Review by Ian Keogh
Over the previous three volumes Matt Wagner has pretty much told Madame Xanadu’s story from neolithic times to the 20th century, so Extra-Sensory is a change of approach. He once again leaps forward, but only to 1963 from the 1957 of Broken House of Cards, and instead of concentrating so much on Madame Xanadu herself, Wagner concludes the series with a selection of character studies about those seeking her help. It’s a return to the anthology stories Madame Xanadu introduced in her late 1970s appearances.
These are a varied bunch moving further through the 1960s: an African-American teen seeing people as bloodied and mutilated; an advertising executive hearing voices at work; tragic orphan Sammy; a model bored with her vacuous life and a student who experiences the life of items she eats. The volume title reflects the individual stories concerning one of the five primary senses, and each of them toys with horror tropes while avoiding diving deeply in. They’re all well conceived in immersing themselves in the different experiences spotlighted.
Wagner has a long history of giving new talents a leg up on his Grendel series and not many were aware of Amy Reeder before she started drawing Madame Xanadu. He continues that generosity here by tailoring his stories to a selection of lesser known, but very good artists, some of whose styles wouldn’t otherwise fit standard comics. The sample art pairs the expressiveness of Marley Zarcone with a heavily stylised page by Celia Calle illustrating a story in which Wagner’s playing with 1960s icons. Chrissie Zullo’s work is a bleaker form of children’s book illustration, while Laurenn McCubbin applies a deliberate posed stiffness to reflect the artificiality of advertising. The most ordinary art is from Marion Churchland who focuses on emaciated characters at the expense of almost everything else.
The final chapter returns Reeder to the art for a wrap-up delving into the methods Madame Xanadu uses to ply her trade. In addition to calling on the supernatural, it’s stressed these include observation and assessment, although neither Madame Xanadu nor her apprentice know their baseball. The Yankees at Shea Stadium? In the 1960s? It also ties up loose ends, revisiting Betty Reynolds from the previous collection and featuring a sort of settling with the Phantom Stranger. It’s nicely drawn by Reeder, but how much better might it have looked it she’d used the less restrained style seen on the promotional art closing the book?
As a series Madame Xanadu has always been interesting, if very occasionally frustrating, and the variety provided by Extra-Sensory showcases Wagner’s appealingly broad approach and a selection of individual artists.
