Charismagic #1 – Review

By: Vince Hernandez (writer), Khary Randolph (artist), Emilio Lopez (colorist)

The Story: The most evil and dangerous criminal magician is about to escape, and you know what that means?  Pulped apples!

The Review: What makes for a compelling first issue, one that will keep you invested to see how the first arc goes?  Well, pretty much the same things that make compelling second, third, and all issues that come after: engaging characters, appealing art, and fresh storylines.  The only real difference is you have to hit the ground running—you don’t have the luxury to offer a weak, or even a mediocre issue; the series’ livelihood is at stake.

Charismagic #1 establishes the right tone by clearly showing it knows what it wants to be and where it’s going.  Having spoken before on the importance of setting some ground rules for magic (however tenuous and breakable they may be), I’m glad they delve into some magical physics right from the get-go.  Even better, the way magic exists in this world ties into the threat to come, so from the beginning you know what’s at stake for the characters.

The cost is a long, doom-ridden, explanatory monologue, which is an old fictional tool, but one that really drains the pacing in comics.  Hector’s rambling warning tells straight out the danger ahead, but it also feels leaden and awkward, so it doesn’t all work.  When he tries to make a point by crushing that apple, it comes off unavoidably melodramatic.  But it gets the expository stuff out of the way pretty effectively, saving future issues from having to deal with it.  It’d have been nice to see how magic works prior to shaking things up, however.

What’s nice about Zatara-analogue Hank’s conversation with alcoholic, magic-knowledgeable Hector is the dialogue flows naturally, showing the characters already have some history in place.  Hernandez gets across the subtext of their interactions so well (helped by the occasional, revealing thought bubble) that you get a good sense of their relationships without having them spelled out to you.  Even the spats between Hank and girlfriend/showgirl Alle have layers—despite their irritation, they still possess a degree of caring and empathy for each other.