The magic order
Families At War
released OUT NOW! Publisher Image Comics Writer Mark Millar Artist Olivier Coipel
issues 1-3 The first issue of The Magic Order opens with a child being enchanted to kill his father; the second with an aborted foetus escaping from its mother’s womb; the third with someone using magic to perv on a couple having sex – clearly Mark Millar has lost none of his desire to push buttons. Still, the first post-Netflix-buyout title from the Millarworld imprint is a fun family drama with a supernatural twist.
The Order has been around for a long time. A group of wizard families, they protect the world from magical threats, but now someone is bumping them off in spectacular fashion. The surviving members of the Order know who’s responsible – the bitter (and, honestly, kinda annoying) Madame Albany – but those best posed to defeat her are in a state of disarray. Hope seems to lie with Gabriel Moonstone, but he left magic behind after the death of his daughter. Now Albany and an assassin are coming for him...
This is, effectively, a superhero family book in goth clothing, with a cast of powered eccentrics battling it out in the present day. But though the plot is a shade over-familiar, Olivier Coipel’s art and Dave Stewart’s murky colour palette bring weight to the proceedings. They conjure a world of long shadows, dripping with menace and a touch of noir. And while it feels a little Millar-bynumbers, he spices things up with some memorably grizzly set-pieces (transforming the aforementioned voyeur into a melting candle, for one) and a dark sense of humour. Will Salmon
Effectively a superhero family book in goth clothing
The first issue hit a near 20-year record for pre-orders. Only a matter of time before the Netflix show, then...