Magnus #1 Featured Reviews 

“Magnus” #1

By | June 8th, 2017
Posted in Reviews | % Comments

The idea of a new “Magnus” Robot Fighter series is enticing, especially as Dynamite has a series starring the character in entirely new context from the Magnus introduced to readers a few monts ago in “The Sovereigns”. Publisher Dynamite Entertainment decided to gender-swap the character for the heroes’ ongoing series. With so many comics and takes on the character over the past few years, something entirely new had to be be deployed with “Magnus” to keep the character truly fresh and interesting in the long term.

However, gender-swapping Magnus and throwing the hero into a brand new story with all the same genre trappings isn’t going to be enough to win over old fans and convince new readers that the book was entirely necessary from the get go without a solid premise and foundation. Either way this comic and “The Sovereigns” are oozing with potential and that I hope that potential is capitalized in on in the new title.

Cover by Giuseppe Camuncoli

Written by Kyle Higgins and Chuck Wendig
Illustrated by Jorge Fornes and Alvaro Sarreseca
Colored by Chris O’Halloran and Triona Farrell
Lettered by Taylor Esposito

Do humans dream of owning electric sheep? Artificial intelligences, rather than becoming our overlords, have settled into an uneasy symbiosis with humanity – they work for us as our colleagues and servants, earning vacation-time they spend in a boundless digital universe running on human-maintained server farms. But not all AIs are cool with the deal. Enter Magnus – a human psychologist tasked with navigating both worlds in order to bring recalcitrant AIs back into productive society… BONUS TUROK STORY, CHAPTER THREE! The all-new saga of the all-new Turok continues: He’s a man on a mission, possessed, and he won’t let anyone or anything get in his way!

Writer Kyle Higgins has actually kept the tone of the series in line with “The Sovereigns” quite nicely as both books are extremely violent but still have a sense of black humor. In fact, nearly everything about this new “Magnus” series has been worked from the ground up here as the lead is trying to undo some of the work that man has done in creating sentient robotic slave A.I. assistants. This ground has been tread by numerous genre projects like “Terminator” or “Battlestar Galactica” but this book has enough fresh ideas to keep things going. Firstly, the occupation of the new “Magnus” is also engaging, framing the character as a psychiatrist trying to undo damage instilled by man.

As good as the story is, artist Jorge Fornes really shakes things up. This narrative could have have a generic set of pencils, but there’s something approachable about Fornes’ work here. The artist’s smooth lines and inviting pages make even the most violent and disturbing scenes in this comic engaging. The pencils always have a pretty smooth composition as well, putting the best framed scenes in the forefront. Chris O’Halloran’s colors are essential to this comic as well as the colors mix-up the opening scene, showing the anguish of the lead robot in the story very effectively. Fornes and the entire creative show off a few different artistic styles to form a disturbing vision of the future to the most casual coffee-glazed mornings in the distant future.

Above all else, this comic takes cues from Blade Runner, but doesn’t seem to be derivative. Higgins’ narrative seems extremely personal, treating man and machine alike with thought and care. The writer paces this story very economically as he has time to dig into the psychology of the robots, establish a world and status quo for Magnus while giving the character an interesting new mission to embark on. There’s something novel about the lead in this book and Higgins is able to tap into what makes this character interesting by showing her in action and having a few talking heads point out some of the remarkable aspects about her character.

The weakest sequence in the overall narrative is a scene heavy in exposition that takes place right after the opening sequence. There are a few pages full of newscasters telling readers what to think or how to perceive this world. Those pages weren’t necessary as the moments where Magnus and the government agents discuss their mission delivers enough information about the world to suck readers in.

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There’s a lot to like in the new “Magnus” from the beautiful art and the unique story that subverts all “Magnus” tropes told before. This comic doesn’t feel like a book that exists to just gender-swap the lead and cash in on a previous story. Higgins and Fornes go to a great length to show off how a war could be brewing on both sides of man and machine instead of just giving the perspective from one side of the conflict.

While brief, the “Turok” chapter in this book is a very foreboding, gritty look into the life of the character. Writer Chuck Wendig captures the character at his best and worst giving the space for Alvaro Sarreseca to fill in the gaps with his lethal set of pencils. Even in a small chunks this story has still delivered on crafting a tense narrative.

Final Verdict: 8.0: “Magnus” #1 shows off a foreboding vision of the future.


Alexander Jones

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