Lady Mechanika #3
Created by Joe Benitez
Art by Joe Benitez
Colors by Peter Steigerwald
Aspen Comics
Release Date: December 21, 2011
Cover Price: $2.99

The third issue of a new comic is always difficult to accurately review. It’s often too soon to reveal any major plot twists, yet late enough to not be gaining momentum. This is the place that Joe Benitez‘s Lady Mechanika finds itself.

Lady Mechanika #3 is a building block in an overall larger picture. This issue introduces new villains and interesting developments, but offers little in surprising content. This is not to say issue #3 is not impressive, because it is. Lady Mechanika #3 is the initial stages of something that could become a very compelling storyline.

If you have not started reading Lady Mechanika yet it’s not too late. Issue #3 focuses on Lady Mechanika’s continual quest to unlock her past through the death of another mechanical girl. Lady Mechanika approaches this mystery with a detective’s eye that ruffles more than a few feathers. The mystery of the dead mechanical girl hits a stalemate as Lady Mechanika is shut out by a gypsy circus troupe. These interactions between Lady and troupe lasted slightly longer than necessary. Yet Benitez uses these moments to interject some much needed action into the story.

The issue ends with the start of Mechani-Con, an enormous mechanical engineering festival. There is some wonderful dialogue at this point as Lady and her partner Mr. Lewis discuss the history of Mechani-Con. Mr. Lewis reminisces about the con in it’s early stages without the vendors and huge corporations. Perhaps it’s just a con junkie reading too much into things, but that sounds vaguely familiar to me.

The art of Lady Mechanika continues to be the stand out quality of this series. Joe Benitez has created a dynamic world full of mechanical wonders. Each steam powered ship or mechanical prosthetic is crafted with the utmost attention to design. These small touches made the art of Lady Mechanika #3 an occasion to scan every panel again for more details.

Lady Mechanika #3 adds more fuel to the fire as this story continues to build steam (pun intended). There are so few steam punk stories being published right now it is great to see one like Lady Mechanika prevailing. The series so far has been completely unique and innovative and issue #3 is no exception.