Mantra Mondays: Mantra #1

Mantra #1

            A war that spans centuries is the way we get introduced to Lukasz.  He is doing what seems to be the way of things down through the ages; he is destroying the life of the man he has supplanted.  All in the service of Archimage and his battle with Boneyard.  We see others that are part of this war as a Magic Shop becomes a battle ground and a strange mask the prize.  Lukasz dies and is reborn and the first issue of Mantra is rolling along.

            Mantra was one of the comicbook titles presented by the early nineteen nineties company Malibu Comics.  It was a part of what was called the Ultraverse.  Ultras were the name given this fictional worlds beings of power.  This book would have a twist to it that has remained unique in many ways for a mainstream title.  I never bought any of these books back in the day.  I was sadly in my “only Marvel” phase of reading.  I would see the book and others of the Ultraverse line on the shelves.  I did watch the cartoon that came on the USA Network back then.  Malibu would be bought by Marvel Comics and soon the entire line folded.  As I was looking for new books to seek complete runs of as I went to flea markets and other places I might find some buys, I choose Mantra to be a title I would seek out.

            Back to the story.  After he dies, Lukasz finds himself in the body of a man named Carl.  Once again he destroys the life of this person he takes over.  A woman named Eden Blake is highly upset as she was thinking she had successfully reunited Carl and his wife.  What follows is a total act of betrayal that has the Archimage captured by Boneyard and the soldiers he commanded slaughtered, Lukasz dying once again.  This is where things get really different.  It seems Lukasz will be reborn one more time.

            He wakes up in bed with a man.  As he sits up he sees a mirror across the room and his reflection.  He is now a woman, Eden Blake to be exact.  The shock of being naked in bed with a guy is just one of many new experiences for this man who is now female.  The rest leads us to some mysterious possible powers and a skin tight costume of barely there armor and a wicked hooded cape.

            For once the skin shown is not just about selling a comic with a sexy babe, but a nice plot device.  Lukasz is now a woman that gets attention and that is the last thing he desires.  It will become funny, but I must admit, Lukasz is a big whiner in many ways.

            While I do not yet have all the issues, I have enough to give a go at doing a weekly (I hope) look at this comicbook.  Hopefully you will enjoy these little looks at the comicbook Mantra.

BDS