The Magic Order 5 #6: The End Of All Things

So here we are dear friends, at the end of all things. The very first review I ever wrote was for The Magic Order #1 in June of 2018. It feels completely appropriate that I am here for the finale of the fifth and final series. Over the course of five series Millar, with the help of some of the absolute best artistic talent in the industry, has given us a dark adult take on the trials an tribulations of a secret Magic Order that protect humanity from the darkness in secret, specifically it’s “first” family of the Moonstones. Even more specifically the series has focused on the family black sheep, Cordelia Moonstone.

I wasn’t sure of what to expect of the series finale. What I got was a very tightly written closing act that wraps the series up not only neatly but triumphantly. There’s nothing lazy about the plotting here as Millar draws threads from the very first series to the last and ties everything together from the death of Rosie Moonstone and Cordelia’s illicit use of raising the dead in series one and her curse to bringing together not only the current Magic Order but the return of many faces from the entire series for a glorious moment where the Order faces the malevolent Dark Gods who are ready to destroy the world. The message is that evil plans, but in this instance good plans even better especially when the greatest escape artist and magician who ever lived (Cordelia) is involved. Millar gets to reveal that nothing is coincidence as the former bad guy turned good Clyde’s reason for being possessed by those demons and who is behind it is made clear as the Order deals with Samuel Mott of the Fellowship of the Bell.

Millar wraps the series with a funeral (a pretty weird one) and he gives our heroine her happy ever after ( which she actually gave to herself if you think about it) but my favorite part is the last page involving Cordelia and a relative. It’s a heartfelt wrap to the series that to me makes the journey we have been on these nearly seven odd years feel like we leaving Cordelia in the best place possible. In a world that doesn’t promise happy endings, seeing a character we have been on a long journey with get one or the promise of one, makes it very worth it.

As for the art, Matteo Buffagni gets to do 22 pages of wild magical confrontation culminating in a glorious splash page brought to life by Giovanna Niro’s intense and brilliant colors. Buffagni is also superb at the use of the tall vertical panel to communicate fast paced action before he then opens the page with a splash and Niro finishes the combo with her colors for a glorious one two punch. From hot oranges and yellows to cool blue tones and greens Niro makes sure that Buffagni’s line art pops in every panel. Buffagni tends to focus on the foreground in most panels, emphasizing the action of the characters in the foreground by leaving a clean background, with just enough detail to orientate the reader. This method works really well for the action but don’t take this to mean he’s has no eye for detail. There’s an absolutely superb splash of and an overhead panel inside Moonstone castle that shows he is no slouch when it comes to detail. Clem Robbins has been rock solid on letters the entire series.

The standard for The Magic Order series art is nothing short of stellar, and as I read through this issue, and took a stroll through previous ones in this series, that exceptional standard set by Olivier Coipel in series one has been maintained for five volumes. From the very first page to the very last The Magic Order has been five volumes of comic art excellence. Olivier Coipel, Stuart Immonen, Dike Ruan, Gigi Cavenago and Matteo Buffagni. That’s a murderers row very few comic titles can boast but this series can.