Detective Rowan Black has her Coven’s Wiccan ritual interrupted when she gets a phone call asking her to get to work in Black Magick Vol. 1.
Black was asked to come to a fast-food restaurant by a man holding hostages. However, she was asked to come there by name. She had never seen or met this man and has no idea how he would know her.
After Black negotiates to have the hostages released the man reveals his secret. He knows she is a witch and knows her true name. Black was forced into the backroom and made to stand on gasoline. The best way to get rid of a witch is to light them on fire is what he said. Black was able to use her magick to reverse the flames and set him on fire.
However, Black doesn’t leave completely unscathed. She must find out how he knew about her and who is seemingly targeting her.
Black Magick Vol. 1 was written by Greg Rucka with art by Nicola Scott. Image Comics published the volume in 2016.
What really attracted me to this comic was the art. Scott does this beautiful grayscale art. She is able to have incredible detail on every character’s face. None of the characters look even remotely similar even without the use of color. A lot of artists can’t even make characters look different when they do use color.
The story was pretty deep and complex. We are getting little glimpses into Black and the head of her coven. The Hammer group is also hinted to and they appear to be witch hunters. There is a lot of setup to the next volume and it looks like that is when things are really going to pick up. I wish this volume had a bit more story explaining what is going on and who is doing it, but I still liked the volume.
Black’s character is being explored and I am starting to like her. She is very human and is just trying to survive. This volume has not explored the witch coven’s intentions yet. Whether they are good and want to make the world a better place, or want to destroy it. However, I do believe Black is a good person.
I really liked this comic and look forward to seeing where it goes. My only real complaint is I wanted a bit more storyline. I felt like some important things which should have been explained in this volume will be addressed in the next volume, which led me to feel like the volume wasn’t as exciting as it could have been. I just needed that little bit extra to make me really love this volume, but overall an excellent comic.
Rating:
4/5