair and an eye-patch. The issue tells us next to nothing about her, but this one splash-page is enough to burn the image of her in your mind and is sure to already have you intrigued. The muted color palate courtesy of colorist Peter Steigerwald works perfectly for the tone of the story, and the flourishes of red, namely Mechanika’s eyes, make for a striking contrast. Also worth noting is the lettering by Josh Reed, which actually adds as much to the artistic nature of the book as the actual pencils and inks. It’s hard to describe, but the non-dialogue text evokes the era perfectly, and the way he’s designed dialogue coming out of a phone is great.

So with two issues out of the way, I still couldn’t tell you where exactly this is going nor what exactly the story will ultimately entail, but the mystery of it all is titillating enough that most readers should stay along for the ride. Benitez so far has shown that he understands how to hold back the bigger revelations but still manages to feed the reader just enough to walk away satisfied and wanting more. Bravo.

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