Mary Medina has retired from her life as Mystère and spends her days volunteering at a homeless shelter. Find out in Mystère #1 about the forces that may force her to use her dark powers once again! 

MYSTERE #1: NEW DAWN

Writer:  Ben Meares
Artist: Sergio Arino
Colorist:  Ceci de la Cruz
Letterer:  Carlos M. Manguel
Editor:  Kellie Supplee
Publisher:  Zenoscope Entertainment
Cover Price:  $3.99
Release Date:  September 4, 2019

Previously on Mystere: Mary Medina has the power to raise the dead and take life. This ability has caused all sorts of trouble, including accidentally killing a dead priest, homelessness, and being used to raise a dead army. Now she has turned away from that life and is looking to get some peace and partake in some peace.

TROUBLE ON THE HORIZON

Mystere opens with a visually enticing scene of a man running from someone. The text tells us that he is a schizophrenic man named Charlie who has delusions he is being chased. However, the person chasing him happens to be real and puts a warhammer down on Charlie’s head. We cut to Mary Medina setting up a fake exorcism with a wealthy man. Using her ghost powers, she summons a ghost that she traps and makes a quick two thousand dollars. Through flashback panels, it shows us that Mary was born with ghost powers and her parents tried to exorcise her but somehow she accidentally killed the priest. She ran from home and met a man named Shadow but on the first kiss he was also killed. Soon she went to a school that taught her how to control her powers but ultimately retired from that life.

On the street, she sees a young homeless boy and gives him some money. She volunteers at a homeless shelter and recommends that he stop by if he needs too. At the shelter, we meet an array of different patients that have mental illnesses and convictions but they are all shown kindness by Mary and the shelter manager, Abigail. A particularly interesting man is John, a mute whose names stands for John Doe. He is the only permanent resident. After the work day, the homeless community mentions that Charlie is missing and that maybe an entity known as The Blacksmith may have gotten him. However, Abigail heads to her apartment and releases the ghost she used in her scheme. The last scene is The Blacksmith giving the soul of Charlie to an unknown man who drinks it.

THE POWER OF THE SUPERNATURAL

Mystere’s first issue is a story that has kindness at its very core. Poverty is a huge issue and often the homeless population are neglected and are on the receiving end of bad comments and abuse. Our protagonist beats poverty and homelessness. However, there is also a handful of people in this story that haven’t beaten poverty. Charlie is a person who sorely needs help due to his mental illness but he is neglected and makes him a prime target for The Blacksmith and Mary spends an inner monologue mentioning the hopelessness of homelessness. This is a prime situation to allow us to care about the protagonist because she is kind to everyone she can. While this story is clearly an issue one, the story gripped me to care about her despite not being familiar with the title.

There is also a theme about your background catching up to you. Mary has history as Mystere that she left behind. However, you can tell that she is going to have to don that persona again. This is pretty standard comic book storytelling trope but was accented by side characters having the same idea. Charlie is running from his delusions. A homeless person known as Sarah is hiding from an old pimp. Others have addictions that sometimes relapses and parole officers on their tail. This foundation foreshadows Mary becoming Mystere again but I am curious to see if she embraces it or continues to run away from it.

BOTTOM LINE: SOLID FIRST ISSUE

This story has all the things I like. Captivating art, a believable protagonist, and themes that imply a deeper meaning. I think I’ll be on the lookout for future issues of Mystere.