Mulan’s true mission is about to be revealed.

Creative Staff:
Story: Marc Andreyko
Art: Micah Kaneshiro

What They Say:
Though the future boasts endless technological wonders, only a very few can afford access to them. As a new virus rages through the rich and poor, threatening all of humanity, a warrior is awakened to stop the evil puppeteers behind it all! Centuries after her ancestor and namesake fought for China, a new Mulan has been chosen by the ancient Chinese immortals in a final battle for the world!

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With any number of variations on Mulan out there in the world, it’s always interesting to see more and how they’re appropriated for different causes, times and themes. The most famous for Western audiences is obviously the Disney movie, but there are a lot of powerful ones out there that have explored some solid themes and has a strong cultural identity attached to it. with Mulan: Revelations, we get a series that’s showing us a dark future ahead, but also connecting to a dark past, wrapping it up in a story of immortals, mysticism and more. And a bit of technology too. While created by Robert Alter, I was drawn to this book because of Andreyko’s scripting, which makes me curious how he’ll bring it to life in future issues. The opening installment is certainly chaotic enough to try and break through.

Though the book takes place in 2125, it does start initially in 500 BC China, where we see spirit beasts of some sort that was conflicted about their mission at the time, opting for the big picture but wanting to fight alongside others. Those others include the Mulan of this time, struggling against the enemy, but faltering against their weight. Mulan herself is saved at the last minute by the spirits and whisked away, to be thrust into her true destiny it seems. Which is what takes us to Shanghai in 2125, where Mulan has grown up as a trust fund woman, alongside her brother, but is very much connected to the world rather than aloof and above it all. The world here is facing a crisis at the moment though, where a techno retro virus is at work that’s killing or crippling a lot of lower class people with implants. That’s starting to seep through to the upper classes now and the panic is setting in.

With Mulan, we see her dealing with her brother, who burns through his allowance each month, and the way she also helps out in the free clinics with the lower classes so that they’re not quite so understaffed. Through it, we learn the basics of the social and class structures, which is interesting, but Mulan also gets to see her first case of someone with the virus. What’s (not) surprising is that her blood allows the victim to heal, at least in some places, which catches the attention of those looking to figure all of this out. That puts a big target on Mulan, who unaware at the time, is off with family that has a grander vision for her future but is realizing that the time to train and teach her properly has passed and is now too late. It’s all familiar to be sure when it comes to the structure and key aspects of it, but it’s laid out in a way that leaves you wanting to know more, with her being talked about having immortal blood and the big corporation, Sinotech, seemingly being run by masked demons of some sort.

In Summary:
Mulan: Revelations doesn’t actually reveal a lot, but it’s the first issue so that’s no surprise. What we mostly get is a lot of setup material that’s interesting, if familiar, as it presents some events of today and extrapolates them globally a hundred years from now. While I do like the general idea of it and what it presents, it’s hard to imagine that it would be this long before some of these events would play like this. That said, giving us a series taking place in China of the future, tying it to the past, and mucking around with a person like Mulan makes it interesting. There are some interesting ideas here, but I wish the 500 BC segment was brought in elsewhere and more time was focused on introducing us to the 2125 period first before establishing the connection to the past. I’m certainly intrigued and the team here has done a good jof of capturing my interest in a lot of ways, especially to see if they can actually pull it all off.

Grade: B

Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: June 24th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99