I love a good graphic novel, then throw in one truly epic cover and one of the wildest descriptions I've heard in a long time... You've got me hooked!

I was wondering why I didn't get half of what's going on, I should have checked if it was first in the series or not. I honestly thought it was a standalone from the title.

Regardless of me not having read the previous volumes, I enjoyed the art style a lot. The story was good but a bit on the cliche and predictable side.

Thank you Netgalley for providing me with the digital copy for an honest review.

This comic is different. It's backgrounds are different. Colors and shades are different.
It shows supernatural powers and hence to much fuzzy and unfamiliar.
I didn't completely get the story and concept.
Added to that while being utterly used to normal artwork and drawings it was little difficult for me to like this art.
I tried to read it fast and early but stopped many times as I lost track of the story.
Hence as I couldn't understand it completely, I couldn't recommend it confidently.
May be it is in different genre than my usual comfort zone.
Try it yourself to understand the book.
Thanks netgalley and publisher for review copy.

A 5 part mini series from the author of Vagrant Queen and Calamity Cate. Doctor Mirage can talk to the dead, but suddenly they are all gone. A girl shows up and insists that the reason why the dead are silent is because Doctor Mirage is dead herself. Is she?

The story was an emotional ride. Full of ups and downs. The art is perfect for this type of story. The switch between the real world and the spirit world is immersive. The color work is also beautiful. Everything combines to create exactly the experience you want in a comic.

Creative Team
Writer Magdalene Visaggio
Artist Nick Robles
Colors Jordie Bellaire
Letters Dave Sharp

The artwork in Doctor Mirage is fantastic! The storyline starts off pretty strong and is brilliant though it ends on a completely opposite confusing and weak tone. I'd recommend this to a friend for a one time read though and 3.5 stars.

Dr. Mirage used to have a reality TV show where she and her husband would chase ghosts. Her husband, Hwen, knew magic and she could speak with ghosts. Hwen died on a case and now appears to Dr. Mirage as a ghost. That's the gist of the previous miniseries.

Dr. Mirage has now lost the ability to see ghosts including her husband. She's visited by a teenager who informs her she's in hell. What follows is a bunch of surreal, psychedelic trips through a dreamscape. It's difficult to generate much excitement for two women moving through a swirl of colors for five issues. It's a beautiful looking book though. Jordie Bellaire uses a ton of pinks and blues to stunning effect.

Some reviews listed this as a reboot but this doesn't seem to be a reboot at all as much as just a continuation of the previous 2 miniseries.

'Doctor Mirage' by Magdalene Visaggio with art by Nick Robles is a graphic novel about the paranormal detective who can see the dead, including her dead husband.

Except now she can't. Try as she might, Doctor Mirage has lost the ability to see the dead, until a young girl named Grace comes along and offers to help. Grace tells Doctor Mirage that she has been sent to help, but that they might be dead and don't actually know it. Can Doctor Mirage find out the truth, and can she restore her connection to her husband, Hwen?

I really liked this story. The art makes it really fantastic. I especially loved the use of eye-popping colors in the Deadland. This is a good character and a nice story in the series.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Valiant Entertainment, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

A great reboot of Doctor Mirage that speeds by but is a much deeper read that gets into death, the afterlife, and a bit of Egyptian gods/spirits.

There is something about Doctor Mirage that I really enjoy. She is a play on the TV psychic stereotype that claim they can speak with the dead, but Mirage can actually do it. This story picks up at a point where she has lost the ability to see/speak with the dead and she is trying to reclaim that power, so that she can reconnect with her husband who passed away a few years ago. A young woman seeks out Mirage and together the two of them go on a journey to restore Mirage's abilities.

At top of the list of things I enjoyed about this book is the art. The coloring in particular is great. I do enjoy the layout of some of the pages and the way the artist captures Mirage and the other characters. The colors do well at intensifying the story and highlighting some of the weirder aspects of what is happening. The writer seems to nail Mirage's personality. And the conflict fits the character perfectly. I would put this among the top books that Valiant has put out in the last year or two.

From Valiant Comics, Magdalene Visaggio (Author), Nick Robles (Artist). Graphic novel to be released February 25, 2020. This review is from an advanced reader copy.

In this graphic novel collecting last year's Doctor Mirage series, the good doctor has lost everything. Shan Fong used to be a paranormal investigator thanks to her ability to talk to the dead. She is aided by her late husband Hwen who is only late physically. Yet at the start of this series all of that has changed. Shan can no longer communicate with the dead, which means she has lost her husband as well. She is willing to cross any threshold necessary to regain her gift and Hwen. No form of incantation works as everything literally crashes down around her. Into all of our darkest moments a little Grace must fall, and in Shan's case that's a random teenage girl at her door. With a message from her husband. Now, in the real world no good can come from that situation but in this story Grace is offering to be Shan's guide. It turns out Grace can also communicate with the dead, and she has a message for Shan from Hwen. The two open a door to realms Shan struggles to navigate while Grace is steering more than she lets on.

The comic does what years of peer pressure never could, show me a psychedelic world. Robles takes influences from Steranko, Timothy Leary, Grant Morrison and blends it all into a palette the pages struggle to comprehend. Get the book digitally and update your settings before reading, then maybe every tiny pixel can truly support all that bleeds not from printing but from realities.

