The Da Vinci Code meets Tomb Raider as a sacred lineage of women starting with Mary Magdalene are empowered with the Spear of Destiny and special powers they use to protect the integrity and sanctity of the Catholic Church. This trade paperback collection delivers the stories that have made the Magdalena a flagship character fo the Top Cow Universe.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cool artwork, dorky dialogue, stupid costume, tough Superheroine--Not for those Sensitive to Anti-Church Storylines,
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This review is from: Magdalena Volume 1 (Paperback)
I wanted to like this a lot more than I ultimately did. I mean: A kick-butt heroine, religious elements, fantasy elements, good vs. evil, global goings-on, yadda yadda. Stuff that appeals to me.
I gave it four stars cause the artwork, which I really enjoyed, and for the fact that some parts of the stories moved well. But... ...really, it's so hard to get past the two weak points: instances of genuinely awful dialogue and the ridiculous, sex-object costume of the Magdalena. My brain can suspend all sorts of disbelief. :) I have read SF since the seventies, and I can really just swallow all sorts of nonsense in the quest for diversion and escapist fun. But I could not get past this costume. She's a fricken NUN. A NUN. And she goes from a habit to a Dominatrix get-up posthaste? Puhlease. And the dialogue. Yes, I understand it's an effort at formality. But the stiltedness is just unbearable in places. However, I'm assuming the audience has been/will be mostly male for this recurring character's adventures (assorted woman, all a Magdalena in each one's turn), so the skimpy outfit must be fodder for their particular fantasies. Does nothing for me or my ovaries. Maybe if they had put Kristof in a superhero-speedo thingie. Okay, maybe not. Despair not ladies, you do get The Darkness showing up here in one storyline, and he's decidedly macho and hot and the artwork on him is fabulous. Ah, the flowing black hair of the he-man bad boy in all his hellish glory. Works. Now, the stories in this collection: First--The Darkness/Spear of Destiny: I really loved the visuals here. The Magdalena does in Hitler and some henchmen and gets back the Spear of Destiny. We fast forward to her in her coffin (we learn of how she died in a story later on in this volume) and get to see another Magdalena be recruited to fight The Darkness. (Oh, we know this won't go well.) The artist did an amazing job with the fight scenes and with the hilarious impy/devilish things that ride along with/are created by Estacado (The Darkness). Except for an unnecessary--and dramatically redundant religious cheap shot in a secondary storyline within a tale already loaded and ready to offend Catholics and various other Christians as is--I was enjoying this. That little extra "jab it to the religious" bit felt totally superfluous and mean. The Magdalena Vol 1: Another bit of dramatic imbalance here--priests bad, cardinal bad, church bad, people having sex-n-blood orgies... GOOD!--sort of makes one shake one's head. But hey, okay, so the Church is gonna come out bad no matter what here. The Magdalena is more pawn than powerful in this vampire milieu tale, but it's enjoyable, and just makes us feel a bit sorrier for the trusting women on whom this mighty mantle is thrust. The Magdalena/Angelus: This takes us into female-to-female, daughter-mother conflict territory, and all the main ladies have generous bosoms flattered by a state of underdress. (Another one for the boys.) The Angelus is rather spectacular, with her paganish horns and angelic wings and golden glow. The antithesis to The Darkness. She be cool. The dramatic twist at the end is appropriate--both as a sort of poetic justice and the ultimate apron-string cutting. The Magdalena Vol 2: This Magdalena is from a Canadian nunnery, ends up in NYC with a homeless pal, and gets a mentor named Kristof, who is a knight in an ancient order. Celtic stuff shows up, even Wicker Men contraptions (okay, that's kinda silly-cool), and an ancient dark God arises (Lovecraftian elements afoot). Does the Magdalena have the faith to defeat the Big Bad? A movie based on this story of this Magdalena (Patience) is in the works, with Hellboy II's Luke Goss (Prince Nuada) cast as Kristof and Jenna Dewan as Patience. I hope they get someone to seriously tweak the dialogue for the screenplay and add depth to the characters. Also, an upgrade in the costume to sexy and tough rather than streetwalkerish SCA would be nice. Unless you're sensitive about having the RC Church, priests, cardinals, etc, made fun of and Christianity played with, you might enjoy the outlandish battles and feminine badassness of The Magdalenas. You'll surely get pleasure from some of the visual yumminess.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great art, decent story, good enough collection.,
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This review is from: Magdalena Volume 1 (Paperback)
I'm enough of a fan of Top Cow and this volume's contributors that I picked this volume up, and was happy enough that I did. This particular collection includes "The Spear of Destiny" story arc from The Darkness (Magdalena's first appearance), along with "The Blood Divine" (the first volume of original Magdalena-centered material), a Magdalena/Angelus one-shot, and a four-issue Magdalena, v2 story arc. The initial appeal for me was the visual aesthetic, and after reading it, that remains my favorite aspect of the work. Nonetheless, I found the art in the Blood Divine to be a little too fan servicey; granted, I don't expect realistic female body images from any comic book, but there were definitely panels where Mag's midsection was disturbingly thin. While I'm on the subject, my other critiques of this volume are that the Mag/Angelus one-shot was utterly pointless (even if you follow The Darkness), and that the dialogue was often campy. On the upside, I found the second story arc, Magdalena vol 2 fairly satisfying. The artwork was better, and although the story was not terribly original, it made for a better read than Blood Divine. Further, Mag finally broke away from the Catholic Church a little bit (I was beginning to wonder if any criticism of the institution would ever be made, or if she was just a total tool), and the spiritual insights she gains in slaying the story's beastie were universal enough that I felt a little more justified in spending my time reading this volume.
In total, if you're going to pick up one of the Magdalena trades, it might as well be this one. It includes the lackluster Blood Divine as well as several other appearances. The volume 2 material was my personal favorite. Nothing about this volume blew my mind, though I'd say the artwork actually justifies a 4-star rating, while the rest falls a bit short. A good pickup for collectors or fans of this character; might as well have it all in one place.
5.0 out of 5 stars
great read,
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This review is from: Magdalena Volume 1 (Paperback)
I have owned this for well over a year now, and am just reviewing it, but it is still great. If you like witchblade or darkness, then you should buy this for the extra story line. If you have no clue what those are, then you should buy this for a great new story. I do not know how catholics and christans rate this book, but i should mention that i am very opened minded and see this as just entertainment. This story is slightly based around a different view of creation than some might have. If you are the type that can't enjoy that, please do not read this story. It is great and creative.
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