The first volume in Joe Benitez's 'Lady Mechanika' series was fun but very much an introductory affair. It's there to allow us to meet Lady Mechanika herself and learn a little about her origins, at least what little she knows about that herself. She'd love to know more and I'm sure we'll get to that later in the series. There were a slew of supporting characters, both eager to assist her and eager to take her down, most of whom were joyously characterful. It's impossible to assume that none would return, so I found myself wondering which would and how.

It turns out that nobody does in this second volume, though we do meet a few family members. I described inventor Archibald C. Lewis as "the other obvious recurring character" to villain Lord Nathaniel Blackpool and, while neither appear here, Lewis's father and daughter are both pivotal characters. The former is Prof. Thomsen, who's leading an expedition into darkest Africa to seek the lost city of Enki, where the titular Tablet of Destinies is supposed to be hidden. The latter is Winifred, who's caught up in the shenanigans of this book's bad guys as leverage to get the professor to find the Tablet for them.

There's a serious story here, unlike the first book, and it's much more focused, even if we spend time in England, Germany and the vast deserts of Egypt, along with wherever this lost city can be found, which is apparently not far from the Kongo Jungle. Travel is to be expected when you set out on a grand Victorian adventure and most of it is inevitably done by airship, one glorious steampunk Saharan sand sled notwithstanding.

That story has to do with the MacGuffin of the title, which Prof. Thomsen believes is an artifact priceless in its own right, you know, one that belongs in a museum; while Mr. Strassmann, his student assistant, who's a chemist rather than an archaeologist, believes it may be the conduit to ancient alchemical secrets. The bad guys believe a heck of a lot more than that, but you will have to discover precisely what yourselves.

Talking of those bad guys, we quickly learn who they are, because they show up in the cave that the professor's team is exploring and promptly take over with threats. If you don't do what we say, says Direktor Fleisch, then we might have to do something to your granddaughter. What we don't quickly learn is what they are, which doesn't manifest until very late in the book and I will not spoil that revelation in the slightest. I'll merely point out that Herr Direktor has his secrets and so does his right hand woman, Fräulein Kralle, a blonde in an elegant burgundy ensemble.

There are a slew of other supporting characters here, the strongest of whom are female as you might expect for this series. Fräulein Kralle is one of them, but so is Akina, First Daughter of the Desert Wraiths. However tough the men might be, whether they be desert slavers or Children of the Serpent, they're soon taken down by the women. At one point Lady Mechanika and Akina leap into action because the odds are only eleven to two against them, but ten of those eleven are men, so they see them as good odds.

Once again, I can't resist wondering who might make it into another volume. I'd be surprised if Fräulein Kralle doesn't make it back at some point, but I'd like to see more of Akina, Mr. Banerji and Jabir the mysterious Rosicrucian. More than anything I'd like to see more of Winifred, who doesn't kick ass the way Lady Mechanika or Akina do, but kicks ass nonetheless. My favourite of many favourite pages is the one where she admits to being sensitive about her eidetic memory because it makes her a freak. Lady Mechanika, who spends most of the book as an action hero, spends this page explaining why Winifred should be proud of her unique talent.

But enough about the writing, which was the work of M. M. Chen rather than Joe Benitez, who created 'Lady Mechanika' and continued to guide the series. His only credit this time is for his pencil works, as he created the art this time out with Martin Montiel for Mike Garcia to colour. And, while I thoroughly enjoyed this story, far more than in the prior volume, the art is easily what makes this book shine.

It's exquisitely steampunk from the very first page, with ornate gear-encrusted framing around panels, an admirably detailed clockwork bird and deep backgrounds of darkest Africa. Then we shift to the Swiss Alps, where everything's white, including the abominable snowman that Lady Barrington and her brother, Viscount Delamere, are hunting, with Lady Mechanika as a guide. They bag it in suitably abominable fashion, prompting her to pull a gun on him to stop him from shooting its cubs. Sebastian and Viola are two characters I'd be happy to not see again.

Those ornate borders may come and go as the book runs on, but this is rich and ornate imagery throughout, not only in pivotal action scenes like Lady Mechanika leaping out of a dirigible in a steampunk jetpack, an aero-pack. It's there in every panel throughout the entire book. It's that rich. The only panel lacking in serious detail is the gorgeous double-page spread that wraps up chapter three, because Lady Mechanika and Winifred find themselves stranded in the middle of the vastness of the Sahara desert and they're inconsequential compared to the desert itself.

Other favourite panels or pages include the shift from desert to the Kongo jungle, a glimpse of the Queen of the Desert Wraiths and our first view of the Tablet of Destinies. Like you thought it might not be found? Of course it's found! I'm just not going to tell you anything else about it because you should discover that for yourselves. Combine these panels with plot details like a Rosicrucian temple that moves, a Baconian cypher and an ancient Sumerian weapon that turns desert to glass and how could this book go wrong?

Well, of course, it doesn't. It's a ride from epic start to epic finish and I adored it. It takes all the good things from book one and ratchets them up to eleven. And it takes all the bad things from book one and tosses them off the side of an airship, hopefully never to be seen again. I have an even higher expectation for volume three now, even if, if current trends continue, most of the characters I want to see won't show up in it. Let's find out next month in 'The Lost Boys of West Abbey'! ~~ Hal C F Astell

For more titles by M. M. Chen click here
For more titles by Joe Benítez click here
For more titles by Martin Montiel click here
For more titles by Mike Garcia click here