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.

Helen Of Wyndhorn #4 Review

 

Writer: Tom King

Artist: Bilquis Evely

Colorist: Matheus Lopes

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Cover Artists: Bilquis Evely and Matheus Lopes; Jill Thompson

Publisher: Mike Richardson

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

Designer: Hannah Noble

Digital Art Technician: Adam Pruett

Publisher: Dark Horse

Price: $4.99

Release Date: September 4, 2024

 

Early 20^th-century author C.K. Cole has fallen afoul of the Political Correctness camp. Yet his stories live on, if only on the dusty shelves of a second-hand bookstore or in the long boxes of your local comic shop. A fan discovers a key issue of an Othan comic at a convention. The dealer mentions he purchased the research and collectibles Thomas Rogers accumulated while writing his biography, Fighting Monsters: The Life And Tragic Death Of Fantasy Master C.K. Cole. Should the fan purchase Thomas' research and learn more about C. K. Cole, his father Barnabas, and his daughter Helen? Let’s leap into Helen Of Wyndhorn #4 and see!

 

Story

Haunted by her father’s suicide, Helen found comfort in drunkenness. Barnabas saw little harm in her fondness for cigarettes and alcohol, but when Helen smashed up the armory and played with a sword, her grandfather took her to return the Flyune to Lady Hearth. Helen enjoyed their journey, so Barnabas made her his companion. But in Helen Of Wyndhorn #4, she decides that she wants more. Helen doesn't want to hide behind him as Barnabas battles people, monsters, and gods. Helen wants to fight at his side.

 

Joseph accepts the task of training Helen. While Lilith rails against the butler’s torments, Helen accepts his trials without complaint. The divine Lady Hearth, Helen's grandmother, asked Barnabas to give Joseph her love. Lilith can only see Joseph in his status at the Wyndhorn estate. But he is much more than a butler. Joseph cleans the house so impeccably that he gives Lilith little to do when she isn't teaching Helen. Joseph's rigorous demands leave Helen little time to conjugate French verbs or study English literature. But Joseph effects a transformation in Helen that Lilith’s lessons never could and reveals a deep understanding of the world Barnabas often visits in Helen Of Wyndhorn #4.

 

Lilith’s world revolves around propriety and convention. She strives to prepare Helen for it. Yet Lilith has no status in the world she inhabits. Nor does the governess have much in the way of career opportunities. Like Anne Brontë, Lilith took up her solitary profession to survive. Helen’s drinking and smoking, and her disrespect for Lilith’s authority, assail her as much as the children at Blake Hall traumatized Anne. But Lilith is a fighter. Barnabas and Joseph hold no more terror for Lilith than Callubaraux held for Helen. Yet Lilith becomes a more complete person in Helen Of Wyndhorn #4.

 

Barnabas doesn’t speak much, particularly about the past. The man Lady Hearth called Othan The Unrivaled lives a harsh but substantive life. He disregards Lilith’s concerns about deportment and etiquette and caters to his granddaughter’s desires. Yet pain weighs him down. The warrior who can take on an army blames Joseph for his failure. Helen’s determination to become a warrior brings Barnabas joy. But can she meet his exacting standards? 

 

 

 

Art

Bilquis Evely conveys Tom King’s meditation on family and the power of fantasy with elegance and style. Battle scenes convey otherworldly grandeur. Yet the pain Lilith suffers as she discovers an essential truth about herself is paired with a reminder of the fantastic. Matheus Lopes lavishes an ever-changing limited palette upon Evely’s classic illustrations. Joseph, Helen, and Lilith walk by the lake guarded by trees bearing sparse foliage amid blue and green. Lilith clasps her hands before a wall of the blacksmith’s tools as she watches Barnabus hammer his sword near the forge amid yellow and brown. Brown shows through winter white in a double exposure of Helen hanging from a tree branch and battling Joseph. Later, Helen awaits inspection between two ivy-adorned columns in Helen Of Wyndhorn #4. Her red, silver, and gold clothing, armor, and weapons evoke steampunk but suggest medieval splendor.

 

Large uppercase black letters inhabit white and ivory dialogue balloons. Lilith's narration is a lowercase black script on pink parchment. Words embolden for emphasis and swell for volume, while Clayton Cowles sprinkles sound effects sparingly across two or more years of Helen’s extraordinary life. Thanks to Dark Horse Comics for providing a copy for review.

 

Final Thoughts

When Lilith undertook the role of Helen's governess, she never anticipated becoming the biographer of C.K. Cole’s daughter. She disregarded the pulp-era fantasies Helen’s father wrote. Lilith’s efforts to prepare Helen for a system she esteems receive an unexpected boost in Helen Of Wyndhorn #4. But is that what Lilith wants?

 

Rating 9.6/10

 

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