Lady Mechanika Volume 1: Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse

LADY MECHANIKA is a steampunk comic book set in an alternate universe version of London and starring an amnesiac cyborg Lara Croft EXPY. If this in any way intrigues you then you are probably like me since it is an absolutely fabulous series. I'm a huge fan of steampunk and love the industrial revolution setting where science fiction, superstition, and craziness abound.Lady Mechanika is a wonderful character and one that is likely to appeal to male as well as female readers. While still beautiful and pleasing to look at, she also dresses in actual clothes unlike quite a few comic protagonists (LOL). I was reminded of Eva Green in Penny Dreadful and Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider at various times.The first story arc deals with her tracking down a missing circus girl that may have been turned into a cyborg against her will. I love all the fascinating characters she associates with along the way including a grieving father and a non-terrifying clown. If you're looking for an off-beat independent series then I think this will work wonders for you.9/10

A young girl with mechanical arms escapes from some guards and makes it all the way to Mechanika City to the train station where a doctor and his daughter see her and he tries to treat her, but she is dead. Lady Mechanika gets word of this girl and goes to see the doctor and his daughter who does not believe that she is actually Lady Mechanika because she is dressed in a "frumpy" lady's dress rather than something dashing and heroic like the ones she has been reading about. The doctor once worked for Lord Blackpool, the evil villain, but he insists it was just for the one expedition in Satan's Alley, where the three of them first met. He tells her he is only in town for Mechani-Con where scientists and inventors present their discoveries that year and hope for buyers. She asks him if he was able to examine her and if she was like her or not and he tells her that the girl was a cruder version. He also tells her that the Ministry of Health has her now.Lady Mechanika breaks into the Ministry of Health to get a better look at her and to steal her body. She finds a Romani earring on her and takes it off and pockets it. As she is taking her out a blast knocks her back and someone takes the young girl from her. When she gets up she is faced by Commander Katherine Winter and her goons who work for Blackpool who were there to get the body too but have missed their chance as well. Winter and Mechanika have a history. After Mechanika was found after being held a prisoner by the madman who created her for who knows how long, she was placed inside a cell in the Ministry of Health because she was deemed not safe for humanity. Winter helped her escape from there and showed her "the ways of the world". But bad things happened and they parted ways on bad terms. But because of that Mechanika spares her life when she gets the drop on her after killing her men in the tunnel.When she gets back to her home, Mr. Lewis, her sometimes sidekick, and inventor is drunk again. She asks him if he has heard of a Mr. Cain, the name of an inventor that the doctor told her about who could be the man who created her and the girl. He tells her Cain was known as the Engineer and was highly revered and worked on things that no one could imagine and that he was quite mad. Could Cain be working for Blackpool? Or does he have his own agenda?When she follows up on the earring she finds not only is the girl not the only Romani missing but that they believe that she is still alive. Now she has to track down the missing Romani and go try to stop Blackpool and whatever he is up to. I just love the drawing in this comic. They stay true to the Victorian steampunk roots they are going for including the ancient yellowed boxes with curlicued lettering. The plot is really good and keeps you guessing all the way to the end.

Excellent art and an intriguing title character, but the story ended with more questions than answers, as if it were just a set up for book two.We have two featured characters, two supporting characters, plus a load of bad guys and characters of uncertain character.By the book's end, we've learned very little about our heroes, and are left wondering about everyone else. Lady Mechanika does learn the who and how of the title corpse, but there's no clue to explain it's eventual fate. As for the other characters, who knows what their secrets or motives are; I certainly don't.If there is a second volume, I'd probably not buy it.

I had some great hopes for this graphic novel. Unfortunately, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers here: it has some truly fantastic and breathtaking art, but ultimately, I was not wowed by the story. At least, I was not inspired to pick up the second volume. Regrettably.At these prices, your money is better spent elsewhere and on other graphic novels. Do yourself a favor and buy 3 of those ~$6 Vol1 novels for about the same price. "Don't put all your eggs in one basket," and instead triple your chances of discovering a new epic.

The artwork is great: the over-all style, detailed character designs, the ink, the colors - top notch all around. But the story is so boring, it's a downright tedious chore to read though. This is largely due to the grossly over-wrought dialogue, with the characters sounding so pompously Victorian in their long-winded expositions, that it all becomes eye-rollingly dull. It's a shame, because the creator is clearly a first class artist, but that's not enough to save this book from the sub-par writing. If you're a steampunk fan and into comics for the art, then I can recommend it; but if a compelling story is what matters to you, then I can't.

A nice streampunk story. I'm wanting to continue to find out the Lady's origins. Hopefully that gets revealed in a future story.

I am new to graphic novels and I really enjoyed this one. I love how each volume follows a larger storyline and each book has its own too.

This is a well drawn comic with an excellent story line. The comic arrived in perfect condition.

I tried to download this onto the latest Kindle for Mac, but it was impossible and received an immediate refund. I bought the hardcopy anyway.I have no special interest in Steampunk culture or stories, but do appreciate the (ladies) outfits, as I paint 75mm figurines and am ever open for inspiration. This has it in bucketloads. The artwork is fabulous, especially the back pages with the covers, which are well presented and worth the cover price alone! An extremely worthwhile purchase and I may even attempt to read the story.Well, a week later and I read it in two sittings. Loved it.I'd like to see more detail about her mechanical side, what are her limbs actually like? And what about those eyes? Obviously not true human. What makes her physically able to take on a whole crowd of thugs or soldiers and win without breaking sweat? Does she have a special diet?Perhaps a non-graphic novel would allow for deeper insights?Mr Lewis is a very-decently portrayed character, but the attempts at 'English' dialect were daft. Was he a Londoner? A Geordie? A Brummie?Minor quibbles aside, this book is simply a feast of amazing artwork. Stunning artwork. Utterly inspirational artwork!I am so happy I have bought the next two volumes and both colouring in books.

Okay, visually, the artwork is attractively competent but...It's a comic supposedly about a woman with bionic limbs. They don't really feature. What does feature are her boobs, in pretty much every panel. Might as well be called Lady Big-n-Busty.If that's your thing -- quick! Buy this book!If it's not -- go somewhere else for steampunk comic book fare.Oh, and the cod-Victorian dialogue is annoyingly unrelated to anything any British person ever spoke.Got bored and stopped reading about a third of the way through.

After having a notion to get into something new I decided to dip my toe into steampunk. The artwork for lady mechanika looked very good so I decided to by volume one. Well the art is definitely great but thats about the only positive I could take from it. The story itself just seemed bland. It felt like something I'd read before a million times. The dialogue just didnt do enough to keep me engaged with it and I was starting to take long breaks in between chapters. In the end I couldn't even finish it. I suppose I was expecting it to have more detail about her struggles with being partly metal.

Something new in the world of comics with very interesting art and concepts. Great atmosphere, makes it easy to dig into the action. The characters are very well made and the action is mysterious and enjoyable. Also, i loved the dialogues.

Absolutely brilliant. Original and full of exciting acton and adventure. Love the steam punk theme and the writing was amazing. The art is so on point and I love it.