Madame Xanadu

Madame Xanadu Vol 1 Disenchanted (2009) Matt Wagner, Amy Reeder Handley, Richard Friend

First things first, I am not a regular comic reader. The first comic series I ever read was Sandman, and since then I’ve been reading a handful of titles, almost exclusively Dark Horse and Vertigo, simply because those are the titles that have drawn my interest. So this is the first I have come across Madame Xanadu. From other reviews I have read, this means I missed several references throughout the story to Marvel universe characters with whom I am not familiar, but that’s okay, because even missing those bits Madame Xanadu was thoroughly enjoyable.

The story starts with Nimue and the fall of Camelot. From there, we follow Nimue/Madame Xanadu forward in time from the court of Kubla Khan to Revolutionary Paris to American before the outbreak of World War II.

I have to admit that I am particularly fond of her incarnation as Nimue. As a fan of Mists of Avalon, I like seeing the women of Camelot rehabilitated (although we don’t see Morgana in a good light here). We also get to a quick visit from Death, and it’s hard not to enjoy spending time with her, not matter how short the visit.

One of the things I particularly like is the fact that the women were drawn realistically. Now Vertigo and Dark Horse are usually pretty good about female characters (at least the series I’ve been reading) but as I recently read a comic where this wasn’t sure, I wanted to point it out. Of course, a forest spirit with huge breasts would be ridiculous, but that doesn’t seem to stop some artists.

I definitely recommend Madame Xanadu and am looking forward to the next volume in the series.
Rating: 8/10

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