Taste the power of my wand! – review of the comic book “The Magic Order. Brotherhood of Magicians “

Netflix will make a series based on Mark Millar’s comic book The Magic Order. What is it about this story that makes it a decision to adapt it?

Bloody, magical skirmishes

The story begins with a murder. Here an unknown sorcerer takes control of a young child and forces him to kill his own father by piercing his throat with a kitchen knife. Brutal and bloody? It will not be otherwise, because the plot is focused around the killer. It is he who eliminates the mages in turn, and they must finally take some action to save the Brotherhood from extinction. I would like to emphasize right away that the description on the cover that the ancient enemy of the magician family used gangster practices is an excessive abuse. With that wording, I would expect shootings, and magicians, in addition to using spells, will be equally eager to pull out the pepesha. The vision is undoubtedly interesting, but in the Brotherhood of Magicians everyone uses only wands. Despite this distortion, their magic tricks can delight.

Cordelia, Gabriel, Regan and Leonard Moonstones

A lot of characters appear on the pages of the comic. We have a dozen good heroes, and quite a few bad ones as well. Nevertheless, most of them are simply lost and there is no opportunity to give even a few interesting lines. It is enough to look at the librarian Edith, who appears on the cover of the second notebook, and is basically just a background. It is a pity that we are not allowed to get to know all the members of the Brotherhood better. For Cordelia and her brother Gabriel undoubtedly play the leading role. This can be seen if only because we learn about their past, and moreover, they have the greatest influence on the plot and have incredible magical potential.

I especially like Cordelia, an escape master who can make a lot of trouble. What is extraordinary, her magical talent manifested itself even before her birth. However, that much good can not be said about the antagonists, because although Albany is distinguished by its appearance (her mask reminds me of Griffith from Berserk , but it does not even reach his heels!), She is basically just a clichéd anti-heroine. Another advantage is Leonard (head of the Moonstone family), who works as an illusionist, so he throws hackneyed texts such as: “every magician has an ace up his sleeve.”

The charming home of the Moonstone family

The graphic design is very good. The author is skilfully able to depict the feelings on the characters’ faces, for example, when Cordelia puffs up, it looks simply cute. The macabre moments are equally beautiful, as are the various freaks, which, unfortunately, do not take much part in the presented story. However, not all shots are so refined and sometimes the characters’ faces look a bit caricatured, and sometimes the background is missing.

As for the release, I can mainly fault the lack of consistency. On The Magic Order. The Brotherhood of Magicians consists of six notebooks. Unfortunately, chapters one, two, three and six have been separated from the previous ones by a cover consisting of two pages, and in the case of the remaining parts, we only have one page. In addition, what is on the cover of the third issue is in my opinion inappropriate to the content, the more so as at the end of the volume there is an alternative version of the cover, which looks much better.

Is it worth joining the Brotherhood of Magicians?

Simplifying the plot, it can be said that this comic book is such a shorter, less complex and more brutal Harry Potter . We have wands, magical reality is intertwined with the real world, and there are two sides to the conflict. Of course, the differences can be seen in the details, but if someone wants to taste the magic, I think you will not be disappointed while reading it. The plot is full of twists and turns, the characters look decent, and some – like Cordelia – even brilliant, and the fast pace of the action makes it impossible to tear yourself away from the comic. It is worth getting to know the Brotherhood of Magicians , although I regret that these six notebooks did not contain more details about this world.