Madame Xanadu: Exodus Noir

Writer: Matt Wagner; Pencils & Inks: Michael Wm. Kaluta; Colors; Dave Stewart

Rating 4.5 out of 5 stars

"Revenge is barren of itself: it is the dreadful food it feeds on; its delight is murder, and its end is despair." - Friedrich von Schiller

Before picking up the Exodus Noir trade paperback (which collects issue #s 11 to 15 of the ongoing Madame Xanadu series), I really did not have much knowledge of or interest in the character. I got this book for the artwork by Michael Wm. Kaluta, an absolutely amazing illustrator.

Kaluta's artwork is very much inspired by the art nouveau style as well as various late 19th & early 20th century illustrators. In the book Echoes: The Drawings of Michael William Kaluta, the artists cites among his influences Alphonse Mucha, Heinrich Kley, Aubrey Beardsley, Roy Krenkel, and Frank Frazetta. Kaluta's work is beautiful, delicate, and intricately detailed. Mostly a cover illustrator, Kaluta less often does interior sequential art for comic books. So I had to pick up Exodus Noir, which is fully illustrated by Kaluta.

Of course, writer Matt Wagner is no slouch, either. His story Batman: Faces, which he both wrote & drew, is one of the definitive examinations of the villain Two-Face. And then there is Grendel: War Child. A friend of mine lent me the TPB when I was in college. It's a very thick book. I decided to start reading it one night around 10 PM, figuring I'd just go through the first couple of chapters. But I absolutely could not put it down, and finally finished it around 2:30 in the morning.

Such was the case with Madame Xanadu: Exodus Noir, which I read in a single sitting. It is a very compelling tale.

The events of Exodus Noir flash back and forth between Spain in 1493 and New York City in 1940. Madame Xanadu, an immortal mystic, has been wandering the globe for centuries. In 1493, she settles down in the Spanish countryside with a beautiful seamstress named Marisol. The two soon become romantically involved. Unfortunately, Spain in 1493 was the height of the Inquisition. So this was probably not the best place to be carrying on a lesbian relationship. Especially as Tomas De Torquemada, the infamous Grand Inquisitor of Spain, happens to be in the neighborhood. "This is probably not going to end well," I thought to myself while reading. And, indeed, the Xanadu and Marisol's relationship is discovered by the Church. The results are tragic, and Xanadu is forced to flee the country.

Four hundred years later, in NYC, Madame Xanadu has set up shop as a fortune teller and supernatural consultant. She is called in to investigate a mysterious, gruesome death. Xanadu soon learns that the events taking place in 1940 have their roots in the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition. Xanadu is forced to once again confront her own personal demons over the fate of Marisol, while facing a literal demon who has been dispatched on a centuries-long mission of vengeance.

Human passion can be a beautiful thing, but twisted to a dark cause, it is the most dangerous thing in the world. The passions of religious zealotry, and the resulting all-consuming quest for revenge in its wake, are equally, blindly dangerous. Xanadu's demonic foe, propelled on for centuries by hatred, can be interpreted as a personification of the myriad forms of real-life fanaticism that have endured for hundreds of years, passed on endlessly by one generation to the next.

The end of Exodus Noir is bittersweet. Xanadu brings an end to the curse. But at the same time she has been forced to relive her own troubled past, as well as acknowledge that the scars of history continue to linger on in many and varied forms.

Making guest appearances in Exodus Noir is Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman, and his girlfriend Dian Belmont. For those unfamiliar with the original Sandman, just think Sam Spade wearing a gas mask. Wagner is intimately familiar with the characters of Dodds and Belmont from writing Sandman Mystery Theatre in the 1990s. Nice to see Wagner return to the characters and have them involved in the story's events.

There's only one major criticism I have, and that is Madame Xanadu's magical abilities are ill-defined and inconsistent. At times she appears to be very powerful. In other scenes her abilities are rather more limited.

I think this is an outcome writers often risk when using magic-based characters. Magic, unlike science, does not have any real-world laws governing it... well, at least as far as I know. Which means that a writer can have a magical character do pretty much anything and everything, depending upon the requirements of the plot. But if the author plays fast and loose, not establishing some sort of general guidelines for the character's abilities, then you may end up with someone whose powers are inconsistent from one appearance to another.

I guess that if Madame Xanadu's abilities were set down too concretely, it would take away from some of the mystery of the character. It is a very fine line to walk. I don't envy Wagner the task of having to do that month after month in the ongoing series.

Also, I would like to know what language Xanadu was using when casting her spells, whether it was a real-world one or something made up. Perhaps one of the Celtic languages? Presumably Wagner employed non-English spells to preserve some of that aforementioned mystery. Besides, when you have someone chanting stuff like "By the hoary hosts of Hoggoth" or saying all their spells backwards, it tends to get silly and/or annoying after a while (sorry, those of you who are Dr. Strange or Zatanna fans).

Whatever the case, I enjoyed the writing on Exodus Noir enough that I will probably go back and pick up the first Madame Xanadu trade paperback.

Now, as for the artwork by Michael Kaluta... wow, it is absolutely gorgeous. Kaluta draws Xanadu as a beautiful, alluring, mysterious figure. But it's no wonder he does so well, since he's the artist who first designed her back in the late 1970s. I also enjoyed his eerie rendition of the Sandman.

Kaluta excels at his depictions of the story's various setting's and elements. The rugged beauty of the Spanish countryside, the graphic horrors of the Inquisition, the Art Deco styling and noir atmosphere of 1940 Manhattan, the placid tranquility of Central Park during the day, and the menacing shadows of the Park at night, and the Hell-born terrors of Xanadu's supernatural foe. Each of these is deftly illustrated by Kaluta.

Likewise, his layouts and storytelling are magnificent. For example, witnessing Xanadu floating upon the winds up to and past the top of the Empire State Building is a beautiful sequence at the opening of chapter two. The final page of chapter four induced a nightmarish feeling of vertigo was we see Marisol in the clutches of the Inquisition. And the desperate race through Manhattan, culminating with a riveting confrontation in Central Park, make chapter five a nail-biting roller coaster.

The coloring by Dave Stewart is very well done. It is rich & vibrant, and it enhances Kaluta's artwork rather than obscuring any of the precise detail. Stewart's work is especially effective in the opening of chapter three set in a morgue, with it's eerie greens, blues & grays, and in the final Central Park scene, with the demon's true blazing, fiery appearance revealed.

Exodus Noir is a top-notch book. It is well worth picking up for Kaluta's absolutely fantastic artwork. And when you add Wagner's thoughtful, tragic, emotionally rich writing, well, this is a nearly perfect volume.