THE MAGIC ORDER 4 #5: A Long Overdue Lesson in Magic

It’s an absolutely jam-packed issue that accelerates at a blistering pace after the last issue’s relative lull. We rejoin Cordelia as she faces off against her Wizard King brother. Unfortunately, Perditas isn’t interested in helping his long-lost sister or our world. Millar makes a point of driving home that the child sacrificed to an alien world to save our own has never gotten over being given up by his parents and has turned into the ultimate bully. I think one of the main reasons this issue is so enjoyable is Millar brings Cordelia back into the spotlight in a marvelously dramatic fashion. The last two series have seen her be shifted a little left of the stage as Millar positioned other pieces on the board. In this issue, she returns to the center of things with a magic battle against her brother that is violent and brutal but grandiose and beautifully cinematic thanks to the absolutely brilliant art and coloring from Dike Ruan and Giovanna Niro. Millar reminds us through Cordelia that to serve the Magic Order is a lifelong calling that requires immense sacrifice and that pure brutality is no match for the honed razor-sharp skills of someone born and raised in the inner circle of the highest magic and trained by the greatest magic users in the world. The battle ends the only way it can in typical Millar shock tactics style, and the game is afoot as the winner uses that victory to set their plans in motion!

Millar then pulls us back to earth and the rest of the issue with what is very obviously set up for whatever shocking flourish he has planned for the final issue of this volume. Fair warning, though, while we will definitely get something truly dramatic next issue. The pacing and setup here make it clear that this will all run into Volume 5. Getting back to the issue itself, Millar splits it three ways. He examines the leftover members of the Magic Order who have been left alive by Albany and her inner circle as they make their own plans.

Meanwhile, Madam Albany isn’t done with her scheming as she makes “Uncle Edgar,” an offer he can’t refuse. Millar continues to tie the series back to other volumes reminding us of the price of casting forbidden spells. Lastly, Millar shows off the current Magic Order at work, using their skills to protect the world against monsters for a price, except someone has other plans for them as traps are sprung…but by who? Guess we will have to wait and see.

Okay, time to talk about the art, which is stellar. The showdown between Cordelia and Perditas is choreographed in a manga/anime-esque high-noon Western style. Tight close-ups from oblique angles, Cordelia’s minimal and demure facial expressions contrasted by the wizard king’s bombastic ones before the action erupts, and then Ruan gets to cut loose using both extremely dynamic action poses and cleverly cut paneling to infuse his flat image with a remarkable amount of the dynamism. It has an Eastern sensibility but still feels like a Western comic, a fantastic achievement from Ruan. Giovanna Niro brings an exceptionally strong, broad, and vibrant color palette to the entire issue. Crimson reds, icy blues, deep purples, and brilliant gold explode off the page as the magic users clash in a blaze of power. Brilliantly conjured otherworldly creatures come to life from the hands of Ruan and Niro, and it is probably the best realized magical battle in the series to date! One of the things I enjoy about Ruan is how he draws buildings; there is a minimalistic brilliance to his background city buildings that sits in such sharp contrast to his exceptionally detailed line work in the foreground, and the combination of the two is always so striking and dramatic. Between Ruan and Niro, they take the high drama of Millar’s script and crank the dial so far past the maximum that it’s hard to describe in words and has to be experienced visually. Robbins on letters doesn’t get fancy, but that works because there’s so much going on between the linework and the coloring on every page that the more straightforward approach helps you track and follow the visuals while reading. It’s, without a doubt, in my mind, the best issue visually of this volume to date.