Once upon a time there was a wizard. He betrayed his wizard friends, teamed up with his de-powered ex-girlfriend, and pissed off the U.S. government. Then, everything really and truly went to hell. “Curse Words” begins its second arc, and the stylish series from Charles Soule and Ryan Browne has a lot to prove. Having already established itself as a funny, magical adventure, “Curse Words” dives deep into its own magical mythos.
Written by Charles SouleCover by Ryan Browne
Illustrated by Ryan Browne
Colored by Addison Duke and Ryan Browne
Lettered by Chris CrankNEW STORY ARC ‘EXPLOSIONTOWN,’ Part One CURSE WORDS IS BACK!! The hit series launches its second arc. The full roster of the Demon Sizzajee’s Nine Evil Wizards is revealed! Meet the Carbuncle, Silly Bee, and all the rest…while in New York City, Wizord and his newly de-powered ex, Ruby Stitch, embark upon a most peculiar business venture.
We know that Wizord and all of his magical former allies hail from the hellish Hole World. In this issue, we meet the entire gang as they assemble for a company cookout. Ryan Browne goes into overdrive to bring us this peculiar scene. The result is funny, disturbing, and a little nauseating.
The Evil Wizards themselves are a diverse bunch. They’re all different races, ages, genders, sizes, and species, giving Browne an excuse to dabble in the visual madness that is his trademark. Silly Bee is a young girl, and apparently a necromancer of some kind, who wears the tortured and withered remains of her father as a necklace (but still asks him permission to drink half a cup of wine). The Carbuncle looks like the funky, one-eyed villain in a 70s Blaxsploitation flick, but he’s about a foot tall.
The cookout is the kind of scene Browne excels in. The Evil Wizards and their families are assembled on a nice park green, with a couple of benches under a few trees. The entire thing would look mundane if the park wasn’t being carried through a blasted wasteland on the backs of 10,000 slaves.
On a closer look, the company picnic vibe is spoiled by some other evil details. The food being roasted on spits isn’t an ox, but the anthropomorphic party birds of Ruby Stitch’s realm. They’re drawn in horrifying poses, and their dead faces still hold just enough expression to ruin your appetite for a good couple of hours. It’s that combination of attention to detail and the juxtaposition between funny and horrifying that elevates Browne’s art from functional to excellent.
On the Wizord side of things, the world is finally starting to contemplate the consequences for his actions. He’s been casting enormous flashy spells all over America, and giving very little explanation. You’d think the government would be ready to intervene.
Governments reacting to supernatural circumstance is sort of a running theme with Charles Soule. It’s premise of Letter 44, which realistically supposes how an executive branch that closely resembles the Obama administration would deal with an alien invasion. I was more than a little tickled when the president in Curse Words more than resembled the Letter 44 president Stephen Blades. Then I noticed his staff included Dr. Portek, the morally dubious scientist of Letter 44. Curse Words is either happening during the enormous conflict of Letter 44, or in a parallel dimension where Blades is also president. As a comics nerd, I live for that kind of silly intertextuality.
The presidential perspective is more than a fun reference, it’s going to have a lot to do with the story moving forward. Wizord is trying to repair stuff with Ruby Stitch, and get her to buy into their Earth life, but he hasn’t yet figured out that he’s being monitored by the government. It’s not exactly clear how the often ruthless President Blades is going to react to a powerful American wizard, but it’s definitely going to be dramatic. If he can’t recruit him, nuke him.
The Wizord story is less overtly magical than usual, but even in its relative mundanity, Browne finds chances to shine. It turns out he’s also pretty good at drawing low-fi spy stuff, and Margaret (who is currently an eagle) looks hilarious trying to type on a phone (#TeamMargaret).
Continued belowThe hard magic stuff happens over in the Hole World, and spending so much time there is sort of a relief. After keeping us at arms length for so long, seeing the denizens of this world clears a lot up, and makes the set up feel worth it. Plus we get full page spreads of Sizajee vomiting rainbows and similar ridiculous imagery.
So after a quality opening arc, Curse Words needed to move forward. Characters couldn’t stay static, and more importantly, the plot couldn’t tread water. Thankfully, it takes leaps on all fronts. Sizajee and his evil buds are much less mysterious, and Earth is finally taking steps against out favorite hipster wizard. With even just one of these two creators on this book it would be worth a look, but the combined team of Soule and Browne makes Curse Words a must-read.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – The second arc of Curse Words opens with a bang and a shazooom.
