Review by Ian Keogh
Madame Xanadu was introduced as the host of supernatural tales, in which she didn’t appear, before progressing to a mysterious presence in John Ostrander’s Spectre series. It wasn’t until Matt Wagner began writing a regular series in 2007 that she was given a background and substance, and this opening volume takes a journey through time to the point where Madame Xanadu sets up shop in 1940s New York.
Disenchanted introduces Nimue Inwudu, a near immortal mystical presence and sister to two similar, at the time Camelot falls. She’s not the confident, mysterious person seen later in her life, but an uncertain and faltering presence wanting the best for humanity, but beset by people advising she remain true to a foretold path. That, though, only forms the opening two chapters.
As time jumps forward Nimue’s quest is to restore what’s been taken from her, as Wagner shows her as influential during noteworthy historical periods. You’ll be surprised how many DC characters can be incorporated in a journey through the centuries, but it’s the Phantom Stranger who remains a constant presence. He’s mysterious and oblique, advising as to what must be in a trusting manner, but is his always the correct counsel?
Everything is drawn with great decorative confidence by Amy Reeder Hadley. At the start there are small signs of the novice artist, mostly when laying out the pages, but these are rapidly replaced by an intuitive skill for supplying the best from the variety of locations introduced. It’s all the more impressive for the research necessary to convince with every new jump to a different period.
Wagner plots stopovers two chapters at a time, as Nimue becomes a figure of respect in Kublai Khan’s palace, experiences the revolution in France, returns to late 19th century England to stalk a killer and associates with some of DC’s earliest heroes. She’ll sometimes mix with the period greats, and sometimes lives among ordinary people, her name being derived from a stay of several years in Xanadu.
The stories work as a succession of period pieces, but the inevitable intrusion of the Phantom Stranger, his absolute statements as to what must happen and his judgemental presence become more and more tiresome. It’s only toward the end of Disenchanted that they’re accompanied by any further explanation, and it may be that it’s not only Madame Xanadu who’ll become disenchanted with him. There’s an obvious rebuttal to a pivotal revelation as per Jack the Ripper, who most will see as a guilt shared, not one with a single cause, and the final chapter provides some justifiable anger.
A fair amount of ground is covered, and most is entertaining in explaining a complex title character over the centuries, but the repetitive presence of the Phantom Stranger strains the patience. The following Exodus Noir takes a different approach.
