One of the better steampunk graphic novel/comic series being published. If you are a fan of the genre, as well as a fan of mysteries and action-packed adventures, this series would be for you.

This was beautiful, though not for me. I love the aesthetic and the art a lot! And although I won't be continuing with the series, I still recommend for steampunk fans.

It's one of those rare times I'm torn between 3.5 and 4 stars. This was a pretty good read, with amazingly detailed graphics, and a perfectly set steampunk setting.
However, I was left wanting a bit more plot-wise.

This is the first installment in the Lady Mechanika series, comprised of the full 'The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse' mini-series.
The story takes place in the town Mechanika, a Victorian setting where the technology has been so advanced that people in high positions are sporting at least one mechanical body part.
Except for Lady Mechanika, who is the only human/mechanical hybrid, to escape the horrible experiments she was subjected to. Now, she has made a living out of being an adventurer and private investigator, all the while trying to find out who she really is.

All in all, this is a very interesting story, with a great protagonist, humble and serious in everything she's doing. That mystery was her first one and I'm definitely following along to the rest of her adventures. It was introductory and it felt like it, but I'm pretty sure the series' continuation will be captivating, as we get a clearer glimpse in Lady Mechanika's life and past.

The art is soooo gorgeous! Steampunk at its finest. I don't often read single issue comics,so I had been waiting for this compilation since I always saw them on the shelf.

I love this series. The story is so interesting and the art is gorgeous. This is what all steampunk comics should aspire to be.

Unfortunately I was unable to read this one prior to it being removed from Adobe Reading Editions due to a limited time frame upon downloading. I would still review the title, however, no library near me has the title. I do apologize.

It was a nice action-packed read. I liked it as it was fairly quick.

ARC from Netgalley.
This comic is breathtakingly gorgeous! Steampunk Victorian England provides the setting for this original tale that feels a little Sherlock Holmes, a little Witchblade, some Monstress, and a little Bayonetta thrown together...
Lady Mechanika is a beautiful and intelligent Victorian lady who happens to have survived a mad scientist's experiments, leaving her with mechanical arms and red eyes. She doesn't remember what happened, who did it, or even her life before that event, so she has become a private investigator so she can search for her origins while helping others.
"The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse" is a tale that begins with the investigation of a little girl who appears to have similar enhancements to 'Nika herself, though once she tries to examine the body, a man comes to claim her, stealing her away in the fog. Tracing the girl (Seraphina) to the Romani Circus, the girl's sister Arliquinn, informs 'Nika that she had ran away with a boy to join a larger circus. The master of the "circus" is not a circus at all, but is Blackpool, Mechanika's rival and an accomplished worker of mechanical enhancements. Tracking down Blackpool leads to a ride of crashing a party on an airship, meeting the man from the shadows, clamoring for info on her past, and battles with other "experiments" like herself.
Lady Mechanika grabbed me and led me along a wonderful adventure that I look forward to taking again. High recommend, especially for readers who want something bold and new.
I will definitely be looking into more work from Benitez.

Set in an alternate Victorian (circa 1879) England, this comics deals with Lady Mechanika, a private investigator/adventuress whose limbs are actually mechanical, and who’d like nothing more than to find out who made her like that and where she comes from; all the while being pitted against the sinister Blackpool Armaments Co. and both its shady employer and soldiers. In this arc, Mechanika investigates the death of a mysterious young woman with mechanical arms similar to her own, only to realise that a lot more players are involved, including Commander Winter and a circus full of characters each with their own secrets.

The drawing style itself is, in general, well-balanced and elegant, and the colours match the mood of the various panels and situations. It’s probably a little overkill on the steampunk aesthetics (in that at some point, there’s going to be a lot of leather and corsets and goggles on top hats etc.), so depending on one’s mood about that, it may not be a selling point. On the other hand, there’s a lot of attention to details, which makes it a joy to look for those in panels, and even if they’re of the, well, aesthetic persuasion in spite of usefulness, there’s plenty to keep your eyes busy. (I usually tends to like steampunk aesthetics, so count me in the second category, even though I tend to criticise lightly. ^^)

Not bonus points on the boobs, though, and some of the extreme ‘female body poses’ that I see in a lot of comics. Eye candy and all that, I get it. It’s just… it detracts from the overall badassness of the characters. (And large boobs are seriously not convenient, especially since they easily hurt during stunts. Whatever.)

The characters as a lot were likeable enough: from Mechanika herself, with her doubts but also her resourcefulness and her desire to do what’s right, to Lewis the inventor whose bottle problems hint at dark events in his past. And the little Alexandra, with her gimmick ‘you’re an impostor’atttitude, which made her quibs with Mechanika quite funny—apparently some authors in the comics write stories about M, and the kid thinks these are the truth. There seems to be a current of underlying relationships that beg to be developed in later issues, creating a sense of an over-plot that will be gradually revealed (which I sure hope will happen in later issues because if it doesn’t, I’ll be disappointed). So far I’m not too happy with the two enemy women apparently becoming enemies because of a man (as it’s a pretty boring reason), but it may still turn out to be something slightly different, so we’ll see. I could do with a little less wordiness, though—it doesn’t fare too well in some panels, making pages difficult to focus on—yet I’m also torn about that because some of that dialogue was of the banter kind, and I think this fits well with Victorian/steampunk themes in general.

Conclusion: 3.5 stars, going on 4.Quite an enjoyable comics in spite of the (typical?) eye-candy. I still liked the artwork and additional covers no matter what, as well as the story and its slight cliffhanger/ominous tones at the end.

Unfortunately unable to actually access this so have been unable to read and review. Apologies.

