I, Mage
Story & Letters: Gary Turner
Pencils: Carlos E. Gomez
Colors: Eddy Swan
Review by Jared Gafford
Fantasy stories have always been hit and miss with me. There are so many fantastic stories out there, one of my favorites being the Lord of the Rings series. But then there are stories that everyone else seems to love that I just can’t get into like Game of Thrones. So every time I get ready to read a new fantasy book, I always go in with tempered expectations.
I, Mage is a new fantasy comic book from Action Lab Entertainment. It follows the story of the young magician Zawa of Adarin and her teacher Skirnir. In this first issue entitled First Day of the Rest of Your Life, we get to know Zawa and Skirnir a little bit. We get to see some of the adventures they’ve been on and some of the crazy things they have seen. Our story picks up when they come across a huge Dragon attacking a young boy and his robot who Skirnir refers to as a “Gollum.” After rescuing this young boy who we find out is named Kai, they set up a camp where they tell him to stay until they finish their mission. What is their mission you might ask? Well they are trying to take out zombies! That’s right, they go to fight zombies. Kai, being the rambunctious young kid he is, decides he’s going to follow Zawa and Skirnir. Of course this leads to more trouble for our group, until the “Gollum” shows up and crushes the zombie king.
For the most part I really enjoyed this first issue, a lot more than I thought I would. The only thing that really took me out of it was some of the writing. There were many points throughout the book where I legitimately didn’t really understand what was going on, had it not been for the art. Some of the dialogue was great; fun and enjoyable. But some of it was also very clunky and confusing, taking me out of the book. Although the writing had it’s faults, the story was still very enjoyable. The action and adventure was wonderful and more importantly fun. This was a very fun book.
The art in the book was great. It was easy to follow and sometimes actually carried the story for me. The combination of beautiful scenery and vibrant colors really set the stage for this unique and intriguing fantasy book about magic. The character designs in this book were fantastic and the detail in the facial expressions really helped add life to each of these characters.
Verdict
Overall I really enjoyed this book. The story was fascinating and unique, but the art really saved this book for me. Had it not been for the art, I really think the confusing dialogue would have taken me completely out of it. That said, definitely give this book a chance. Just because I had a hard time understanding some of the writing doesn’t mean everyone will. I still walked away from this book feeling satisfied and happy and I think you will too, especially if you’re into fantasy and magic.