Visaggio over the course of the series made me want to be smarter. Concepts like death, connections between humans, forces stronger than comprehension; all forcing new synapse creations as I read along. This journey for love is universal. There's no shortage of stories detailing the lengths one would go to reunite with a loved one. But while the stories are universal I never previously thought of them as multi dimensional. What hope does one have against all powerful forces who see time not as seconds or minutes, but as eons?

All of these questions come to the forefront in the mysterious teenage guide, Grace. Grace is dangerously close to overtaking Shan as the star of this comic. All of her actions, a look to the side, a pause; everything she does makes me question what is going on. While the realities put life and death into question, Grace raises those same debates within the familiar form of humanity. While she is the best part of the comic, she is also the biggest problem. The Doctor Mirage character has had other adventures and there are other graphic novels collecting these series. Everything within this volume begs for a follow up. But I don't want Shan part 2 or the previous tales of her and Hwen. I want more Grace.

I would greatly recommend this title as an eye opening comic book experience. Although, it might be a better read for you with more Doctor Mirage near by. My only complaint is I felt my unfamiliarity with the lead was causing me to not enjoy the title as deeply as fans no doubt will.

(A copy of this book was provided by Net Galley for review.)

Valiant has once again given the lovely Doctor Mirage her own solo series. Honestly, I couldn’t have been more excited about this news, as she’s one of my favorite characters to come from that corner of the market (which is saying something, since I also adore Faith).
Doctor Mirage, aka Shan Fong, has always had the most unusual talent – the ability to see ghosts. Her story is more heartbreaking and endearing than most, for this gift allows her to see the ghost of her husband.
Now she’s back, but she’s dealing with a problem she never imagined possible; she can no longer see the dead. Her husband included. Now she’s on a quest, though it does not end up being the one she expected to find herself on.

Can I just say that I loved everything about this volume? Perhaps my only complaint of the series is that it ended. I would have loved to see more than five issues, but I’ll acknowledge that the story they wanted was told, so there was no need to go on.
Magdalene Visaggio took up the writing for this volume, and holy cats. I’ve always found Mirage’s tale to be emotionally compelling – kind of hard not to. But Viasaggio brought that to all-new heights.
The fluctuation between past and present was used to great effect in this volume. It kept the intrigue up, while feeding us answers. Given how badly I was craving those very answers; I couldn’t read it fast enough.
There was something very haunting and beautiful about Doctor Mirage. Though perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised, as I’ve always felt that way. I do love how they altered and progressed her character and arc, and I am looking forward to seeing what will happen next.

The artwork behind Doctor Mirage is psychedelic and brilliant. We’re talking vibrant colors and ethereal concepts come to life in a visual explosion. I’ve never seen anything quite like it, and sometimes it feels like I never will again.
Nick Robles was the leading artist for this project, and thus they deserve a lot of credit for much of the wow factor from this volume. Their artwork perfectly supported the emotions and creative writing of Visaggio in fantastic ways. I honestly don’t think that it would have been the same without them.

I’m so sad to be done with Doctor Mirage, though happy that they left a promise that we’ll be seeing her again. Granted, I have no idea what future changes she’ll be facing. Or when we’ll see her next. I’m content to accept that promise, however. All while looking forward to that moment.

Doctor Mirage used to see ghosts – including her late husband, whim she tried to resurrect – but something went very wrong. Now she’s on a journey with a pill-popping teenager. Will she break free or is a fate worse than death awaiting her?

I like Magdalene Visaggio’s writing for anchoring the trippy weirdness of her premises to emotional and existential arcs of her characters. Doctor Mirage is no different and an expedition into the land of the dead is intimately connected to the protagonist’s loss of powers and her husband. At the same time it introduces tension between her and Grace, a teenage girl who maintains that they are in hell and need to get out: Mirage is tagging along, but with her own agenda. This occasionally leads to conflict between the two characters, which with time becomes a tad repetitive, as it largely hits the same beats issue-to-issue, but at the beginning at least makes their dynamic more interesting.

It would be a spoiler to say what the purpose of the journey ultimately is, as there are a few twists and turns along the way. I will say that Visaggio never loses sight of the human element and ties the story to struggles all of us experience. The ending has interesting things to say that are uplifting, but quite different from the trite sentiments we usually hear.

As for the visuals, Nick Robles does a great job with the design, particularly of the monsters, and I am in love with the work of Jordie Bellaire, who makes the transition from ordinary world (or what passes for it) to the realms of the deat absolutely incredible. The colours in the latter are very psychedelic purples, yellows, pinks, blues, strange smears and blobs that don’t conform to the linework. It’s a fantastic effect and made the comic a joy to look at.

If you’re a fan of Visaggio’s work on Eternity Girl, you’re going to love this. If you’re into gnostic, psychedelic weirdness – you’re going to love it, too.

