Gorgeous art, great characters, and an engaging story. I wish it had been slightly longer, but I'm happy to read any Lady Mechanika story.

Received via NetGalley.

Lady Mechanika is still one of my favourite indie titles and probably one of the few I follow religiously. It has a complex main character (who doesn't fall to the issue of many female characters that it is to be flirty\cute\sweet in order to be "likeable"), a really interesting worldbuild (which I'd like to see more of, and solid plots.

This book is no different -- it's mostly a (murder) mystery that Mechanika has to figure out - this time of street urchins who go missing\get killed - while getting clues to her own past.

Don't expect to find out much about that particular mystery, as it clearly is one that it will take it's time to finish - no doubt because when it's revealed, the series will be over.

The plot is solid, and competently written, even if it lacks some of the early books surprises and world build. Still definitely worth a read.

In this volume some missing children are brought to Lady Mechanika; this coupled with some mysteries around a mechanical toy maker’s shop lead Lady Mechanika to believe that this mystery might be right in her area of specialty.

Lady Mechanika teams up with a delightful inspector to check things out. What follows is some excellent action scenes full of witty banter and steampunky goodness. We also get some scenes where Lady Mechanika has flashbacks to her forgotten past, which only deepens the mystery surrounding her origins further.

The illustration is amazing. There is so much wonderful detail in all the Victorian clothing and mechanical contraptions; I love it. The colors are rich and muted and fit the tone of the story perfectly.

Overall I loved this highly entertaining installment of the Lady Mechanika series. The story, the characters, the illustration...all of it is highly entertaining and just perfect! I would recommend to fantasy and steampunk fans alike

ARC from Netgalley.
When orphan and street children begin turning up missing and/or dead, Lady Mechanika is on the job! Teaming up with Detective Singh and Mr. Lewis, she discovers a plot of golem creation, or an experiment (with added elements of magic) that takes the spirit of one person and puts them inside a metal robotic shell.... Steampunk at its finest!
As always, the art is what excels here. The story has a great flow and I will definitely be continuing this title. If Benitez moves away from this, please put him on X-Men or Batman!
Strong recommend. I will be giving this as a recommendation to other people.

Are we close to discovering Mechanika's origins? She seems to be remembering more and more...

As always Lady Mechanika delivers in this (very) short volume. With only two comics that were in this story line, if you are looking for a quick fix this third volume is perfect.

Added Content
As someone who collects the actual comics and the trade paperbacks that hold the comic collections (so I can read stories without damaging my comics); it is very frustrating to find that a trade paperback has more content than the comics did. The usual cover spreads or pencil sketches is one thing, but to have extra content pages is something else.
I am not a fan of this as those who only afford the comics are missing out. I know Joe Benitz and team have had a lot of trouble in the past getting comics out on time and I can't help but suspect that is what happened here. It's disappointing that putting out a sub-par comic, with missing content, was deemed acceptable.

Overall
The good news is if you buy this trade paperback you are getting the 'complete' story. Like all Lady Mechanika books there is a lot of dialogue, thought bubbles and other content to actually read on the pages. And the art is only second to that of Monstress (and Monstress only barely edges it out).
This is a good point to jump off with your first Lady Mechanika story or is a good story (with some Easter eggs about Mechanika's background!) to add to an existing collection. Either way, if you're new or existing fan of this series I believe this story has some continuity content that will be important later on and is therefore a must read.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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

Beautiful artwork like in the first two collected volumes. I didn’t notice the same ‘eye-candy’ level during action scenes as in the first volumes, which is good since it makes those scenes more believable. Exception made for the illustrations at the end, these are all fine since they’re meant to depict the character posing anyway. Also, they’re beautiful. The art and colours remain as enjoyable as ever.

While there’s no resolution as to Mechanika’s past here either, we do get a few glimpses into what she has been through, thanks to her nightmares and memories. I can only hope that at some point she’ll get to find out the information she’s seeking.

