The Many Deaths of Laila Starr

The title character isn’t actually the main one in the series.  No, she’s just the skin worn by Death who is informed near the beginning of the story that she’s out of a job.  Why?  It turns out that the person who has invented immortality has just been born and her services are no longer needed.  Death’s retirement package is now mortality, and she’s got a pretty good idea of what she wants to do with it.  Go down to Earth, find this newborn, kill it, and get her job back.  Sounds simple, right?

“The Many Deaths of Laila Starr” comes to us from writer Ram V and artist Filipe Andrade.  Both have been kicking around in the industry for a while, with the latter’s star on the rise due to his DC work and creator-owned projects like this.  It’s easy to see why as this story combines the whimsical appeal of humanistic gods interacting with humans that helped drive “The Sandman” with the one day as a snapshot of a life approach that “Daytripper” traded in.  It doesn’t feel beholden to either story, however, as it finds its own unique mix of the supernatural and everyday with interesting narrative conceits.  Such as having one story be narrated by a cigarette that’s about to be smoked.

It also features some very nice art from Andrade whose style has continued to evolve into a distinctly exaggerated one with its own identity.  It’s one that delivers the mundane thrills of a husband fighting Mumbai traffic to get to the hospital so his wife can give birth, along with a celestial exit interview and have them both feel like they belong in the same story.  This is to say that there’s a lot to like about “Laila Starr,” which is a shame that it doesn’t stick the landing at the end.  The ending isn’t exactly bad, just overly sentimental and simplistic in a “The real Immortality was the friends we made along the way,” approach.  I liked the story overall, and it does make me want to see what else V and Andrade can deliver if they decide to work together again.