Death and the Maiden part 5

“Life’s pornographic”, a line from this issue, sums up the vibe of Death and the Maiden, from part one to this installment. This issue is very pornographic, with nude and nearly nude sexed up scenes and characters that look like blow up dolls. The story is serious though, a dark struggle between empowered women who serve a lustful goddess and men who resent the female rule of the universe and have split off and formed an effort to bring them down in the most vicious way possible.

The problem with this series is the presentation. Past the fact that the artificial look of the characters turns some people off the art does a mixed job of setting the mood. Panels looking up at Flip, our heroine, as if from the floor, in an almost up-skirt style, add to the explicit (but not necessarily erotic) feel of the story, but next page over the page might be overpowered with red, the backgrounds like a photo with the brightness turned up and the contrast turned down. It’s jarring.

At times I suspect that the visuals weigh heavier in importance than the story. It’s hard not to wonder how this series would play as a book rather than a comic where the visuals could not possibly pull away from the story.

In this issue Mr. Death is missing and Flip the cat girl (excommunicated servant of the sex goddess of Babylon) goes back to the District (where the story started) to find out where her love is. To her great dismay she discovers that Jules, Mr. Death’s archenemy and a Black Knight (one of the men who want to destroy the female rulers), is holding Mr. Death hostage. Surely Jules plans to force Mr. Death to be judged for turning on the Black Knights. Flip was exiled from the Babylonians because she was primed to fall in love, but looks like Mr. Death will be the one to pay for their love. And it doesn’t help that Jules is running a morbid, dangerous side business that makes flip and even bigger target.

There’s an interesting theme of Flip, since she’s a Cat Girl, being hopelessly attracted to the the people who would be the cruelest and most using of her, and yet she has to hold herself together if she wants to save the man she loves.

Moving from a strip in Murky Depths magazine to its own comic series has opened up this world to more depth and emotion. Despite the jarring visuals the story is interesting, super sexual and energetic, which is what keeps me reading.