Mamo #2 proves that while some witches might deserve to die, they may not always stay dead. Not for long, at least.
Sas Milledge (The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel) is the writer for Mamo #2, as she was for the previous issue. Milledge is also the artist for this comic book series, making her a veritable mangaka. In addition to that, Milledge is also the main cover artist, with Trung Lê Nguyễn responsible for the variant cover. And lastly, BOOM! Studios is responsible for publishing this comic book series under its BOOM! Box imprint.
Mamo #2 went on sale on August 11, 2021. You can purchase print copies at your local comic book store, or from BOOM! Studios‘ webstore. Or if you’re fine with the digital version, you can download copies from digital outlets like ComiXology, iBooks. Google Play, and Kindle.
Warning: spoilers for Mamo #2 below. If you want to read this tale of witch versus dead witch yourself, stop here, and come back once the haunting is over.
Mamo #2: Plot Summary
Mamo #2 picks up where the last issue left off, with Orla and Jo in the attic, trying to deal with Mamo’s ghost. Jo actually manages to save Orla with the necklace Orla gave her, and together, the 2 of them manage to contain Mamo’s ghost in a ghost trap. One that’s done, Orla then tracks the source to the house’s hearth, which leads the local hearth spirit (a cute ash salamander) to present them with…one of Mamo’s finger bones. It had been trying to bury it to contain it, but it wasn’t succeeding. Thankfully, Orla knows how to contain this SCP, by burying it at the border of Haresden.
This solves the problems of Jo’s household. It does not solve all the Haresden problems though. Turns out, someone scattered Mamo’s bones all over town when she died. Those Mamo bones are now causing havoc everywhere thanks to sympathetic magic. Thus, after a nice calming breakfast of tuyô (Filipino fried dried fish) with Jo’s family, Orla and Jo set out to fix things in Haresden.
Their first stop is the fishermen/women, who seem to have excessive net fouling problems. Turns out, they’d angered the local fae by unknowingly taking their mussels. Fortunately, all they have to do is agree not to do it, and the problem hopefully goes away after Orla speaks to said fae. The next stop is a random road where rocks mysteriously fly at people out of nowhere. Once more, it’s the fae causing it, and once more, it was initially people’s fault. Someone decided that removing a cairn the fae called home was a great idea. Fortunately, Orla and Joe help rebuild it, and the fae are content at that.
Throughout all the events of Mamo #2 though, more and more of Mamo’s personality gets revealed. We see that she was a highly controlling woman. She protected the people of Haresden from the fae, but intentionally kept them from knowing anything about the fae to hold power over them. She raised Orla, but homeschooled her and basically kept her locked up in her house to have complete control over her. It got so bad that Orla left, as we knew from the previous issue. But, at the end of this issue, Orla seems to imply that her grandmother intentionally created this fae problem they’re having out of spite against her for leaving. Is this actually the case? Well, we will just have to find out in Mamo #3 for that.
Mamo #2: The Good
Mamo #2 continues what was great about the first issue especially, in the story department. As I said before, the story is basically the love child of Kiki’s Delivery Service and The Ancient Magus’ Bride. It’s a coming-of-age story for a young girl (or girls in this case) with magic, and a dark fantasy story involving fae beings to boot. If you like either story, then this is the comic book for you.
The art of Mamo #2 also continues the tradition of being impressive. It’s pretty cool that Sas Milledge not only wrote a fabulous story, but also gave it amazing art to go with it. It’s like reading a comic book made up of watercolor paintings. The art style is aesthetically pleasing to me, and puts me in mind of the Valkyria Chronicles games. Since I’m a fan of those games, this definitely gets a thumbs-up from me.
And lastly, the yuri potential between Orla and Jo keeps building up. As a yuri fan, this gets another thumbs-up from me.
Mamo #2: The Bad
What bad? Seriously, I’m giving Mamo #2 a score of 100 for a reason here. I guess if someone presses me, I would say this particular issue probably won’t be your thing if you’re into stories with lots of action. There’s very little of it in this issue. It’s mostly focused on character exploration and worldbuilding. It feels like a breather issue to take the edge off of the supernatural horror combat from the first issue. I rather enjoy it, though your mileage may vary.
Conclusion
Mamo #2 continues the strong story and amazing art of the first issue of this comic book series. We see more of Orla and Jo’s personalities and pasts, and we even get worldbuilding for the town of Haresden as a whole. It’s also looking more and more like Orla’s grandmother is going to be the final boss. Find out if this is the case when BOOM! Studios releases Mamo #3 in September 8, 2021.
Source: BOOM! Studios
