Fo

r man

y y

ears, com

ics hav

e had

a fascinatio

n w

ith

steamp

un

k, w

ith its b

lend

of fan

tasy m

ilieu, retro

-hig

h-tech

,

and

app

ealing

stylistic elem

ents. A

nd

no

com

ic mo

re tho

r-

ou

gh

ly cap

tured

the lo

ok

and

feel of th

e gen

re tha

n Joe

Ben

itez’ La

dy

Mech

an

ika

... a series that h

as rema

ined

sadly

inco

mp

lete for a few

years n

ow

.

Th

at situatio

n is ab

ou

t to ch

ang

e, ho

wev

er, as L

ad

y

Mech

an

ika

prep

ares to m

ake a triu

mp

han

t return

to co

mic

sho

ps, b

oth

in rep

rint v

olu

mes co

llecting

the o

ut-o

f-prin

t

early issu

es and

in tw

o all-n

ew issu

es that co

mp

lete the first

La

dy

Mech

an

ika

story

arc. An

d th

at’s on

ly th

e beg

inn

ing

!

La

dy

Mech

an

ika

, created, w

ritten, an

d d

rawn

by

Joe

Ben

itez with

colo

rs by

Peter S

teigerwald, w

as orig

ina

lly p

ub

-

lished

by

Asp

en E

ntertain

men

t. “Th

e series started in

late

2010; the last b

oo

k w

as La

dy

Mech

an

ika

#3, w

hich

came

ou

t in D

ecemb

er of 2011,” B

enitez said

. “In 2012

, Asp

en an

d

I decid

ed to

part w

ays, an

d n

ow

I am p

ub

lishin

g th

e bo

ok

my

self un

der m

y n

ew im

prin

t, Ben

itez Pro

du

ction

s.”

“We w

ant to

hav

e a new

La

dy

Mech

an

ika

pro

du

ct on

the sh

elves ev

ery m

on

th in

2015,” Ben

itez said. “

Th

e art-

wo

rk fo

r three issu

es of th

e nex

t story

arc is alread

y co

m-

pleted

and

add

ition

al stories are in

dev

elop

men

t. We h

op

e

that th

is will allo

w u

s to p

rod

uce a m

on

thly

bo

ok

with

ou

t

sacrificing

qu

ality. Qu

ality rem

ains o

ur to

p p

riori-

ty.”To

ensu

re that all read

ers can g

et up

to sp

eed

on

the sto

ry, Ben

itez plan

s to issu

e two

two

-in-o

ne

vo

lum

es. “La

dy

Mech

an

ika

0-1 Co

llected E

ditio

n

is sched

uled

for release o

n F

ebru

ary 4th

, 2015,”

Ben

itez said. “L

ad

y M

echa

nik

a 2-3 C

ollected

Ed

ition

will sh

ip o

n F

ebru

ary 11th

. An

d L

ad

y

Mech

an

ika

#4 w

ill be o

ut th

e follo

win

g w

eek, o

n

Feb

ruary

18th. L

ad

y M

echa

nik

a #

5,th

e con

clusio

n

of th

e Mech

anical C

orp

se story, is sch

edu

led fo

r

release in M

arch, w

ith th

e secon

d sto

ry arc, ‘T

he

Tab

let of D

estinies,’ d

ebu

ting

the fo

llow

ing

mo

nth

in A

pril.”

Fo

r readers w

ho

missed

ou

t on

the earlier ed

i-

tion

s of L

ad

y M

echa

nik

a, B

enitez o

ffered a sy

no

p-

sis of th

e acclaimed

series. “Lad

y M

echan

ika is a

priv

ate inv

estigato

r in a steam

pu

nk

turn

-of-th

e-

centu

ry E

ng

land

. Sh

e was fo

un

d in

a facility w

ith a

strang

e com

bin

ation

of o

rgan

ic and

mech

anical

parts, th

e on

ly k

no

wn

surv

ivo

r of so

me m

adm

an’s

exp

erimen

ts. We d

on

’t kn

ow

wh

o h

e is or w

hy

he

did

this. S

he h

as no

mem

ory

of h

im o

r of h

er past.

Sh

e’s on

a qu

est to

find

this in

div

idu

al

and

disco

ver w

hat

hap

pen

ed to

her.

