Harry Potter for Adults.. Kinda
“Ma’am would you please just fire the gun? Some of these people have homes to go to, and I worry I am coming to my senses.”
― Mark Millar – The Magic Order
STATSPaperback, 176 pagesPublished April 23rd 2019 by Image ComicsOriginal TitleThe Magic OrderISBN1534308717 (ISBN13: 9781534308718)Edition LanguageEnglishSeriesThe Magic Order #1-6
STORY SYNOPSIS
We live in a world where we’ve never seen a monster, and The Magic Order is the reason we sleep safely in our beds. Magic meets the Mob in The Magic Order, as five families of magicians — sworn to protect our world for generations — must battle an enemy who’s picking them off one by one. By day, they live among us as our neighbors, friends and co-workers, but by night they are the sorcerers, magicians and wizards that protect us from the forces of darkness…unless the darkness gets them first.
Collects THE MAGIC ORDER #1-6.
MY THOUGHTS
You have seen this expression, “Harry Potter for adults” all over the place in marketing books. I know right off the Lev Grossman’s The Magicians has certainly been marketed that way. It is a much closer approximation to the Harry Potter universe than this story is, but you get a general idea. Lots of books for adults want to capture the kind of magic that Harry Potter battling evil unbeknownst to muggles captures for kids. This is one of those books that loosely attempts at this.
The premise of the story is there are five families of magicians who protect the world. This isn’t staged magic, although some of the members of the families make their bread and butter by doing tricks. This is real magic. They use their skills to protect humanity from the dark and more nefarious arts and those who would take advantage of humanity. Good and evil families battle for power. In the middle of the battle for power is a highly dysfunctional family, The Moonstones.
Things fall apart as members of the families get assassinated one by one, till the center cannot hold. The narrative and pacing of the story are pretty flat, you know what is going to happen from the second page. However, the assassination scenes are very creative and interesting. Where this story shines is Coipel’s artwork. It is stellar. Gorgeous. It brings flat scenes up to par and makes them jump off of the page.
If you like comics with a magic bend to them, this isn’t bad.
Other Reviews of Note
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Where To Purchase
PROCUREMENT
I checked this out from the library
IF YOU LIKE THIS, READ THESE
Kickass – Mark Millar
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.
His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.
Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.
Great review, Beth! I liked this one to a point. But the artwork is stellar, totally agree!
The story is flat and predictable, but the art work is amazing. I want to go find more work by the artist to check out.
I love the added element of the artwork in graphic novels. Sometimes we can just love the art.
Yup. The story was fine, just not groundbreaking and was overshadowed by the brilliance of the artwork. That’s ok. I would own this just so I can flip through the pages.
Great review, Beth. I’ll definitely try and get my hands on a copy of this for sure. Curious to see what Mr. Millar has to offer us this time around! 😀
This was decent and even at decent Millar is a cut above most graphic novels. But may the visuals are gorgeous. I can’t wait to read what you think.
You had me at Harry Potter for Adults (although I think HP should be appreciated by all ages… everywhere 😛 ). I’ve only very recently been venturing in to the graphic novel genre and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read so far! I’m keen to give this a try 😀 Great review!
Thank you! I hope you like it. It has gorgeous graphics and an interesting story. Let me know what you think!