Death-Defying Doctor Mirage is a comic-book series written by Jen Van Meter and drawn by Roberto de la Torre, and published by Valiant Comics. It is an update of Valiant's classic series The Second Life of Doctor Mirage.
Widowed Dr. Shan Fong-Mirage lives a solitary existence in the house she and her late husband Hwen bought before his untimely death, only venturing out for the occasional paranormal-investigation job in order to keep up with her considerable mortgage payments. Then, while consulting for a wealthy client who claims to have just stumbled on a curse while serving in Cambodia, Shan learns that she may be able to bring her husband back. The price, however, is steep, and the path is dangerous.
In 2019, the series was relaunched as Doctor Mirage, with a new creative team consisting of Magdalene Visaggio and Nick Robles. Shan was also a lead character in the miniseries Faith: Dreamside, which teamed her up with Faith and Animalia.
In 2018, it was announced
that a TV series based on the character was in development with The CW, though not much has been heard since.
This series contains examples of:
- Affirmative-Action Legacy: Subverted; though Shan has technically taken over her late husband's business, she is less than enthusiastic about using his old stage name, only agreeing to be called "Mirage" because it has name-brand recognition in her line of work.
- Deal with the Devil: In order to get Ivros off of her ass, Shan locks herself in the cage in Mercy Square, which can only be opened by someone else taking her place, at which point she will owe that person a favor. Ivros, seeking to get at her, opens the cage and gets trapped in there himself. Shan is freed, but now owes Ivros a favor for releasing her.
- Death by Origin Story:
- Dr. Hwen Mirage died sometime before the series began, fueling the plot, as his widow is stuck doing paranormal investigations to pay off the mortgage.
- Meredith, one of the ghosts who guides Shan through the afterlife, died in an accident years earlier. She helps Shan because Shan helped her widow Carla deal with her grief.
- Eldritch Abomination: Hwen is being held captive by the Pale Mistress, a monstrous entity that keeps shifting between forms, some of which look mostly-human and other which resemble things found deep under the ocean.
- Ghostapo: Operation Sockeye was a top-secret program by the US Army to track down and recruit surviving Nazi occultists before they could be acquired by the Soviets.
- Lost Lenore: Shan has become a borderline-recluse since her husband's death. If she didn't have a mortgage to pay off, she would spend all her time holed up in her house.
- Older Than They Look: Linton March is at least 30 years older than he looks.
- Power Incontinence: Before becoming trained in her powers, Shan was constantly being harassed by the spirits of the dead.
- Trapped on the Astral Plane: The original Doctor Mirage, Hwen, has been trapped in the Deadlands for over four years after misplacing an artifact that belonged to one of the Deadlands' more powerful locals. The first arc involves his wife Shan making a journey to find him and bring him home.