“In h

er search,

she’s co

me acro

ss

several stran

ge

cases, som

e of th

em

sup

ernatu

ral or

simp

ly u

nex

plain

-

able, an

d b

ecom

e

som

ewh

at of an

exp

ert in su

ch th

ing

s and

is

no

w o

ccasion

ally called

up

on

by

vario

us ag

encies, as

well as h

ired b

y p

rivate in

di-

vid

uals, to

help

on

cases

they

aren’t eq

uip

ped

to h

an-

dle. S

he is co

ntin

ually

searchin

g, h

ow

ever, fo

r the

secrets to h

er past.”

Ben

itez adm

its that h

e

was su

rprised

by

the o

ver-

wh

elmin

g p

op

ularity

of th

e

series. “I was co

nfid

ent in

the co

ncep

t, bu

t I wasn

’t

hap

py

with

my

execu

tion

, so

I wasn

’t exp

ecting

such

a

favo

rable resp

on

se. I wasn

’t

hap

py

with

any

of th

e bo

ok

s

I pu

t ou

t—th

ey w

eren’t

go

od

eno

ug

h in

my

min

d. I

alway

s wan

ted to

mak

e

them

better, so

wh

en I w

as

gettin

g fav

orab

le review

s I

was d

efinitely

surp

rised!”

Man

y w

ere surp

rised

wh

en A

spen

ann

ou

nced

that

the series w

ou

ld n

ot co

ntin

-

ue w

ith th

em; h

ow

did

that

com

e abo

ut? “L

ad

yM

echa

nik

aw

as alway

s a

creator-o

wn

ed p

roject, so

I

ow

ned

all the rig

hts fro

m

the b

egin

nin

g,” B

enitez said

.

“Wh

en A

spen

and

I agreed

that o

ur arran

gem

ent w

asn’t

wo

rkin

g fo

r either o

f us, w

e

decid

ed to

part w

ays am

ica-

bly. T

here w

as nev

er any

con

flict ov

er the rig

hts to

La

dy

Mech

an

ika

.”

Ben

itez exp

lained

that a n

um

ber o

f factors led

to th

e

leng

thy

delay

betw

een th

e end

of th

e Asp

en ru

n an

d th

e

laun

ch o

f the B

enitez P

rod

uctio

ns series. “ A

big

part o

f the

delay

was d

efinitely

du

e to p

erson

al issues. I h

ad sev

eral

pro

blem

s com

e up

, on

e after the o

ther, an

d it w

as all very

ov

erwh

elmin

g an

d d

ifficult fo

r me to

deal w

ith, m

akin

g it

imp

ossib

le to create an

d lau

nch

a bu

siness. N

ow

, I still

hav

e issues I’m

dealin

g w

ith, b

ut I h

ave a g

reat team h

elp-

ing

me an

d w

e’re ready

to m

ake th

is wo

rk.”

Du

ring

the h

iatus, B

enitez an

d h

is team w

ere pu

tting

a

great d

eal of w

ork

, bo

th ed

itorially

and

creatively, to

ensu

re

that th

e bo

ok

wo

uld

con

tinu

e on

a regu

lar sched

ule o

nce it

laun

ched

. “La

dy

Mech

an

ika

#4

is 100% d

on

e and

ready

to

go

—co

lors an

d letterin

g an

d all. L

ad

y M

echa

nik

a #

5I’m

do

ing

finish

ing

tou

ches o

n th

e pen

cils, and

it need

to b

e

colo

red an

d lettered

. I keep

go

ing

back

and

tweak

ing

thin

gs b

ecause I still h

ave tim

e to d

o so

. If I cou

ld g

o b

ack

and

tweak

all the o

ther b

oo

ks, I w

ou

ld. B

ut m

y ed

itor say

s

I’m n

ot allo

wed

to d

o an

y m

ore ch

ang

es to #

5 after this

mo

nth

, so w

hatev

er I wan

t to d

o I n

eed to

do

it no

w. S

he’s

tou

gh

and

keep

ing

me in

check

!” Ben

itez said w

ith a sm

ile.

Part o

f the ap

peal o

f La

dy

Mech

an

ika

is the stu

nn

ing

fine-lin

e art that B

enitez p

rod

uces fo

r

Courtesy of y

our fr

iendly

neighborhood comics outle

t!

1433

Lady Mechanika

Mechan

ika Gears U

p for Her R

eturn

For many years, comics have had a fascination with

steampunk, with its blend of fantasy milieu, retro-high-tech,

and appealing stylistic elements. And no comic more thor-

oughly captured the look and feel of the genre than Joe

Benitez’ Lady Mechanika... a series that has remained sadly

incomplete for a few years now.

That situation is about to change, however, as Lady

Mechanika prepares to make a triumphant return to comic

shops, both in reprint volumes collecting the out-of-print

early issues and in two all-new issues that complete the first

Lady Mechanika story arc. And that’s only the beginning!

