What if nothing surprised you? Would life be a hum-drum litany of experiences or would you feel a sense of safety? What if one day you felt that life was too safe, what would you do? “With great power comes great responsibility†is a mantra for some old-school superheroes, but it’s the 2010s now. There are some who have great and not so great powers and they’re just trying to get by. The comic book characters of today don’t always wear a costume or hide their identity. Sometimes they use what they’ve go to live the life they want. This brings us to a new (maybe old) breed of hero.
Every day she sets up her spot on a sidewalk in London and tells people what they need to know. Sometimes people ask, at other times it’s unsolicited. Though disconcerting Trine Hampstead is the go to Black chick to get your mystery solved. Paul Tobin has created a mundane world where one woman is a catalyst for finding out those things in life that you just can’t let go of. Whatever happened to that lover? Did my husband leave his responsibilities behind or was there no human way to make his way back home? What about that poor dog? Will he get his revenge on what’s been done to him?
“Mystery Girl†is the type of comic that reminds you things don’t have to be science-fiction weird to freak you out. There’s enough people out there in the world who do evil maniacal things to each other. They don’t need the benefit of tentacles or being some alien life form to be a threat. That’s also what’s strange, endearing and entertaining about this first issue. You get the sense that Trine’s in danger, but you don’t know where it’s coming from. What’s more is how she got her abilities could be considered a greater mystery. Bumping into someone then being able to decipher anyone’s question. It’s downright Hammer film scary, where there’s a sense of dastardly work being done to a character where, only a few minutes in the audience is completely invested. Essentially we care about what happens to Trine, we don’t want her abilities to end her. More importantly we want the story to continue.
Perhaps if the reader is paying attention, seeing a fearless black woman with a lip-piercing, facing a multitude of weapons on the cover should be an indicator that you’ll be in for a wild ride. She’s like Foxy Brown or Sherlock Holmes without the drug problem and the sibling angst. Here in her own comic series Trine is a mystery onto herself. Unknown origin of her abilities notwithstanding, the audience has no idea who Trine Hampstead is. Everyone who is introduced in this issue has only known her since she’s had her abilities. She was a fully grown person before, so where did she come from? And who was she before acquiring these abilities?
Maybe that is a question you don’t want solved or you do. But you won’t be able to keep yourself from reading it. Even if it’s just to find out about the white-haired guy in the trench coat.
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