Saturday, July 31, 2010

Madame Xanadu #25 - Vertigo

This issue the sensory overload . . the theme of the story, is hearing. In it we see an ad-man, from the early 60's, who's in the prime of his career. His name is Spencer, he's got a beautiful life, and a lot of promise. But then one day . . he starts hearing people's innermost thought. Their vile disgusting and seldom spoken thoughts. At first he thinks he's hallucinating, or someone is playing a joke on him. But it keeps happening over and over, and the actions and thoughts that are expressed . . well, lets just say that they aren't things that someone would joke about. Somehow Madame Xanadu becomes tuned in to Spencer's trauma, and tries to help him. But he's a structured man, a common sense kind of guy . . it's hard for him to buy in to all the 'hoo-doo' that she's suggesting. Plus, when she talks about him being the target of an imp, and the black-magic stick she wants him to wave whenever he hears the voices . . 'You actually think I'd shake a rattle at my clients?! At my boss?! They'd haul me away in a straight-jacket!' But then he starts hearing the voices in his one place of solace . . his home, from his wife. He tries using the stick, but it's to late. In the eyes of the world . . I'm sure he appears to be a homicidal maniac. The issue ends with him hiding from his wife . . with a big knife. ' So apparently, Nimue is after this imp that's intent on causing sensory overload in humans. This is turn forces them to act out of character, and in line with the imps intentions. I hope she catches up with him soon. The next sense is smell. It'll be interesting to see how Matt Wagner can turn olfactory overload into a horror story. Which is essentially what he's creating here. I thought this was another great story, and concept by Matt Wagner. We have a new penciller this issue, Laurenn McCubbin. I don't know that I was thrilled with the art, but . . it fit the time-period of this story perfectly. Plus, with it's crisp lines and bright colors it was a perfect opposite to the dark theme of this story. I don't know that it would've worked under different circumstances, but here . . I liked it. The cover was by Mark Buckingham.

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