Take a trip to Radiant City. Ride in the flying cars, admire the art deco architecture, the neon billboards, the zeppelins overhead, the bars where robots hand out martinis, the train cars full of fedoras and smoke, but be careful because Central is always watching you and if you stay too long you might just catch a psychosis.

Dean Motter’s Mister X returns for his 30^th anniversary in an exciting new series. Does the second issue keep up the high quality of the first?

Here’s the official description from Dark Horse:

Visionary artist and designer Dean Motter reintroduces his classic character! When Radiant City’s government falls to a coup, Mister X’s possession of secret city plans makes him and his friends a target of the city’s new masters!   Backup story featuring Rosetta Stone!

In this issue, Central interrogates Mercedes whom they believe knows where Mister X’s city plans are stashed, while the famous trench coat architect and the news reporter Rosey investigate her abduction. Their search leads them to the seedy part of town, Echo Base, where a famous one-eyed criminal agrees to help them find her if Mister X hands over his secret plans. In the back up tale, which takes place immediately after the first story, Rosey discovers orphans with telekinetic powers.

If you’ve never read Dean Motter’s Mister X you’re in for a treat. Mr. X, is Philip Marlowe re-imagined as an architect who, instead of investigating crime, investigates architectural flaws which cause citizens of Radiant City serious forms of psychosis. Motter’s futuristic noir tale resembles a strange mix of Brazil and Dark City (it’s no wonder Motter’s designs influenced these films).

The highlight of the new miniseries is Motter’s expressionistic art. His cartoonish style looks like a combination of Chris Samnee and Darwyne Cooke. He doesn’t make the all-to-common mistake of so many CGI movies and crowd his story with too many technical marvels in order to distract the viewer from the plot. The city looks real; it looks lived in.

My major concern with this series is the backup, which in both issues so far has added little to the central story. I would prefer if the entire issue was devoted to the eviction storyline, which is far more rich and compelling

Mister X is a fabulous creation of retro-futurism, which blends film noir, German modernism, and dystopian literature seamlessly to create something totally unique. This is one of the more intriguing titles on the racks. I can’t wait to read the next issue.

4.5/5