Arts & Culture Literature

GRAPHIC TRAFFIC

BLACK MAGICK, VOL. 1: AWAKENING

By Greg Rucka (Author) and Nicola Scott (Illustrator) Image Comics (Publisher)

Review by Gabriel Allandro.

Black Magick_vol 1

“Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, an it harm none do what ye will.” Portsmouth Police homicide detective Rowan Black is also, secretly, a practicing witch. And she has a problem. Something is coming for her, a powerful, evil force intent on attacking her in her dual roles of witch and detective. A hostage negotiation goes bad when the suspect dies trying to burn her alive. Worse, he was possessed, and he knew Rowan’s True Name.  As readers of Jim Butcher’s “Dresden Files” will know, Names have power. Rowan is in a special kind of danger, able to rely only on her mundane partner, Morgan, and Alex Grey, the head of her coven, for help while, on the sidelines, a third, perhaps more dangerous, force is preparing to make itself known. Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott, the creative team on DC Comics’ ongoing Wonder Woman, partner up for this creator-owned thriller. Rucka does what he does best, crafting characters so real they could stroll up beside you at Tim Hortons. Scott, of Birds of Prey fame, uses her black-and-white palette to create often photo-realistic imagery that draws you into the story, frequently leaving you breathless when she lets you go.

SECRET WARS

By Jonathan Hickman (Author) and Esad Ribic (Illustrator)

Marvel Comics (Publisher)

Review by Gabriel Allandro.

SECRET-WARS 2016 TP

Everything dies. Secret Wars (not to be confused with the 1984 Secret Wars series, or 2009’s Secret War) gives the reader a front-row seat to the death of the Marvel Universe(s). Earth’s heroes failed to stop a crisis that swept the infinite Earths of the multiverse into oblivion The Marvel Universe is dead. The Ultimate Marvel Universe is dead. Everything that was … is gone. And from the ashes of the multiverse rises a new, singular Earth, patched together from the shattered remnants of countless alternate-dimensional Earths. God, also known as Victor von Doom, rules the stitched-together planet, his unholy will enforced by the barons who rule the various territories and the Thors (yes, plural) who act as the law. Travel beyond a territory’s borders is forbidden, punishable by exile beyond the Shield, a wall separating the civilized lands from those beyond, which are infested by Marvel Zombies and Ultrons. All this is held together by Doom’s indomitable will. But survivors from the previous existence threaten the status quo. How do you topple a god … and expect to survive? Ribic’s pseudo-painted pages, which flirt with the divide between creation’s light and destruction’s shadow, lift this good work into greatness.

About the author

Jamie Moses

Jamie Moses founded Artvoice in 1990

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