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Rating: 
Summary: Just About The Art
Review: I picked up this graphic novel at the library. I'd read some Matt Wagner stuff before when he had done the art for a Batman story and I really liked it. That's why I checked this out. I found the reading very easy and fast going which is good because beyond the art I found little else compelling about this story. Others have liked it because it's not the glorified battle of other superheroes (which I enjoy) but I also enjoy comics that are about the story not just the art and action. I just found the whole story flat. This story centers around a man who fights evil mythical creatures with a magic bat he has. He's led around to the next evil person he needs to fight by a companion who can also fix things. There is definite potential here but I felt like the writer was telling them where to go rather than the story doing that.
Rating:
Summary: Just About The Art
Review: I picked up this graphic novel at the library. I'd read some Matt Wagner stuff before when he had done the art for a Batman story and I really liked it. That's why I checked this out. I found the reading very easy and fast going which is good because beyond the art I found little else compelling about this story. Others have liked it because it's not the glorified battle of other superheroes (which I enjoy) but I also enjoy comics that are about the story not just the art and action. I just found the whole story flat. This story centers around a man who fights evil mythical creatures with a magic bat he has. He's led around to the next evil person he needs to fight by a companion who can also fix things. There is definite potential here but I felt like the writer was telling them where to go rather than the story doing that.
Rating: 
Summary: Breathtaking Cycle of Graphic Novels
Review: Mage the Hero Defined Vol. 1 is the first of a four volume group of graphic novels that Matt Wagner has written as the second part of a proposed trilogy of novels. The first part is Mage the Hero Discovered and the last part will be Mage the Hero Denied. The series is about Kevin Matchstick who seems to be a modern day incarnation of King Arthur the Pendragon but Matt Wagner, while staying fairly true to the Arthur cycle, weaves in heroic figures from other myths and some autobiographical material. The result is both epic and sweeping and yet intimate and personally compelling. The middle cycle (Mage the hero defined) concerns Kevin Matchstick using his power to defend light and finding out the limits as well as the responsibilites such power represents. This all sounds typical and didactic but Wagner's simple and powerful storytelling ability keeps the whole thing fresh and exciting and fun to read. Wagner's style for this series is very distinctive. While most superhero sagas feature huge larger than life figures that look too herculean to be even remotely human. Wagner has a looser and softer style that retains an element of the heroic but all his characters are definitely human scaled. He uses deep vivid almost primary colors that stunningly reflect the various actions and moods of the strip. He keeps his compositions simple but powerful reflecting his narrative line. On the whole an amazing achievement and distinguished from most graphic novel work being done by other artists. Definitely worth hunting down all four parts to the Mage the Hero Defined group of novels and searching out the now out of print Mage the Hero Discovered group. There has been talk of a movie based on Wagner's work which might mean a reprint of these books. It has stalled in development but we can only hope!!
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking Cycle of Graphic Novels
Review: Mage the Hero Defined Vol. 1 is the first of a four volume group of graphic novels that Matt Wagner has written as the second part of a proposed trilogy of novels. The first part is Mage the Hero Discovered and the last part will be Mage the Hero Denied. The series is about Kevin Matchstick who seems to be a modern day incarnation of King Arthur the Pendragon but Matt Wagner, while staying fairly true to the Arthur cycle, weaves in heroic figures from other myths and some autobiographical material. The result is both epic and sweeping and yet intimate and personally compelling. The middle cycle (Mage the hero defined) concerns Kevin Matchstick using his power to defend light and finding out the limits as well as the responsibilites such power represents. This all sounds typical and didactic but Wagner's simple and powerful storytelling ability keeps the whole thing fresh and exciting and fun to read. Wagner's style for this series is very distinctive. While most superhero sagas feature huge larger than life figures that look too herculean to be even remotely human. Wagner has a looser and softer style that retains an element of the heroic but all his characters are definitely human scaled. He uses deep vivid almost primary colors that stunningly reflect the various actions and moods of the strip. He keeps his compositions simple but powerful reflecting his narrative line. On the whole an amazing achievement and distinguished from most graphic novel work being done by other artists. Definitely worth hunting down all four parts to the Mage the Hero Defined group of novels and searching out the now out of print Mage the Hero Discovered group. There has been talk of a movie based on Wagner's work which might mean a reprint of these books. It has stalled in development but we can only hope!!
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