MAGDALENA #1
story RON MARZ
art NELSON BLAKE II
cover RYAN SOOK
APRIL 28 32 PAGES / FC $3.99
The Star of the Forthcoming Feature Film Gets Her Own Series!
The Magdalena has been the official protector and warrior of the Catholic Church for over two thousand years, sworn to defend the Faith with the Spear of Destiny against all manner of supernatural threats. However, Patience, the latest Magdalena, has seen through the hypocrisy of her masters and struck out on her own. When her old mentor comes to her with a mission to prevent Armageddon, will she be able to resist the call?
From writer Ron Marz (Witchblade, Angelus) and the art team of Pilot Season: Murderer, Nelson Blake II, Sal Regla, and Dave McCaig.
Featuring covers by Ryan Sook (Wednesday Comics)!
Once a generation, a girl is chosen by a clandestine organization to fight all the demons and vampires who threaten this world and her inhabitants. Blessed with a powerful weapon and special abilities, only can be The Slay–I MEAN the Magdalena can protect us from those demons, vampires, and things that go bump in the night!
You might have noticed something about the previous paragraph, it’s because it’s really similar to another 90’s property of which I am admittedly a big fan of that “other” chosen one, so it was a bit jarring to see essentially the same story told about some other sassy female, only it’s the Catholic Church in charge and not the Watcher’s Council, and it’s not a sassy blonde, but a sassy redhead.
Not that I can blame Ron Marz for any of that. He tells the story in a way that makes it easy to jump into the character, explaining past continuity and setting up for further stories. As a new reader myself, I was really appreciative of this tactic.
The art works out really well. Nelson Blake II’s art really fit with the book in my opinion, and he modeled characters very well. The whole art team really complemented each other and presented the story in a clean manner. I loved looking at the art.
This Son of Satan premise shows a lot of promise, and I’m looking forward to the resolution of this storyline. But again, I couldn’t help but be drawn to an early storyline from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I can’t be the only one who remembers “The Anointed One” Vampire Messiah from the first couple seasons, right?
Right?
Obvious story elements aside, the book itself was quite enjoyable. But the parallels to Buffy do bother me, and I can’t quite look past it. If you’re not quite as much of a Buffy fan as I, I would say you’d enjoy it more than I did. And I still DID enjoy it.
Final Verdict: 6.9 – Browse
