Twin Lotuses

The sweeping English-language debut from Chinese creator Xiaoyu brings the florid, raucous spirit of Peking opera, with a touch of Frankenstein, to the comics page. In war-torn 1930s Yangtze, Western-educated scientist Fan Zhihuai toils away at the creation of a robot/puppet duplicate of his lost love, Mingfeng. He earns his keep at a streetside theater, where the artificial Mingfeng becomes a star dancer and performs so well that audiences think she’s human. But Feng’s creation attracts troublemakers, too, including a gang of foulmouthed street kids, a crime syndicate whose boss falls for the faux Mingfeng, and a cocky American soldier. The theater itself houses many more characters, with its bustling backstage of actors, musicians, acrobats, and impresarios. Soon the cast is dealing with murder and a missing head, and the plot has reached an operatic pitch even before the real Mingfeng shows up. Xiaoyu’s ink-washed black-and-white art evokes the period setting with equal parts elegance, drama, and earthy humor. He works in marvelous period details, like the vendors selling peanut candy in the theater, and the story has the scope and spirit of opera: characters recite poetry, break into song, and invoke classic Chinese folk characters like the Monkey King or Green Serpent and White Serpent. Replete with action, melodrama, music, martial arts, and even science fiction, this show entertains in high style. Readers will be transported. (Apr.)