Lady Mechanika, created, written, and drawn by Joe

Benitez with colors by Peter Steigerwald, was originally pub-

lished by Aspen Entertainment. “The series started in late

2010; the last book was Lady Mechanika #3, which came

out in December of 2011,” Benitez said. “In 2012, Aspen and

I decided to part ways, and now I am publishing the book

myself under my new imprint, Benitez Productions.”

“We want to have a new Lady Mechanika product on

the shelves every month in 2015,” Benitez said. “The art-

work for three issues of the next story arc is already com-

pleted and additional stories are in development. We hope

that this will allow us to produce a monthly book without

sacrificing quality. Quality remains our top priori-

ty.”

To ensure that all readers can get up to speed

on the story, Benitez plans to issue two two-in-one

volumes. “Lady Mechanika 0-1 Collected Edition

is scheduled for release on February 4th, 2015,”

Benitez said. “Lady Mechanika 2-3 Collected

Edition will ship on February 11th. And Lady

Mechanika #4 will be out the following week, on

February 18th. Lady Mechanika #5, the conclusion

of the Mechanical Corpse story, is scheduled for

release in March, with the second story arc, ‘The

Tablet of Destinies,’ debuting the following month

in April.”

For readers who missed out on the earlier edi-

tions of Lady Mechanika, Benitez offered a synop-

sis of the acclaimed series. “Lady Mechanika is a

private investigator in a steampunk turn-of-the-

century England. She was found in a facility with a

strange combination of organic and mechanical

parts, the only known survivor of some madman’s

experiments. We don’t know who he is or why he

did this. She has no memory of him or of her past.

She’s on a quest to

find this individual

and discover what

happened to her.

“In her search,

she’s come across

several strange

cases, some of them

supernatural or

simply unexplain-

able, and become

somewhat of an

expert in such things and is

now occasionally called

upon by various agencies, as

well as hired by private indi-

viduals, to help on cases

they aren’t equipped to han-

dle. She is continually

searching, however, for the

secrets to her past.”

Benitez admits that he

was surprised by the over-

whelming popularity of the

series. “I was confident in

the concept, but I wasn’t

happy with my execution, so

I wasn’t expecting such a

favorable response. I wasn’t

happy with any of the books

I put out—they weren’t

good enough in my mind. I

always wanted to make

them better, so when I was

getting favorable reviews I

was definitely surprised!”

Many were surprised

when Aspen announced that

the series would not contin-

ue with them; how did that

come about? “LadyMechanika was always a

creator-owned project, so I

owned all the rights from

the beginning,” Benitez said.

“When Aspen and I agreed

that our arrangement wasn’t

working for either of us, we

decided to part ways amica-

bly. There was never any conflict over the rights to LadyMechanika.”

Benitez explained that a number of factors led to the

lengthy delay between the end of the Aspen run and the

launch of the Benitez Productions series. “ A big part of the

delay was definitely due to personal issues. I had several

problems come up, one after the other, and it was all very

overwhelming and difficult for me to deal with, making it

impossible to create and launch a business. Now, I still

have issues I’m dealing with, but I have a great team help-

ing me and we’re ready to make this work.”

During the hiatus, Benitez and his team were putting a

great deal of work, both editorially and creatively, to ensure

that the book would continue on a regular schedule once it

launched. “Lady Mechanika #4 is 100% done and ready to

go—colors and lettering and all. Lady Mechanika #5 I’m

doing finishing touches on the pencils, and it need to be

colored and lettered. I keep going back and tweaking

things because I still have time to do so. If I could go back

and tweak all the other books, I would. But my editor says

I’m not allowed to do any more changes to #5 after this

month, so whatever I want to do I need to do it now. She’s

tough and keeping me in check!” Benitez said with a smile.

Part of the appeal of Lady Mechanika is the stunning

fine-line art that Benitez produces for

Courtesy of your friendly

neighborhood comics outlet!

14

33 La

dy

Me

ch

an

ik

a

Mechanika Gears Up for Her Return

Superteam Team-UpThe Guardians of the Galaxy are already

one of the most powerful teams in the

Marvel Universe... but sometimes even

superteams need to team up with others to

meet the needs of a specific challenge. And

that’s just what they’ll be doing in the new

Guardians Team-Up title launching in

February.

