Star Mage #5 Advanced Review

Publisher:Â IDW PUBLISHING

(W) JC De La Torre (A/CA) Franco Cespedes

The Ghosts of the Past: Orasmas’ terrible new weapon forces Arylos to make a tremendous sacrifice. Darien learns of the horrors in the Sarru Kishpu’s past and Orasmas’ wicked plan to destroy the empire.

Â Release Date: 08/06/2014

REVIEW

Things come to a head in this penultimate issue from IDW. The best way to describe Star Mage to a new reader is that it is a combination of Harry Potter and Star Wars. You have the great empires, adventure, tightly knight group of friends and villains all weaving together to spin and epic tale. Unfortunately in this case it does not, when reading this I felt like this should appeal to the younger audience as a gateway into science fiction and fantasy much like harry potter and star wars have been for previous generations. However, due to the language and the large sprawling story it is a little easy to get lost in it.

The dialogue in this book feels a little forced, it reads like a 50’s or 60’s comic, which is by no means a bad thing however, considering the subject matter it can make the dialogue a little exposition laden and also feel a little forced. The story itself is by no means bad, the story is weaving its inevitable conclusion however, this issue feels like the writer is moving everything into place for the finale with as previously stated things becoming a little heavy on the exposition side and whilst the plot does move forward it does not feel like it has moved in any meaningful way, the characters and pieces have simply moved into place.

The art style though, fits this book perfectly. The reason why this feels like it is meant to appeal to a younger audience is that the art looks like a Saturday morning cartoon show. This is by no means a bad thing, the bright vibrant colours and clean smooth lines allow you follow the action seamlessly and it really stands out when someone is casting magic or face-palms, the art really sings in this book.

In closing if you are currently reading Star Mage this is a critical issue as the pieces are moved on the board for the final confrontation. It leans towards heavy dialogue and exposition and for fans of the series they will be really excited to see where the finale is going.

2/5

By Matt Deery

Author Profile

Matt Deery

Matt Deery is an avid comic reader from the UK, relatively new to the writing scene but, enjoying being part of the Comic Crusaders team and getting to talk about some the books that I adore. Will read almost anything Marvel, with Spider-Man and Iron Man being my all time favorite comic book characters and has recently found a love for Image and Valiant books and generally anything Sci FI or Espionage related. Check out my twitter @brujah69ad if you want to stop by and talk comics, video games or movies!