Madame Xanadu #11 - Vertigo

The story around Madame Xanadu is now focused in the 1940's. In Manhattan to be specific. At the end of the last issue she opened her doors to her shoppe, ready to offer her talents to those in need. "Enter Freely and be Unafraid", is the saying on her window. It appears that one of her first cases involves a wealthy socialite who's father has just been murdered. Nimue's involvement becomes necessary when we find out the details of his demise. It seems he was burned alive in his own apartment. We don't learn a lot this issue other than her father was an importer. In the last few months he'd become recluse, after opening his business to one Husam Al Nar. Although, right now, we don't really know what the connection is between this man and her father's murder. However, we see that the circumstances involved in his death brings Nimue's attention to memories from 15th century Spain. It was at the time of the inquisitions and she was living with, and loving, a beautiful maiden named Marisol. Really, this issue just serves to lay the groundwork for the story to come. It's an informative issue, but largely uneventful. However, I assume since it's set in the 40's, Michael Wm. Kaluta has come on board as the penciller. Which is really fantastic, especially considering that the guys in his 60's. The artwork throughout the issue looks incredible. The guy is still an unbelievable talent. And as always, Matt Wagner's story is fantastic. I can't believe in 11 issues we've followed Nimue's travels from the times of Camelot to the 40's streets of New York City. To bring her up to date, we still have 60 years to go. Matt's doing a great job, and it's about time we've seen this fantastic character's life unfolded. She's been around for quite a while, but we've never really known much about her history. Her first appearance was Doorway to Nightmare #1 in 1978. And although she was created by David Michelinie and Val Mayerik, she was initially designed, as far as her look, by Michael Wm Kaluta. So, he has a vested interest in this characters history. Honestly, I think this series gets better with every issue.