Jane Wiedlin's Lady Robotika

I thought I’d take us a little out of the mainstream here with this review. As you know Analog likes to champion the underdog or talk about books that are not quite in the spotlight. Despite this my tastes are pretty mainstream and heavily weighted towards DC comics. When I found out that Jane Wiedlin was writing a comic I had my store order it no questions asked. Jane is a member of one of my all time favorite bands the Go-Go’s and an important part of my youth that will always hold a place near and dear to my heart. She along with Image comics have crafted a new comic called Lady Robotika which stars herself as an sci-fi action hero battling aliens from outer space. How does far among the Supermen that patrol the shelves of your comics’ store? Let’s she if Jane still “got the beat” after all this years.

Jane along with her co script Bill Morrison has crafted a story that centers on Jane getting kidnapped by aliens. The tone of the book is a bit campy as it should be since it involves a rock star turned intergalactic freedom fighter. There are some bad jokes along the way (like a character named E’Death) and some references to Jane’s darker side of dominatrix since her weapon of choice is an electric whip that she wields like a lightsaber. Nothing gets too naughty or risqué as the book is mostly a tribute to 1950’s B movies with aliens who have seemed to have walked right out the celluloid and onto our pages.

The artwork while being simplistic it isn’t awful either and reflects they campy tone of the book well. The first half of the book’s art is handled by Morrison with last half finished by Tone Rodriguez. I am not sure why two artists were needed to finish this book but their styles work together and I can only surmise that was necessary to get the book out on time. I will say that Jane’s appearance in the book is lovingly crafted in every detail and there isn’t a panel in the book that makes her look bad. In fact she appears to be her youthful 1980’s mid twenties self rather than her much older version of today. This is not to say she looks bad now, I caught a recent Go-Go’s concert when they were in St Louis and she was still her cute bouncy self during their set. She did admit to getting worn out a bit quicker while rocking to the audience but we hardly noticed or cared.

The plot begins with Jane trying to rescue her love interest Jasper with her trusty Miracle Whip (her version of a lightsaber) who has been taken prisoner by Mistress E’Death. Are you beginning to see what about mean about ban puns? Just as Jane prepares to fight some sexy looking Metropolis style lady robots we flashback to how Jane went from rocker to super powered galactic hero. It seems that Jane was having nightmares about being abducted by alien that seemed all too real to her. She is awakened from her bad dream by her manager that tells her she is due on stage for a concert. He tells her that they have signed a deal with a company for some new high tech gear. When she arrives on stage, she finds a new amp looks al little too much like a robot from her nightmare which freaks her out a little. The show must go on so Jane puts aside her fears and continues with her concert. She finds she connects with one particular guy in the audience that’s seems to put her at ease. Later after the concert the guy who turns out to be Jasper approaches her and basically asks her out and she agrees. Jane, if I knew it was that easy to stalk you a bit and then ask you out after concert to get a date I would have done it years ago.

Before Jane and Jasper can get to their date, they see a flying saucer and are abducted by aliens. It’s seems that Jane has fans across the cosmos as well as here on Earth. The aliens explain that their emperor is a huge fan and wants Jane to play a concert for him. It seems that the aliens have been monitoring our TV signals that fly though space for years and have adapted parts of our TV shows (like Spiderman’s web shooters and Colt 45 malt liquor) into their culture along with our music. If this plot sounds familiar to you, well it is because that it is taken from just about every other B movie you’ve seen. If Aliens are watching our TV shows, heavens know what they think of the Jersey Shore and I don’t want to think of legions of invading aliens all obsessed with Snooki and the Situation. I’m willing to overlook this rather used plot device since it involves the cute Ms Wiedlin. We all have our own obsessions. After some haggling with the aliens that she should be paid for her performance, she and Jasper retire to some sleep chambers. However upon awakening Jane finds her with a new arm made about metal and appears on the path to becoming the title’s character of Lady Robotika.

This title is campy and fun if not a little silly. There are some sexy robots, leather clad hotties, weird looking aliens and even some 1950’s cars that add to B movie flavor of the comic. While I’m not sure it will win any awards it was enough to keep my interest for the rest of series. It probably helps that Jane is beautifully illustrated in every panel. If you are a Go-Go’s fan like myself it is a must have. Fans of old Sci-Fi movies might get a kick out of it too but I’ll admit it is not for everybody. If you happen to see it on the shelf of your comic shop give it a look see or if you were intrigued by this review ask your shop if they can get it for you. Lady Robotika,  “my lips are sealed” until next issue.