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What drew me into this book was the cover. It looks really cool and reminiscent to Mass Effect, so I ended up looking up what the comic was about and wanting to read it because the premise seemed cool. However, what I thought I was going to read and what I ended up reading was two very different things. I wasn't prepared for what this comic brought to the table. I thought that it was going to be more sci-fi than fantasy. The story itself is unnecessarily convoluted with an unsatisfying ending. The ending was a cliffhanger but even that was not enough for me to want to read the sequel. I wasn't invested in the characters, and in the end I wanted to finish the comic because I wanted it to end as opposed to wanting to know the ending.

The things that I did like about the comic was the art style and the colouring. I think that those are the best things the comic has to offer. It's beautifully drawn and the colours are eye catching.

I didn't really enjoy reading the comic, and I would not recommend it.

This, like so many comics these days, especially from this publisher, is a reboot. Although that's not to say it's just a reboot of a comic – it seems to want to be a reboot of an entire history of head books. The graphics of the world beyond ours are so evocative of weird psychedelically infused books of the 1960s and 1970s. Still, unlike many of those books (which never appealed to me, particularly) this is actually easy to follow – until the last two pages, that is. The thing is Valiant are notorious for dredging out life in their ancient franchises, and mashing their characters together, so it's a rare title of theirs I can actually follow without needing a mountain of back knowledge, which makes this even more remarkable. So when a young psychic woman is distraught about the loss of the ghost of her dead husband, and is goaded to go beyond to find out why, we're actually on fairly firm ground, with an understandable mythology and understandable motive. If only so much of it was not written in the style of TV studio chatter. That's about the only negative, really, however – the book has drama, a recognisable character and mood from books of old, and heck – it even has a message to close. So for the sake of argument, four stars.

Visually compelling and original. I liked this book and would recommend it for graphic novel fans and readers who want to check out this medium.

True Rating: 3.5

Likes:
-Art Style
-The Egyptian Mythology
-The present story

Dislikes:
-The time jumps
-I'm so confused with the ending

I want to thank Netgalley for giving me this graphic novel, it was a fun read. So what is the story about princess? Umm yeah I have no idea. Let me see if I can sum it up nicely with no spoilers. Shan can see the dead and has some type of magic. Her husband is dead so now she is trying to find a way to bring him back. There is an interesting side character that kind of falls off but she is super weird. The ending is a little confusing, I legit have no idea what to believe to be honest. I think Shan was on some type of show because the narrator keeps talking about moving camera and things like that. As I stated before you do get to see a little Egyptian mythology and that was pretty nice. It wasn't a lot but it was enough for me to feel like I need to look this creature up in my mythology book. Anyways it was a fun and quick read I do suggest it if you want a mind warping experience where you have no idea what is happening. I will have to continue because I need to find out what is happening.

I received a copy via NetGAlley fore review purposes.

I have to say I'm not really leaning one way or another. I enjoyed this book, but that was about it. The premise is interesting and art and character designs are really cool. they have the old comic-style vibe but with bright colours and it feels very modern. I also love the touches of the camera directions going on like as if every scene was a scene in a movie and we were privy to the director's thought. It was a very unique concept and I wonder if there's some cool overarching reason for it that might be explored in later installments.

I have no previous experiences with this character so I can't say if this a good sequel/revamp/rewrite or whatever but I do think this is something someone would really enjoy, just mot me. Because the backbones and meat are definitely there, it's not my favourite type of meat.

I gave this book, 2 out of 5 stars.

The main issue I had with this book was the plot. From the beginning to the end I was confused. Mainly, I felt as if everything happened too quickly or all at once. There still were a lot of unanswered questions by the end of the book. I can admit that the artwork style of the book was giving me the 80's & 90's cartoon vibes. Though some pages seemed dual and where lacking colors while others were full of color.

The message from the book had to be spoken within the book rather than having the reader figure it out for themselves. I loved that this was action-packed from the beginning, but I still didn't know what was going on the entire time. I didn't like how there wasn't much character development or any character backgrounds.

Overall, I think this story has really great potential to become something so powerful and meaningful it just needs more work. I would not recommend this for anyone to read.

<i><b>ARC provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review! All the following opinions are my own! </b></i>

Doctor Mirage is something of a superhero Marvel-es que story that primarily deals with grief and how it can make you go to extremes that are not good for you. The main character, Shan, is a witch and she's someone who can see through the veil. She's lost her husband and she tries to bring him back to life. One day, however, soemthing happens and the dead, whom she's so accustomed to living with, in a way, all disappear. Lost in this new, familiar yet unfamiliar world, Shan tries to reopen the portal that kept her connected to the afterlife for so long. It doesn't go as planned but a young girl shows up at her door and tells her something that tilts the world she knew on its axis.

Now, on the surface, this is the kind of story that is 100% my jam, but there was just something about this book that didn't click. The art style was fine, but not my favourite, and the characters were only sort of okay. A lot of the plot was kind of overcomplicated and pointless and I really wish there had been a more linear and straightforward story there. Of course, this is the first volume in the collection so I'm excited to see how they take this forward! It wasn't too bad, but definitely not my favourite graphic novel reading experience!

Is this what being on lsd looks like?
I'm surprised this got published. It looks like they lost the colorist by issue 5.
This is a weird story about dealing with grief and moving on.
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.