Mantra Mondays: Mantra #4

Mantra #4

     Last Monday we had my first missing issue.  So when we open this issue and find Mantra in a submissive kneel before Boneyard we have no clue as to how she got there.  What we do find out is that Boneyard plans to marry and impregnate Mantra so he can then kill and drain the magic energy from their children.  You can just imagine how Lucasz felt about that little nugget of information.  The whiny warrior acts out of desperation and actually knocks Boneyard off-balance.  The arrogant mouth on Lucasz might be his/her undoing as Notch once again ponders how Mantra knows his name.

     So, there is an escape and a brief look at Boneyard's dimension.  There is a scene in a bar where Lucasz is mistaken for a prostitute, then a slave to be auctioned off, and then a runaway slave.  When the two people show up and get Mantra out of the situation she just goes along.  The two are the brother and sister exiled rulers of the realm, Jolon and Nirita.  Lucasz should not drink, it causes trouble.  Soon Mantra is trying to keep from getting killed and accidentally shows Boneyard where she is.  Thanks to Notch, Boneyard begins calling the names of Archimage's warriors.  Just like that Mantra is powerless and taken to become a bride.


     The three wives of Boneyard have dressed Lucasz up, or down as the case may be, for the wedding.  They give Mantra a knife to kill herself if she has the strength instead of being treated to Boneyard's "tender" mercies.  While this happens the character Warstrike appears and is looking to rescue Mantra.  Ironic since it was his killing Lucasz that created Mantra.

     Needless to say, they do get out.  Mantra is forced to uncover her true magical power and become herself in full.  That is funny since Lucasz is so adverse to just what Mantra is becoming and his own dealing with being trpped in a female body.  This is a great action oriented story that has a great deal of foreshadowing for the future issues.  Probably one of the better early issues in fact.


     Lucasz remains a whiny warrior, but at least Mantra has grown as a character. There are many things that I see as missed oppurtunities here in this book.  So many things that could have added to the story and really brought some balance to the book are overlooked.  Why stick a centuries old warrior in the body of a woman and really not explore all that entails.  It is almost like the idea was just a gimmick and never seen as anything more.  Part of me wonders if I could rewrite this comic and do it differently.  It is something to consider.


BDS