Madame Xanadu is a comic book mystic published by DC Comics. The character is identified with Nimue, the sorceress from Arthurian mythology made popular by Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.
The character was played by Jeryl Prescott in the television series Swamp Thing.
Publication history
Madame Xanadu debuted in Doorway to Nightmare #1 (February 1978). The character was designed by cover artist Michael William Kaluta at the request of editor Joe Orlando, based on Kaluta's unnamed host character (later known as Charity in the pages of Starman) from the DC Comics mystery title Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion (seen only on that title's indicia page) and the person of Cathy Ann Thiele. The original storyline was developed by writer David Michelinie.
Doorway to Nightmare, introduced in 1978, was the last of the DC "Mystery" line of titles in the 1970s that became the forerunner of Vertigo. It did not have a consistent creative team - the intent was to create writer-artist pairings that had never occurred before, except for the cover art of Michael William Kaluta. Madame Xanadu, the star of the series, was not a host but an active participant, albeit never the main character in her stories. The Phantom Stranger was criticized heavily in letter columns for taking a similar approach. The Doorway to Nightmare strip lasted for ten issues: five in its own series, four in The Unexpected issues #190, #192, #194 and #195, and one issue of Madame Xanadu, which was DC's second direct sales only comic. Madame Xanadu was the first DC Comics publication exclusive to the direct market but the second overall due to a Superboy Spectacular release a year earlier. As explained by Paul Levitz: "In a further effort to find new distribution, a Superboy Spectacular was produced for Random House's in-school book club program and offered to comic shops but not newsstands". The first issue of Madame Xanadu bore little difference from an issue of Doorway to Nightmare. There were several requests to reprint it in letter columns of The Spectre, but they were refused because that issue gave little background as to her character, although it did introduce Ishtar to the DC Universe, who dated Destruction.
Madame Xanadu was a regular supporting cast member in volumes 2 and 3 of The Spectre, those versions written by Doug Moench (31 issues, 1987–1989) and John Ostrander (62 issues, 1993–1998).
A Madame Xanadu ongoing series from Vertigo was announced at the 2007 San Diego Comic Con and started in 2008. It was written by Matt Wagner, with art by Amy Reeder Hadley. The series also featured art stints by Kaluta, Joëlle Jones, Marley Zarcone, Laurenn McCubbin, Chrissie Zullo, Celia Calle, and Marian Churchland. The series was concluded after 29 issues, the final one dated January 2011. The series dealt with Madame Xanadu's early life from Arthurian times until the 1960s. Starting with issue #9, the book coincided with the events of the Golden Age DC Universe.
Story structure
The Doorway to Nightmare stories were typically structured around a protagonist stumbling upon Madame Xanadu's shop (stated to be on "Christy Street" in the East Village) (changed to Greenwich Village in The Unexpected #192) and deciding to enter. She (usually) or he would tell a story of romance that was frustrated by an outside element. Xanadu, through a tarot reading, always determined this element to be of an occult nature, then sent the protagonist to do some task in which she would intervene with the use of her powers. Upon concluding the story, the occult element would wind up in a mason jar in her back room. In the first issue, she apparently became trapped in a burning building. The central couple returns to her shop for nostalgia's sake and discovers her to be quite alive. This was a hint at the extent of her powers. The primary variation in the stories was what the occult threat actually was, be it demonic forces, Asian mummies, vampires, incubi, or other supernatural threats. In one story, she fought Azazel, but he looked nothing like in The Sandman.
When the title was moved from its own series to a revamped, 68 page and ad-free version of The Unexpected (the stories were actually expanded from 17 to 22 pages with the move, part of the DC Implosion), she was shown to be friendly with Abel in the inside front covers, which may or may not have been in continuity. She never met Abel in an actual story until DC Special Series #21, when she and the Phantom Stranger arrive at the House of Mystery with Christmas presents.