The new series by Brian Bendis will be

illustrated by a number of top talents, begin-

ning with fan-favorite Art Adams, who illus-

trates the kickoff issue’s meeting between

the Guardians of the Galaxy and the

Avengers. “Part of my uber-plan was to

have the Guardians be more a part of the

Marvel Universe and not off doing their

own thing,” Bendis told USA Today.

Editor Katie Kubert told USA Today that

being involved with a team-up title of this

sort is like “sitting in a sandbox with my

favorite toys and creating new adventures

with them all. Branching out with fun ideas

like Gamora and She-Hulk joining forces to

make a ‘Green Girls Kick (Butt)’ team, or

the insanity of something like Rocket

Raccoon and Deadpool gets me so excited

it’s almost more than I can bear.”

“These aren’t just fun adventures,”

Bendis said. “These are going to be stories

that matter to the team and matter ot the

cosmic landscape in general.”

DC’s Plans Converging in April

A couple of weeks ago, CSN told you

about DC’s plans for their two-month event

Convergence. Now DC has revealed details

about the first ten books in the forty-one

book event (forty different two part series

and the core Convergence series). The first

ten titles bring back some of the most

requested pre-New-52 characters, concepts,

and storylines, revealing what has been

going on with those characters since then.

The first ten books include:

•The Atom (by Tom Peyer, Steve Yeowell, &

Andy Owens) - Ray Palmer learns that Ryan

Choi is still

alive. Once he

finds hem, the two must confront

Deathstroke, the man responsible for

“killing” Choi.

•Batgirl (by Alisa Kwitney, Rick Leonardi, &

Mark Pennington) - After a year in the dome,

Stephanie is not sure that she wants to be

Batgirl again—but when Flashpoint Catman

attacks, Red Robin and Black Bat call her

back into service.

•Batman & Robin (by Ron Marz, Denys

Cowan, & Klaus Janson) - Bruce Wayne and

Damian have an unpleasant experience with

Red Hood before the Extremists attack.

•The Question (by Greg Rucka & Cully

Hamner) - Two-Face is fighting another

world’s Harvey Dent, and it’s up to Renee

Montoya, the Question, to help him beat the

odds.

•Harley Quinn (by Steve Pugh, Phil Winslade,

& John Dell) - Harley Quinn is enjoying her

normal life under the dome until Catwoman

and Poison Ivy draft her to fight... Captain

Carrot?

•Justice League (by Frank Tieri & Vicente

ducing the stories that built his reputation

and made him the renowned creator he is.

This volume includes Strange Tales #s 163-

168, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD #s 1-3 & 5,

and Captain America #s 110, 111, & 113...

and more! All of it is meticulously scanned

from the original art and reproduced in full

size to show off every nuance of Steranko’s

work.

IDW collected editions include:

•Airboy Archives Volume 3 TP, collecting

Eclipse’s Airboy #s 26-34 and more.

•Ben 10 Classics Volume 4: Beauty & the

Ben TP, collecting stories from Cartoon

Network Action Pack #s 48-56.

•Cartoon Network Super Secret Crisis War

Volume 2 TP, collecting the five SSCW one-

shots.

•Complete Little Orphan Annie Volume 11

HC, collecting strips from 8/8/43 to

4/14/45.

•Dragonlance Chronicles Volume 1: Dragons

of Autumn Twilight TP, collecting the adap-

tation of Margaret Weis’ first novel in the

Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy.

•GI Joe Volume 1: The Fall of GI Joe TP, col-

lecting Karen Traviss’ GI Joe #s 1-4.

•John Byrne’s Next Men Omnibus Volume 1

TP, collecting 2112 nd Next Men #s 1-8.

•Judge Dredd: Anderson, Psi-Division TP,

collecting the four-issue miniseries.

•Locke & Key Master Edition Volume 1 HC,

a 328-page volume collecting the first two

arcs.

•My Little Pony: Adventures in Friendship

Volume 2 HC, collecting a trio of MLP tales.

•The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures

TP, a softcover edition of every Dave Stevens

Rocketeer tale.

•Secret Agent X-9 by Dashiell Hammett &

Alex Raymond HC, collecting strips from

1/22/34 to 10/31/36.

•Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Volume 3 HC,

collecting the Silver Age Star Trek #s 13-18.

•Silent Hill: Downpour—Anne’s Story

TP, collecting the four-part miniseries.

•Skylanders: Legendary HC, collecting

Skylanders #s 4-6.•Star Slammers HC, a compilation of the

Walter Simonson series. The first printing will

include a bound-in signature plate, signed

by Walter Simonson.

•Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Volume 10:

New Mutant Order TP, collecting #s 37-40.

