Madame Mirage #3
Written by Paul Dini
Art by Kenneth Rocafort
Colors by Imaginary Friends Studios
Letters by Troy Peteri
Top Cow Productions
Cover price: $2.99; On-sale date: Oct. 2007

Madame Mirage is a Paul Dini book.

You can see it in the retro visual design; the way his characters all look like they were plucked out of a painted movie poster from the 1930s, yet somehow manage to blend into a semi-futuristic modern setting without raising an eyebrow. You can see it in the well-paced episodic nature; the way each self-contained story manages to answer questions raised in the previous issue, all the while birthing brand new ones to ponder until next month. And you can most definitely see it the personality of the titular (pun?) femme fatale who, I swear, at times has the voice of Adrienne Barbeau’s Catwoman resonating in my head. I recognize Dini’s writing.

But there is also something new that I’ve noticed about him… and I can’t really say that this is indicative of ALL of his comic work because this is the only of his books that I’ve read. But I have noticed, in reading Madame Mirage #3, that Dini’s strength is maybe not so much in the quality of his writing alone, but in his ability to craft decent stories that OTHER people can then take and turn into something amazing.

His seminal work on Batman: The Animated Series was ground breaking, to be certain, but I don’t think it would have been nearly as well-received if people like (artist) Bruce Timm or (voice of Batman) Kevin Conroy hadn’t taken his ideas and ran with them to greatness. It’s the collaboration that made it great.

The same can be said here. Dini’s writing on this series is not bad. As usual, the book is very entertaining. The story continues to unfold at a surprisingly fast pace (leaving me to wonder how much more story will be left to tell after another three or four issues have passed). We’re given Mirage’s origin story, which is adequately twisty and defines exactly who the character is and what her stakes are in her personal war with the mega-underworld.

It’s a decent story — though it loses a bit of the momentum from the previous issue — but there’s still something… lacking. I love the ideas Dini is putting out there, but there’s something about it that remains undefined.

Dini is someone who is used to writing for television, where the prime directive for all screenwriters is, “Let the director do the directing, let the actor do the acting.” He can put together a good, clever script with just enough detail to allow a talented actor to embellish on. But when you take that factor out of the equation… when ALL you’re left with is words on a page… there needs to be more than a well-written outline in order to make a good comic. The characters need to come to life through the words. HE has to be the actor’s voice… and that is what Dini’s script is missing here. He’s got the words… but he’s missing the vitality.

The true drawing factor of this book… the reason to pick it up month after month… (and, I believe, further proof of the above observation) …is the amazing artwork by Kenneth Rocafort and his coloring cohorts at Imaginary Studios. These guys (and/or gals?) are producing some of the nicest looking art — not just “˜comic art’ but actual enlarged-and-framed-in-a-gallery-worthy works of art — to be seen in any book today. The composition of each page, from panel layout to the use of watercolor/colored pencil-styled digital coloring, makes it a worthy standalone piece to be displayed in any art lover’s personal collection. I can only hope this series receives the honor of one of those oversized “Absolute…” or “The Art of…” hardcover books. I would snatch it up in a heartbeat.

Rocafort is doing exactly what Dini needs an artist to do. He’s bringing the ideas to life and grabbing our attention with them. He’s essentially making an Okay book into a Must Read book, and that’s something I never thought I’d ever say. You could take any crappy writer and slap pretty artwork down on top of his script, but it wont change the fact that the writing was crap (for example, see John Romita Jr’s regrettable The Grey Area). In this case, the artwork is actually improving the writing. Rocafort is taking our initial, potentially dismissive, reaction to the story and saying, “No! Look again! Look how COOL this is! LOOK at it, damn you!” And we look… and he’s right! It actually is pretty cool! How did we not notice it before?

In the end, the book is definitely worth the look. If you’re lucky, then at first glance, you’ll say, “Cool beans!” and never have to worry that the story is anything less than outstanding. But, even if your nitpickingly critical like myself, you’ll still be able to appreciate the gorgeous artwork and the unique ability Dini DOES have for laying the groundwork for potentially stellar collaborations.

Based on the writing alone, I might give this book a B. But taking into account the strength of the collaborative effort, I’m giving it an A-.