Writer: James Robinson
Artist: J Bone
Colorist: Ian Herring
Letterer: Jim Campbell
Cover Artists: J Bone; Chris Samnee & Jordan Gibson;
Fábio Moon
Editors: Daniel Chabon, Chuck Howitt-Lease & Foster R.
Kupbens
Designer: Riley VanDyke
Digital Art Technician: Adam Pruett
Prepress: Jake Johnson
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Price: $4.99
Release Date: November 27, 2024
Pippin Dale has a new job. She has returned to San Francisco
to work as a bellhop. The Maynard Hotel welcomes witches, wizards, and
otherworldly beings, but that doesn't make it a safe workplace. The guests like
to show off, and some of their spells are dangerous. Worse, someone is invading
the guest rooms and robbing them while they sleep. Can Pip survive the rigors
of the Maynard Hotel? Let's leap on our broomsticks, swoop into Welcome To The
Maynard #1, and find out!
Story
While Pip is troubled by San Francisco’s recent decline, the
Maynard Hotel is a hive of magical activity. As the doorman ushers her into the
lobby, witches and birds fly through the three-story atrium, and elephants
cavort above her head. Unfortunately, Pip neglects to mention that she is a new
employee and not a guest. So, when the assistant manager demands to know why
she didn't enter through the staff entrance, Pip covers for Boots, another
kindly bellhop who has taken her in hand. After a quick uniform change, she is
ready for Boots to show her around. Pip must learn her duties quickly in
Welcome To The Maynard #1 because she will be the sole bellhop on staff
tomorrow.
Boots sympathizes with Pip, who has endured great struggles
in her life. Despite her youth, her mother has passed away, and Pip never
learned her father’s identity. Her mother was a Halfie and passed on her
partial magical heritage to Pip. For all she knows, her father could have been
a full-on Mage. But Pip can’t tell any of this to her partner, who has no
magical abilities and couldn't see The Maynard if she stood before it. After a
day filled with duties like pushing a luggage cart filled with cats for a witch
who travels to her room on a broomstick, Pip tells her partner she works at
Motel 6. But that's not the only secret Pip keeps from her roommate in Welcome
To The Maynard #1.
James Robinson conjures a host of colorful characters for
his story, such as the bartender Ray, the manager Margot Rathbone, and the uniform
attendant Maggie, who alternates between a talking magpie and a Human witch. As
Pip struggles to ground the airships of arriving guests, ferries their luggage
to their rooms, and wrangles pets back into their travel containers, she keeps
her eyes open. Pip knows a cat burglar is terrorizing the magical guests at the
Maynard, and she is determined to catch the thief!
Art
J Bone brings an old-timey sensibility to James Robinson’s
modern story with rectangular panels bordered by white space. Welcome To The
Maynard #1 opens with a cat burglar sneaking into a guest room to open a wall
safe hidden behind a painting. When the guests awaken, the black-clad burglar repulses
their spells and departs as smoke rises from their still bodies. As the
Transamerica Pyramid rises in the distance, Pip rides past the trash-filled
streets on a cable car and walks through an adult entertainment district. Then,
the buildings seem to separate. But instead of revealing Sirius Black's family
home, Pip sees a fairytale carriage drawn by unicorns and a guest arriving on a
flying carpet as a giant sculpted bird crowns the elegant statues and
architectural details of the impressive façade.
Ian Herring adorns J Bone’s art with a restrained palette
that helps the foreground and primary characters shine while lightly coloring backgrounds
with pastels, gray, or white. Pip’s gray hair hints at her difficult upbringing
as Boots opens a green door with a port hole. She emerges wearing a red and
yellow uniform in keeping with the Magical Monopoly Game sensibility of the
Roaring Twenties style hotel. Pip returns home after her first day to a
purple-and-blue apartment. While her partner reclines on the couch with a bowl
of popcorn, Pip remembers a surreptitious meeting beneath orange and yellow
lanterns in Chinatown.
Jim Campbell spell-casts black letters into white dialogue
balloons and yellow narrative boxes. The letters embolden for intonation, swell
for volume, change color for emphasis, and turn gray for lowered voices instead
of shrinking. White block letters denote time and location, while sound effects
help us hear a cat burglar open a safe and leave a room, and Pip tackle a thief
amid ravens and pixies while dragons and witches fly above San Francisco in
Welcome To The Maynard #1. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for providing a copy for
review.
Final Thoughts
Pippin Dale's troubled past gives her a philosophical view
of life. While Pip makes friends with the magical hotel staff, she must be on
her best behavior to avoid incurring the wrath of the strict management. Pip
must keep calm and carry on as if the guests are in no danger while she
protects them from being robbed, injured, or killed by a teleporting thief in
Welcome To The Maynard #1.
Rating 9.4/10
For another cover see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
To look inside see the preview at Dark Horse Comics.