This volume dealt with body transfer into what appear like a mix of golems and automata, which means that of course I got sold on that idea pretty quick. There’s a mix of dark experiments with magic and technology, action, and conundrums about what defines life, that I tend to enjoy. There’s a tall, dark and somewhat mysterious detective (Singh) that for once I felt more connection with than I usually do with that character archetype. Oh, and creepy toys, in a sense, considering the golems are doll-like and can easily be mistaken for toys.

This third instalment felt darker to me than the second one, and more interesting even though there was no trip to mysterious temples or adventures in the jungle; I guess that’s my natural preference for urban settings speaking, along with the themes explored in this ‘Lost Boys of West Abbey’ story.

The one thing I really regret is how short this volume was compared to the others. The plot deserved more.

Another great story from Lady Mechanika and her adventures, but a bit short.

In this volume, it is brought to Lady Mechanika’s attention that some children have gone missing under mysterious circumstances around the mechanical toy shop. She teams up with the Inspector to get to the bottom of the occurrences and, in between witty exchanges and action-packed situations, Lady Mechanika begins to remember her dark, forgotten past.

The story-line is very good and interesting and action-packed and the characters are as amazing as in the previous comics. The artwork is gorgeous: from the steampunk machines and setting to the Victorian style of dressing, everything brings together an incredible but very dark and dangerous world.

I usually give five stars to this collection but this time I was a bit disappointed to see how short it turned out to be since usually it’s around 120 pages and this one is around 60 pages. Maybe because I’m a fan I wanted to read a more complex story.

I’m looking forward to the next comic, hopefully with more pages than this one!

This volume of the Lady Mechanika series was, for my taste, better than the first two (which I did also enjoy). I just felt the story was better and the artwork was subtly better, or at least less cheesy and more natural (whatever natural would be for someone like Lady).

If you kinda liked the first two but was on the fence about reading more in the series I think you will be pleasantly surprised with this volume. I highly recommend it.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

The stories in the Lady Mechanika series are dark and gritty and violent, but in the most tasteful way possible. The artwork is some of the most gorgeous I've seen in any graphic novels, and I find myself just staring at the pages even after I've finished reading them. These are also great if you're looking for comics that feature female characters who are strong, intelligent, and overall just amazing.

Lady Mechanika TP Vol 03: The Lost Boys of West Abbey - Marcia Chen

It's a shame that this volume is only 60 pages where the others were more than twice as long. It is no miracle that the story can not be very complicated in such a short time span, so the case was resolved rather quickly.

I still really liked the art and the characters though, and I'm already looking forward for 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!

I have grown very fond of our cyborg heroine. She kicks ass and takes names.

I don't know what I love more about the Lady Mechanika series, the artwork or the story. This third arc in the current series continues to excel. Absolutely terrific artwork and story.

Lady Mechanika is intrigued by an article placed in the local paper about bodies found in abandoned building. When she and Mr. Lewis visits the scene, they encounter Inspector Singh. They join forces to solve the children's murders which leads them to an evil old man with a morbid fear. And Fred gets a new mechanical companion in this short adventure.

Disclaimer: I received a free ecopy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Volume 3 of Lady Mechanika combines a lot of the elements that I enjoyed from the first two books. The characters are back in London and Lady Mechanika herself seems more enmeshed in the city. There is a familiarity with some of the other characters and locations that makes it feel like a natural place for her to be. It picks up where the second volume left off and transitions nicely into the new story.

One again, the art is great. It really helps set the tone for these stories. This volume takes on the classic golem story and puts that steampunk spin on it. I love how the creators decided to implement it. This book is much shorter than the first two though. It's good because it makes the story more concise, but I'd like to see more of this world.

In The Lost Boys of West Abbey (Lady Mechanika Volume 3), Lady Mechanika is back in London with Winifred Thomsen and Archie Lewis and hears about mechanical experiments and murder in West Abbey. Of course, she takes in interest in the case and assists Inspector Singh in the investigations. Orphan boys have gone missing, and five bodies were found in an abandoned location along with mechanical toys. It seems to bring up memories for Lady Mechanika, who still doesn't know anything about her origins. It soon becomes evident that someone is experimenting with creating a golem, and Mechanika and Singh have to stop it.

