The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage

Valiant's The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage, by Jen Van Meter and Roberto de la Torre, is being developed as a television series for the CW. The comic centers on Dr. Shan Fong-Mirage, a paranormal investigator who can see and communicate with ghosts, and who co-hosted a TV show with her husband Hwen until his death sent her on a quest to find his spirit.

Valiant Comics' shared superhero universe is smaller and less familiar than those of its major rivals, but even a small shared universe can offer a lot to learn about. To help those readers looking to take the plunge into the Valiant Universe, we’ve assembled our own team of delinquents to break things down. Steve Morris knows Valiant inside out; J.A. Micheline is new to the universe. Micheline has the questions, and Morris has the answers. Last time, Steve introduced JAM to the four main story types in the Valiant Universe: political (books like Harbinger and Bloodshot), sci-fi (X-O Manowar), comedy (Quantum & Woody, Archer & Armstrong), and supernatural (Shadowman, The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage). He set JAM the task of reading the first sixteen issues of Shadowman and The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage --- and now they're back to talk about it!

Valiant's Dr. Mirage is returning with a new miniseries next month, and in the yearsince the end of the last miniseries focusing on paranormal expert and ghost-talker Shan Fong, a whole lot seems to have changed. For one thing, her deceased husband has returned to the land of the living — or at least, his spirit has. That alone changes a lot of the dynamics of her life, and it shows in the new series, The Death Defying Dr. Mirage: Second Lives. Some things haven't changed, though. Namely, the creative team of writer Jen Van Meter and artist Roberto De La Torre. In advance of the first issue's December 23 release, we spoke with Van Meter about finding Shan in a very different place in her life, the book's relationship themes, ghost research, the new series' tone shift, and much more.

Valiant Comics is well into its Valiant First initiative, a months-long event in which the company debuts a slew of #1 issues. The event ends with a bang in September, with the debut of The Death-Defying Doctor Mirage by writer Jen Van Meter and artist Roberto De La Torre. The premise of the new series is somewhat similar to The Second Life of Doctor Mirage, the 1993 series that featured the title character and his wife solving supernatural mysteries. This new version has ghostly sleuthing in it, too, but the 2014 Doctor Mirage is definitely not the same character. Dr. Shen Fong is a highly skilled professional working through some personal demons of her own. We sat down with Van Meter for a long chat about her approach to the book. Also, Nazi wizards.