Magic #3

Magic #3

BOOM! Studios 2021

Written by Jed MacKay

Illustrated by IG Guara

Coloured by Arianna Consonni

Lettered by Ed Dukeshire

* When their investigation into the role of one of Ravnica's biggest Guilds in the assassination attempts on their lives lead Planeswalkers Kaya, Ral, and Vraska deep into the Undercity, they will need to succeed in the impossible -- uncover the location of Duskmantle, the Dimir guildhall, and survive to tell the tale!

* Meanwhile, the assassin is amassing guild members to betray their own Guilds, even as their true motivations remain a mystery...

I am totally into this series and while I’ve been a fan of pretty much all the books in this genre I am really impressed by what Jed is doing with this title. This is perfect for fans of sword & sorcery epics, for those who actually play magic as well as those whole RPG around the table with friends. Also I adore the fact that you never had to have played Magic to enjoy this series which means it’s completely new reader friendly. I’ve tried my hand at Magic but I’m far from knowledgeable and this makes me feel like I don’t have to be.

I am really enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceedingly well. The character development we see through the dialogue, the character interaction and how they act and react to the situations and circumstances that they encounter continue to flesh these characters into people we know. Yes as a matter of fact I do know a Vraska personality. The pacing that we see is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the twists & turns along the way as well as more and more of the story keeps glued to the page.

How we see this being structured and how the layers within the story continue to grow, evolve and strengthen while new ones emerge is phenomenal to see. I love how the layers contain these interesting bits of information that may or may not give the main arc more depth but they certainly add more complexity to the book overall. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is achieved exceeding well.

I am loving the interiors here, yes I’d like Vraska to be more menacing but i’ll live. Still the linework is fantastic and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail work that we see is extremely well rendered. I do like how we see faces and facial expressions plus the body language further the characterisation beautifully. I wouldn’t mind seeing more backgrounds being utilised but that’s just a preference as this world is so rife for exploration. We do get some great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope for the story nonetheless. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work that we see is absolutely brilliant. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a mastery of colour. From the gradation and colour blocking being used in the same imagery is stunning.

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That this is a mystery set in a fantasy book is being brilliantly handled. I’ve only seen this done one other place and I really appreciate that this setting itself apart from the pack in such a spectacular manner. With smart and intelligent writing, witty characters and some tremendous interiors this in a league all its own.