This was really good! I had a lot of fun reading it. I liked the artwork. I liked the story. I would definitely recommend this graphic novel to people who are fans of steampunk.

I can't tell you how awesome it is to finally read a full Lady Mechanika series!! Started in 2010 this series never got a fair publishing shot as it was infrequent and never completed. Kudos to Joe Benitez for never letting this series and character fall into oblivion.

For those who are not big comic fans let me assure you while these are comics there is a lot of story here. This set of 6 comics probably has more writing than a full 50 comic run of any other superhero comic you can think of. The art is rich and beautiful, the mystery is intricate and who doesn't love steampunk!!

If you love The Lunar Chronicles (Cinder, book 1) then I believe you will love this story (and hey sometimes pretty pictures are a great break from dense reading).
For those who already love comics Lady Mechanika deserves to stand next to other leading ladies series like Dawn, Vampirella, Withblade and more!

I highly recommend this series if you love fantasy, science fiction or steampunk , even if it's your first foray into comics, it's a solid choice.

Side note: I actually own the individual comics in this series as they are gorgeous and a variant features one of my fave artists Franchesco!

This first Volume collects together the comics of the Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse. I think I have finally found a comic that I find worth thinking a serialization is actually something to look forward to, though I still don't want to pay $3.99 per episode.

I'm cheap and comics will never be a thing for me for that exact reason. But this one almost makes cave in. Almost. Instead, I'll wait for the collected volumes at a cheaper price and one shot couch potato reading.

Lady Mechanika introduces you to some pretty standard steampunk tropes with a cyborg woman dressed in Victorian gear running around solving Holmesian crime dramas. The kicker is I actually find these escapades interesting and her surrounding cast of characters enjoyable.

The mystery is also entwined with the greater saga arching mystery of who made Lady Mechanika. Surprisingly, I actually want to stick around and found out who-dun-it.

So stereotypes abound and lead on, for now, I'm enjoying what's being created and will keep turning pages and checking weekly for the newest comic.

Utterly amazing! Characters were brilliant, plot was briliant. I can't wait to read volume 2

Lady Mechanika (Volume 1) by Joe Benitez is a graphic novel that collects the entire first Lady Mechanika mini-series The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse (originally published as Lady Mechanika #1-5), including its prequel chapter The Demon of Satan’s Alley (originally published as Lady Mechanika #0), plus a complete cover art gallery.

In a Victorian world filled with flying dirigibles, clockwork automatons, and elegantly fashionable attire, a young woman with mechanical limbs and no memory of how she got them searches desperately for the secrets to her past. The tabloids dubbed her "Lady Mechanika," the sole survivor of a mad scientist's horrific experiments which left her with mechanical limbs. Having no memory of her captivity or her former life, Lady Mechanika eventually built a new life for herself as an adventurer and private investigator, using her unique abilities to solve cases the proper authorities couldn't or wouldn't handle. This book chronicles a young woman's obsessive search for her identity as she investigates other mysteries involving science and the supernatural.

Lady Mechanika is an exciting story, with stunning artwork. I think I enjoyed the artwork, despite the constant need to make female characters well endowed without the physical limitations this creates in realist, more than the actual story. I did like the characters and the steampunk setting. All were well developed and maintained- with the text matching the art style and time period, which was nice. I liked that the text was fairly easy to read, even on the digital galley I had. However, I did find pits of the story to be a little expected, but that could because of the sheer volume of fantasy and steampunk style books and graphic novels I have read. For instance, the amnesia trope has been done, and perhaps over done in my opinion. This does not mean that the book is bad, far from it. The art is stunning and the story well written. I was just hoping for more, particularly with Mechanika's character. She was good, but I really was hoping for her to be even better.

Lady Mechanika is a story that is entertaining both visually and through the storyline. While not perfectly unique, or my favorite graphic novel of the year, it is still an enjoyable read that is worth a look.

This is why I read graphic novels!

Lady Mechanika features a kick-ass heroine, a rip-roaring story, and sumptuous art that made me linger over every page. I will definitely be adding this one to my collection and looking for more Lady Mechanika books.

Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting into this story. I was a little confused at the beginning, and the art, though beautiful, wasn't always clear enough for me to figure out what was going on. Maybe it would have helped if I were more familiar with the character of Lady Mechanika. This comic had a LOT of atmosphere going for it, though, very dark and creepy, and I can see loads of people loving the general steampunk-horror feel.

Wonderfull art, but the story is like an action movie, I love the steampunk aesthetic 'cause is so fucking great

The art is what drew me to Lady Mechanika at first. It's really colorful and nice, for me it adds a lot to the comic. Lady Mechanika herself is also an interesting characters, as she herself is trying to figure out her past as much as the reader, who at the beginning is still completely in the dark. My only complaints would be that the story was sometimes a bit hard to follow, and that I thought some pages were very dense with text for a comic book.

I admit I haven't read a great deal of Steampunk comics before, but this would definitely rank high among them. Looking forward to the next volume!

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The idea behind this series is really cool. It is a steampunk, Victorian age series featuring a heroine with mechanical arms and eyes. The premise reminds me of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

My biggest problem with this book is that it is extremely slow. There is a lot of exposition setting up the story without a lot happening. The Lady Mechanika is a strong character, but she falls into the trap of not knowing much about her past. This would be fine except we don't learn enough about her in this volume. She remains too much of a mystery for me to care about what happens to her.

The art is great though. It captures the setting perfectly. I didn't always care for Mechanika's costumes because they seemed sort of awkward. The other characters are drawn wonderfully though. And the backgrounds are detailed and imaginative.

Things pick up toward the end of the book in terms of pacing and plot. It's worth checking out for something a bit different that mixes the past and the future.