REVIEW: LOLA XOXO: WASTELAND MADAM #2
STORY BY:Â Vince Hernandez
ART BY:Â Siya Oum
COVER BY:Â Siya Oum, Dawn McTeigue, Lori Hanson
PUBLISHER:Â Aspen Comics
COVER PRICE:$3.99
RELEASE DATE:Â Jun 3rd, 2015
Secrets and actions will always have repercussions, whether the repercussions are personal or affect others depends on the situations.
As the issue starts,  Lola’s actions clearly affect the group she leads. This isn’t a DC book and the death is real.  This helps tie into the world as a wasteland scenario in which this popular series is set. It’s Lola’s inaction that then cements the discord in the group. So really she can’t do wrong for doing even more wrong!
Its been a while since I last looked into Lola’s world and I am glad that I have had this second chance. My first review as at the end of a story where the action needed was to conclude proceedings, here with it being the second issue, I am able to savour the moments as they pass. And there are quite a few moments.
Writer Vince Hernandez clearly has a story to tell, putting Lola through previous and current versions of hell, allowing us to see the knowledge she has before wrapping up what should be an obvious flaw in the characters plan to become the new focus in a nice little logic bow. Hernandez also does a great job of showing Lola as she started out and how she has moved into the leader that she is now. The strength of this is that all the violence and threats to her younger self are implied. This allows Hernandez to play on our feelings for a character we have started to care about, rather than go for a more hedonistic approach, which would not have carried the same weight.
Siya Oum’s artwork is just spectacular throughout. Credited as illustrator, with no one else sharing the by line for inks and colours, shows an artist who is clearly as comfortable in Lola’s world as Hernandez. Not surprising as Oum is the creator of Lola and co-creator of Wasteland Madame with the aforementioned Hernandez. Oum’s has a style reminiscent of Art Adams, especially around faces. But that is where the comparison end. Rather than have an overly cartoons style, Oum’s characters have a stronger substance as if challenging the world they inhabit to knock them down. The colours in the book are equally fantastic, catering to every environment, bleeding every emotion.
If you are looking for a different type of post apocalyptic world and are tired of zombies running amok, give this book a try. Here, it Mau not be monsters that give you cause for concern, but humans instead.
Author Profile
- I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow
Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network
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