“…he was easy pickings for the things that lurk and wait for these moments…”
Keep reading for a review of The Magic Order 4, issue #3.
Warning, some spoilers below.
The issue this week is bookended with images of Cordelia and Francis inside a prison wagon as they’re being hauled to the arena in the strange world they’re….hang on let me back up.
Two issues ago Sammy Liu, in order to save them from Madame Albany, blasted them to this magic world where Cordelia’s brother had been exiled to when he was…no, wait, gotta start further back.
Years ago the Magic Order defeated an insanely powerful (and just plain insane) magician, but in order to imprison him they had to agree to give their son (Cordelia’s brother) to the people of this magic world, and never see him again. Then they imprisoned the insane magician in a painting, wiping his memory and turning him into the sweet (and clearly dangerous) Uncle Edgar we’ve known since volume one.
And how did the insane magician turn insane? We’ve gotta go all the way back to the 1950s to learn that, which is exactly what this issue does.
After three and a half volumes we get the full story of Uncle Edgar, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint. I don’t want to give away too much, but combine psychopathic parents with a huge sense of entitlement and rage, add a little literary escapism and bad luck, and with a little magic meddling you’ve got a perfect fantasy villain who decides to destroy two worlds for the price of one, because why the heck not.
That’s where the Magic Order comes in, who’s leader gave up his son, who’s sister is now the leader of the Order, and has just been blasted into this world, which jeopardizes the whole treaty that stopped a few billion people from being murdered.
Needless to say this issue had a lot of exposition, but the story was so interesting I didn’t mind at all. And many of the pages had little to no text at all, so it’s not as word-heavy as you might think. It’s a little convenient that the perfect person to explain all this happened to be in the prison cart with Cordelia, but I’m guessing that wasn’t a coincidence.
Meanwhile Edgar himself is having a little temper tantrum (the confusion spell seems to be completely worn off by now) and Madame Albany is unimpressed, and seems to be heading out to her day job. A very specific day job that seems like another coincidence. Again, I don’t want to spoil it, but I’m starting to wonder exactly how old Albany is, and what she’d been up to before the events of volume one. If what I think happened actually happened, I’m seriously impressed.
As for the art, Dike Ruan’s lines with Giovanna Niro’s colors continue to be very solid. The expressions are perfect, and I love the jewel tones on all the pages. The images are always interesting, whether they’re peaceful like a cityscape or a quiet bookstore, or shocking like the body in the closet. I find more details in the panels every time I look at them, so this is definitely an issue to linger over.