Welcome To The Maynard #2 Review

 

Writer: James Robinson

Artist: J Bone

Colorist: Ian Herring

Letterer: Jim Campbell

Cover Artists: J Bone & Jill Thompson

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: January 8, 2024

 

Pippin Dale enjoys her new job at the magical Maynard Hotel. She must pick things up quickly, as she is the sole bellhop on her second day. Despite her nonstop work, Pip keeps her eyes open. When she spots a cat burglar leaving a guest room, Pip’s pursuit ranges from the stairwell to the roof. Then, oops! Pip is hurtling toward the ground. Will Pip’s half-magical status help her survive? Or will someone else take the spotlight in James Robinson's story? Let's leap on our broomsticks, swoop into Welcome To The Maynard #2, and find out!

 

Story

Sam Flynn is briefing Margot Rathbone on the cat burglar investigation when Pip slams onto Margot’s desk. The Maynard’s manager tells Pip that portals surround the hotel for the guests' safety. When Pip explains she was pursuing the thief across the roof, Margot is impressed by her zeal in supporting Sam's investigation. But Pip is grateful to be working for Sam. The hotel detective has looked out for Pip since her mother died. Pip's mother worked at the Maynard, helping the orphan feel closer to the only parent she ever knew.

 

In Welcome To The Maynard #2, Pip learns more about Margot, her fellow bellhop Boots, and the bartender Raylene. She also discovers Sam is keeping secrets from her. Pip trusts her mentor, so she reluctantly accepts this. Still, Pip is the one who stands to lose the most in James Robinson’s story. While Margot is okay with Sam’s deception, Pip’s new friends may grow angry with her when they learn she has been spying on them.

 

The cat burglar disguises her voice and appearance. So, Pip and Sam try to guess her identity by understanding her motives. The investigation grows more difficult as the magical community converges on the Maynard for the Wizardry And Sundry Magical Feats Awards Gala. While Pip rushes off her feet, a grieving wizard reminds Pip what she stands to lose in Welcome To The Maynard #2.

 

Art

As Pip falls past a statue of a warrior with a sword and a winged helmet, a portal appears above the lawn and plants. Blimps and hot air balloons sail above a castle and buildings beyond the manager's expansive window. Statues grace the floor. Smaller creations fill shelves, evoking Finster’s miniature monsters in Bandora Palace. Sam rises to pick up Pip’s hat, and Margot circles her desk to smile at the gesturing bellhop. Wearing a gray suit and matching wide-brim hat, Sam rubs his square chin as he remembers learning from Pip’s grandfather. Pip crosses her arms over her chest as she discusses the case with Sam and Margot. But her body language is more relaxed when she pulls her brass and red luggage cart in Welcome To The Maynard #2.

 

Ian Herring fills J Bone’s whimsical art with vibrant characters, animals, and decorations that stand out from lightly colored backgrounds. The Maynard's rooftop garden and a public park soothe. What the snooty assistant manager lacks in his black tuxedo, he more than makes up for with his enormous nose. A man in white and green teleports into the lobby in a storm of doves. Pip smiles with an aging mage in a straw hat and gray suit. Yet she seems happiest while loading the luggage cart and talking with Boots amid the storm of activity in the ornate lobby.

 

Jim Campbell spell-casts black letters into white dialogue balloons and beige narrative boxes. A cloudy psychic communiqué fills the air with a vision of the assistant manager's face when Pip helps a ghost to its room. The letters occasionally embolden for intonation and turn gray for lowered voices instead of shrinking. But much more dialogue grows bold when a storm swirls through a guest room, filling panels gray and blue in Welcome To The Maynard #2. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

As Pip deceives her coworkers while pursuing an elusive cat burglar, she discovers a ticking timebomb at home. Welcome To The Maynard #2 tackles the difficulties of keeping secrets from loved ones while showing how power drives and alienates us from others.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.

Welcome To The Maynard #1 Review

 

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.

