Punk Mambo #0

by Peter Milligan, Robert Gill & Jose Villarrubia

Valiant has been consistently delivering diverse and entertaining comic series lately. Being able to handle such a wide array of series while still taking place in a shared universe is no easy task. So anytime they release a new series, it’s worth checking out just to see how they expand the Valiant Universe. This week they debut Punk Mambo with a zero issue showing Mambo’s origin.

Punk Mambo is a girl who grew up in the UK punk scene and ended up gaining dark voodoo magic. She now resides deep in the Louisiana bayou, which is also in close quarters to Shadowman. Peter Milligan does a great job of introducing the reader to Punk Mambo and getting her basic back-story in one fulfilling chunk. The story has a heavy dark tone but there quite a few tongue-in-cheek moments that lighten the story. Reading as Victoria goes from boarding school student, to gutter punk, to hexed slave and finally as the voodoo priestess known as Punk Mambo made for a great read.

As far as how Punk Mambo looked, Robert Gill made one fantastic looking issue. There were so many striking panels in this issue alone. One stand-out page towards the beginning of the story where Victoria is tripping off bone glue and speaking with Sid Vicious looked remarkable. This is also thanks to Jose Villarrubia’s stunning color palette. He still managed to keep the dark tones reflected in the story while still injecting some bright fun colors into Punk Mambo. Great art team, they really helped make this zero issue be so impactful and successful.

This was an excellent example of how to use the idea of a zero issue to introduce a character to readers. Specifically when you are dealing with a shared universe like Valiant has, it’s imperative to bring fresh ideas. Punk Mambo feels like an terrific addition into the Valiant Universe and will be a great character for readers to enjoy.