Jo saves Orla from Mamo’s spirit, but now wants to help her set things right in Haresden. How widespread are the problems, and can the two girls fix them? Find out in Mamo #2 from BOOM! Studios.
MAMO #2
Writer: Sas Milledge
Artist: Sas Milledge
Editor: Shannon Watters
Publisher: BOOM! Studios
Cover Price: $4.99
Release Date: August 11, 2021
Previously in Mamo: Jo Manalo bikes up the cliffs overlooking the sea to ask Orla, a hedge witch in the area, for help. Orla is knowledgeable about magic and the Fae, as she demonstrates when she keeps Jo out of a fairy ring. But for a young witch, she seems distant and almost hostile. The town has been having trouble with the Fae and the houses are overrun by trees. Everyone stares at Orla as they walk through. She makes a comment that her grandmother, Mamo, left the town high and dry. They reach Jo’s house. Her mother has been unconscious for weeks, and Jo suspects it may be a curse. Her little sister asks Orla to tell the “lady in the attic” to go away. Orla determinedly walks into the attack, where a swirl of darkness that looks like a giant moth gathers around her, and she identifies it as Mamo!
MAGIC BALANCES THE TENSION AT BORDERS
Mamo #2 opens in Jo’s attic right after she runs in and shares the protection charm with Orla. It is enough to keep Mamo from overwhelming her, and Orla gathers the spirit into a small bag. She admits it is her grandmother, and Jo wonders why she is here.
Mamo died, Orla explains as she bundles together some herbs, seeds, and a drop of blood. But she didn’t arrange for a burial and was not buried properly. Her power may be what is affecting Haresden. She sets her bundle of herbs into the hearth and ignites it. This brings out a little lizard house spirit and, in exchange for a drop of blood, it fetches a small bone. This is what was affecting Jo’s mother – one of Mamo’s bones here instead of being buried appropriately.
This is a double-sized issue, and it reads like a chapter in a graphic novel, taking time to explain magic and a bit about what Mamo was like. The protection charm Orla gave to Jo is power freely given, which also strengthened Orla. Spirits are often angry, and Mamo is now a spirit. The girls bury the bone nearby, but along the border of Haresden. Mis-buried bones, Orla explains can cause chaos, and enough of them could destroy the town. She has to try to set things right, and Jo insists that she wants to help.
They meet the following morning where Jo’s family welcomes Orla for breakfast. Jo’s nickname is Goanna (after a Southeast Asian variety of lizard), and her father shares the fanciful family stories of the girls’ origins, much to the delight of the youngest. But his point in this is that family is not about being the same; it is about looking after one another. As it turns out, this is a stark contrast to Orla’s upbringing. She and her grandmother were both hedge witches, but they had very different ideas about magic and were often in conflict.
Orla is tracking the mis-buried bones on a map to try to figure out the pattern they are forming so she can complete it. Jo takes her into town to talk with Ma Anastas, a fishwife. She talks about the problems they are having with fishing and she recognizes Orla as a witch. She seems to be a witch herself, but Ma Anastas denies it, claiming Mamo was the only witch in the area. At any rate, the Fae have been weaving curses into the fishing nets. The Fae in the waters protect the reefs and monitor the tides. Orla finds a couple and encourages Jo to talk with them, and they agree to stop if the fishermen stop taking their mussels.
The girls solve a few more problem, but more and more, whatever is happening now seems to go back to Mamo, and in turn, back to the conflicts she had with Orla.
A LIVING, BREATHING WORLD
The art of Mamo #2 takes a world in which magic and Fae beings exists and makes it look both familiar and touched by the magic that is all around. We see modern touches, such as Joanna’s bicycle and Orla’s car, but older traditions are equally present, such as in the open hearth in the center of the family kitchen, or Ma Anastas in her long skirt and apron. Haresden exists in its own time and place which feels adjacent to our world.
Some of the spirit animals we have seen are familiar’s, such as Mamo’s moth and Orla’s black cat. The hearth spirit in Jo’s house is similar. We learn, along the way, that magic is not exclusive in this world. Anyone can learn to use it. Is this foreshadowing that Joanna Goanna may become an active witch herself, protecting her community? That would be interesting.
BOTTOM LINE: ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
Mamo #2 expands the world of the story while drawing us further in. Every time we learn a little more about what is going on, we learn that there is more we do not know. This works well because Mamo did not share anything about her witchcraft with her own village, so they know nothing. Now that she is not there to hold things together, everything is falling apart.
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Mamo #2
The problems with Haresden may be related to Mamo’s death…and her restless spirit!
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By day, she’s a mild-mannered bureaucrat and Ms. Know-It-All. By night, she’s a dance teacher and RPG player (although admittedly not on the same nights). On the weekends, she may be found judging Magic, playing Guild Wars 2 (badly), or following other creative pursuits. Holy Lack of Copious Free Time, Batman! While she’s always wished she had teleportation as her superpower, she suspects that super-speed would be much more practical because then she’d have time to finish up those steampunk costumes she’s also working on.