Patra #1 Review

 

Writer: James Robinson

Artist & Colorist: Scott Kolins

Letterer: Jim Campbell

Cover Artists: Scott Kolins & Francesco Francavilla

Digital Art Technician: Mars Ralston

Designer: Hannah Noble

Editors: Misha Gehr, Chuck Howitt-Lease & Daniel Chabon

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Price: $4.99

Release Date: August 21, 2024

 

Squad cars roar through the streets of Billford, Minnesota. A neighbor reported blood on a neighbor’s front window. When Sheriff Baines and his deputies Jimmy and Sara arrive at the modest single-family home, they find the bodies of parents and their three sons in the living room. What happened to their daughter, and who perpetrated the vicious attack? Let’s leap into Patra #1 and find out!

 

Story

While the Sheriff and his deputies assess the crime scene, a young girl awakens in the forest. Patra climbs to her feet and stumbles between the trees in her pajamas and too big sneakers. She can't remember how she got there. Patra can't recall anything that took place at her house. She senses something isn't right inside her. It goes beyond her lost memories. Then, a mask covers her face, and Patra holds a bloody knife in her hand.

 

As evening falls, Doctor Dakari arrives in Billford. He parks his classic car and discovers a hive of activity in the police station. James Robinson suggests that Dakari is the narrator of Patra #1. Despite the Sheriff’s initial reluctance at the intrusion, Baines welcomes the doctor’s insights. Dakari tells Baines about a young man at his mental wellness center. Jeremy Jones has a traumatic past, and this isn’t the first time he has escaped.

 

As Doctor Dakari relates his tale, Patra struggles with her new situation. She has seen a beloved pet, even though it no longer lives. Patra spotted the town in the distance upon awakening. But despite walking all day, she has yet to reach it. As Patra walks through the arboreal wilderness, someone else haunts the woods. While she initially casts it away, she later elects to keep the bloody knife. But the mask and the knife are a package deal. No matter how far away Patra throws it, the mask reappears on her face. The girl isn’t sure what is more frightening, the man she struggles to elude or the mask that keeps finding her.

 

While Patra wanders through the forest, Sheriff Baines takes Doctor Dakari to the crime scene in Patra #1. Sheriff Baines has reason to fear. He has never seen anything as violent as Jeremy Baines' slaughter. And if Doctor Dakari is correct, there is worse to come.

 

 

Art

The rounded vehicles racing past the wood frame houses imbue Patra #1 with small-town appeal. The police, clad in uniforms and jackets, hold their guns as they enter the house. As their shadows stretch across a carpet littered with broken toys that once were people, Patra awakens amid deciduous trees and evergreens. The wild strands of her thick hair resemble the tall grass surrounding her face. The skull mask that covers her face and her star-covered pajamas enhance the spectral nature of this eerie place. When she casts the mask and knife away, it seems to fade into the grass. But does it disappear, or is it the green ground fog that obscures her happy black pet?

 

Scott Kolins separates panels with black frames lined with red. The red lines match the blood-soaked carpet, Patra's bloody appearance, and the doctor's finned 1950s American car. Yellow, pink, and green pastels soften the busy police headquarters. But Doctor Dakari’s tale resembles a black, purple, and red painting on beige cave walls, as gods strike down Humans and stride like giants through civilization.

 

Jim Campbell casts black uppercase letters into white dialogue balloons and colored narrative boxes in Patra #1. Words grow bold for intonation, swell for volume, and rarely shrink. Sound effects relate racing and resilient vehicles and glowing knives that hiss into existence in the moonlight. But nothing is as powerful as a young girl’s verbal reaction to this strange, unearthly danger. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

After a killer escapes his doctor's care, he renews a pattern of violence that disrupts the tranquility of a small Minnesota town. But while the psychiatrist who relates this tragic tale knows more than he should, a savage killer hunts a young girl through an ethereal jungle inhabited by dead loved ones in Patra #1.

 

Rating 9.8/10

 

To preview interior art see my review at Comic Book Dispatch. 

Apologies that this one is so late, but it was too good not to review!