I'm a big fan of genre-blending tales - post-apocalyptic samurai stories, cartoon detective yarns, sci-fi kung-fu... chances are if you've got a hybrid theory (as long as its not Linkin Park), I'll be glad to entertain far between; as things with a twist in them usually end up breaking the story's neck between crushingly obvious plot points.

Which was why at first I didn't expect too much from the Joe Kelly/Chris Bachalo Cliffhanger title Steampunk. Cliffhanger - for the uninitiated - was an affiliate of DC Comics comprised of various bleeding edge artists: Humberto Ramos (Crimson), J. Scott Campbell (Danger Girl)and Joe "Done When I Feel Like It" Madureira (Battle Chasers). While the books to some seemed like the graphic novel equivalent of supermodels, they sold like mad hotcakes; that is, when schedule conflicts didn't cause stock to be out for months at a time.

Daze of Future Past
Among such company, Steampunk could have easily been written off as another high concept in a mediocre medium in that regard. In fact, in black and white, the story is the standard sci-fi fare -- To save his beloved Fiona, peasant Cole Blaquesmith agreed to be the guinea pig for Dr. Mortimer Absinthe's newest creation - a time machine. The not-so-good doctor, upon Cole's return from the future of 1950, gave him the shaft instead of medical treatment for his girlfriend, and proceeded to use his knowledge of the future to twist Victorian-Era England, and soon, the world, to his own designs. Thus, our protagonist awakes a century later, in a mechanical coffin six feet deep minus his sweetheart, his right arm, and most of his memory. What he does have is a replacement metal arm the size of a steel bodybag powered by a steam furnace where should lie a heart, and more mysteries to solve than the Scooby-Doo lost episode "The Case of Which Way Velma Swings".

Industrial Strength
A stale tale to be sure... that is, if Bachalo's insanely detailed pseudomanga-style art didn't flow so well with Joe Kelly's fable of a 17th century fisherman turned 19th century revolutionary. The story refuses to pander or navel-gaze, weaving along the pages in its own format, shifting along the timeline from past-to-present day, forcing multiple rereads -- as most good things are wont to do. And the characters that inhabit the pages are more than just neat designs: Queen Victoria as a 19-year-old mercenary? Check. A colony of former slaves living in Stonehenge? Check. Cyborgs and beastmen and mecha (oh my)? Triple check, and don't forget the cockney accents for each.

Cole Blaquesmith himself is a balance of enigma and willful personality, discovering the warped world of the Industrial Revolution along with the reader while hunting for the lost time machine to undo the madness and reclaim his lost love. My personal favorite character, the tagalong revolutionary Laslo, is a beatnik brawler with the coolest scarf in comics. Absinthe himself is a villain to the hilt and loving it - think the Joker with Marilyn Manson's stylist and an empire of ne'er-do-wells to command.

And then there's Faust.

What can I say about a comic book villain with his own theme? An invulnerable killer, Absinthe's right-hand and personal assassin actually has his own music (written notes and measures) that he plays on a flute made of spinal cord that kills animals when they hear it. That's right, even this man's hobby KILLS THINGS. Thus, when Faust focuses on our cybernetic Rip Van Winkle, best believe there's going to be some gratuitous violence trademark of the comic medium. Mmm.

Final Analysis
My chief gripe lies with the book's production: already on a six-issue-a-year-schedule, Kelly and Bachalo have decided to follow the example of Joe Madureira and leave both book and readers in limbo until such time as they feel like restarting the title. Which is rather good news; anyone who decides to jump on can do so with relative ease by picking up the Steampunk: Manimatron Trade Paperback, or scouring auction sites for back issues. I suppose it's poetically fitting: with Steampunk, everything old is new again.