Book 8: Madame Xanadu Vol 1: Disenchanted by Matt Wagner
Book 8: Madame Xanadu Vol 1: Disenchanted.
Author: Matt Wagner, 2009. Art by Amy Reeder.
Genre: Fantasy. Historical Fiction. DC Superheroes.
Other Details: Graphic Novel. 240 pages.
Madame Xanadu has been a character in the DC Universe since 1978 when she appeared in Doorway to Nightmare #1. In the series she was the proprietor of a fortune telling shop in Greenwich Village. After this she popped up in various series as a supporting character and a member of the Sentinels of Magic. Then in 2008 she was given her own series, which ran for 29 issues ending in 2011. Disenchanted contains Issues #1-10 and covers her origins and aspects of her history.
Originally she was Nimue Inwudu, younger sister of Morgana le Fey and the Lady of the Lake. As in Arthurian legend she is the lover of Merlin and traps him in a magical prison. After the fall of Camelot she eventually comes to the court of Kublai Khan, where she takes the name of Madame Xanadu after his fabled palace. Later in history she becomes the confidante of Marie Antoinette as political tensions begin to rise and finally in the 20th Century in the United States her story starts to interweave with the events of the Golden Age DC Universe. Throughout her life she has a number of encounters with the Phantom Stranger, another of the DC universe's paranormal characters.
I freely admit that I am not all that familiar with characters and events of the DC Universe and so wasn't aware of Madame Xanadu's role as one of the magical superheroes though did recall her appearance in The Books of Magic. What drew me to obtain this was discovering her origins as Nimue of Arthurian legend, a character I am very fond of.
I don't feel that this lack of background knowledge about the DC Universe detracted from my enjoyment of this exquisitely drawn graphic novel and I was able to do a little research about her background to fill in some gaps thanks to Wikipedia. I bought the complete set of Madame Xanadu graphic novels in 2012 and having read this I am so pleased I took the plunge then as I now can read more.
I especially liked the cameo of Death from The Endless and the collection of cover art from the comic editions. It made me want to look out The Books of Magic and other Vertigo graphic novels.