As always, the art is gorgeous. It's the same Victorian era steampunk world, with a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Volume 2. (A helpful asterisk on the page mentions it's from that volume). No one seems to remark on Lady Mechanika's odd dress, or that Inspector Singh openly carries a gun strapped to his thigh. This is also a world where those with Jewish heritage aren't immediately blamed, and that Inspector Singh's half Indian ancestry isn't a barrier to his advancement in police work. I like that touch, because using a golem occurs in many stories, often because the Jewish people are being mistreated in some way. Instead, the creation of a golem here is part of a wealthy man's attempt at sidestepping death.

This is a miniseries, so there are only three parts to the story arc. This would be a good entry point to the Lady Mechanika series, especially since Volume 1 is fairly dense and Mechanika is hard to get to know. There isn't much opportunity for character growth here either, but she is far more approachable in this volume than in Volume 1.

Lady Mechanika gets better and better with each incarnation. The illustrations are sublime and the storyline is fascinating, even as it works with ideas such as PTSD.

In this Volume we collect the stories of the The Lost Boys of West Abbey. I was somewhat surprised in the length of this collection as compared to the first two volumes. It felt incredibly punctuated and short.

The adventure and intrigue were over in the blink of an eye and had little meat to the story. Though it had the typical stereotypes of Holmesian crime and steampunk, it utterly lacked the flair I had noticed in the first two volumes to poke fun at its obvious use of those stereotypes.

There just wasn't room in this overly condensed story for any of the banter and mystery. Right from the start you know exactly where this story is going and you almost want to give up from there, but then I realized it was so short I might as well carry out to the end.

I really saw the potential in the story line but was mostly left with a shake of my head at the cliche. This doesn't make me lose hope on the whole franchise, but it certainly put a damper on this experience.

I'll try again with La Dama de la Muerta this fall.

I am going to have to concede that this is a guilty pleasure read. The art is lovely - from the panel designs to the color schemes - it's 1990s digital at its finest. There is a lot of talent here and it is quite apparent when devouring the lush visuals that we have true artistry at work. But the stories are, once again, very derivative and I find this series missing the alluring fantastical aspects of steampunk - the wonder and the innocence of turn of the century London. With this volume 3, the story takes an even darker turn as we get a sub arc and then more information on the main arc of our heroine's background.

Lady Mekanika still seeks the mystery of how she became mechanically augmented. When exploring a case dealing with murdered street urchins with missing body parts, she makes a connection with a detective who has a mysterious past of his own. Together, they will work to bring justice to the 'lost boys' - orphans society will never miss and therefore have become easy targets for a madman.

The story is quite short this time - nearly half the length of the previous volumes. But I found the art and even the story to be a bit more interesting in this volume 3. The series is picking up its stride as it builds characters - from Fred to the new detective (who sports a fascinating half Indian/half British history). Frustratingly, I find the side characters so much richer and more interesting than the main; I understand she needs to be a cypher but she is also fairly one dimensional as well.

The story this time delves into Jewish mythology of golems - a subject that has spawned several interesting books recently including the best seller The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker. Because it is so topical, it feels disingenuous here. I want something new and interesting for a pivot plot point, not what's in the vogue. Steampunk has such a fascinating breadth that there is so much more to be explored and created rather than regurgitated.

Most will probably buy Lady Mechanika for the visuals and not the story. But I hope in the next volume the new side characters will breathe some life to the story, if not our main character Lady Mechanika. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

I really like this series, it is a crime-solving, kick-butt, heroine who is trying to find out about her past. Little by little, the reader learns more about Lady Mechanika as she is learning about herself. It is the common theme throughout the volumes as they main story lines diverge.

In this installment, Mechanika is brought into the fold on a case of missing and murdered boys. At the crime scene there are bodies and strange mechanical beings. Mechanika uses her city resources to help solve the case but it is bring up when might be memories for her.

I like this series a lot. I like the strong heroine, and I like the slow pace of finding out more about her. The mysterious nature lends well to the other stories that we are getting from the series. The next installment is out in September (and there is a new coloring book out at the end of the month😀)

Review Live: June 5th, 2017