•Transformers Classics Volume 8 TP, col-

lecting Transformers Universe #s 1-4, GI Joe

& the Transformers #s 1-4, and much more.

•Transformers: Primacy TP, collecting the

fan-favorite story arc.

•The Untold History of Black Comic Books

HC, a 252-page collection of rarely seen clas-

sic and mainstream comics from the 1940s

to the present day, compiled by Professor

William Foster & Craig Yoe. (see this issue’s

CSNsider for more info.)

•X-Files: Year Zero TP, collecting the five-

issue miniseries.

Coming Comics—Valiant in February

In Divinity #1, Matt Kindt & Trevor

Hairsine introduce readers to one of history’s

lost heroes—a Cold War cosmonaut sent far-

ther into space than anyone ever dreamed.

What he found there changed him, as the

world is bout to discover when he returns to

Earth in the 21st Century with amazing pow-

ers that make him a virtual god on Earth.

Toyo Harada, once one of the most pow-

erful and influential men on the planet, is

now hunted by every government, a pariah.

But he has a plan to regain his lost power:

he will build a coalition of the most power-

ful, unscrupulous, and insane... and that’s

just what he sets out to do in

Imperium #1 by Joshua Dysart &

Doug Braithwaite.

An unsuspecting scientist is

about to discover time travel—

and jeopardize her life in the

process as she becomes the tar-

get of very chrononaut and

time-stream protector—unless

Ivar, Timewalker can get to her

first and set things right in Ivar,

Timewalker #2 by Fred Van

Lente & Clayton Henry.

The entire Valiant Universe

faces off against the Immortal

Enemy in The Valiant #3 by Jeff

Lemire, Matt Kindt, & Paolo

Rivera. Can they help the

Eternal Warrior succeed where

he has failed every time before?

Aric of Dacia has always

assumed that his beloved Deidre

suffered a horrible fate at the

hands of the Roman legions. He’s

about to learn the truth about

Deidre in X-O Manowar #33, a

special standalone issue by

Robert Venditti & Rafa Sandoval.

Valiant Masters: Harbinger

Volume 1—Children of the

Eighth Day HC collects the orig-

inal Har-binger #s 0-7 from the

early 90s.

Follow Spider-Man every week in Comic Shop News!

SPIDER MAN by sTAn lee, lArry lieber & Alex sAViuk

Comic Shop News 72 Comic Shop News

every page of the series. How long does it

take him to complete the art for each issue!

“First, thanks for the compliment!” Benitez

said. “The art does take a long time—longer

than it should. I usually spend about two

days, sometimes more, just to lay out the

page. And I often draw three or four ver-

sions of the same page. I tend to overthink

things,—what path to take among the infi-

nite possibilities. If I just go with my gut ,

that’s best but it rarely works out that way.

And also, like I said earlier, I’ll keep tweak-

ing things and changing things for as long

as I can, trying to get it perfect.”

Once Lady Mechanika #5 wraps up “The

Mechanical Corpse” storyline, readers can

look forward to the next story arc to pre-

miere on schedule one month later. “The

second story, The Tablet of Destinies, will

debut in April. We already have the art-

work completed for three issues of Tablet of

Destinies, and we’re currently working on

the fourth issue as well as developing future

story arcs. We are hoping to have a new

Lady Mechanika product on the shelves

every month once we launch in February.”

Don’t look for a whole line of titles from

Benitez Productions in the immediate

future. “At this point we’re focusing all our

energy on Lady Mechanika,” Benitez said.

“We’re new to publishing so we want to

make sure we’re doing everything properly

and we don’t overextend ourselves. But ide-

ally in the future, yes, I have lots of other

stories and characters I’m dying to bring to

life. Hopefully if everything works well,

maybe later down the line we’ll launch

more projects that people will hopefully

pick up and enjoy.”

Further down the line, “We’d definitely

like to do a trade of Lady Mechanika, but

we haven’t scheduled it yet,” Benitez said.

When a trade is scheduled, however, Benitez

said that it may include all the eye-catching

variant covers done for the various Aspen

editions. “We’re not including them in the

reprints we’re doing for February,” Benitez

said, “because we wanted to get those print-

ed as cheaply as possible to make them

more accessible to new readers. We may

include them later in a trade paperback or

hardcover that collects the entire miniseries

but we don’t know for certain yet.”

Lady Mechanika #4, as well as Lady

Mechanika Collected Editions #s 0-1 and 2-

3, are slated for February release.

by Cliff Biggers

The VAliAnT 3

The ATom

The QuesTion