And here we have the 2nd issue of Mark Millar’s first Netflix-produced comic-book, The Magic Order. And I’m just going to jump to my conclusion and say that it is even better than the first!

See, I can’t say all that much about the specifics of the story, because I don’t want to spoil it for you (yed, YOU). A lot of this stuff shouldn’t be described, you need to read and see it for yourself, trust me.

It opens with Cordelia Moonstone’s origin story, basically. We learn the amazing circumstances surrounding her birth, and some key points of her childhood, including the early manifestation of her powers and it’s effect on her. This is even more enticing than the opening of the first issue, and it perfectly explains her present attitude.

There’s a special meeting of other members of The Magic Order at Moonstone Castle, which located inside of a painting, where they discuss the action of Madame Albany. It is believed that she is after a special ancient magical book called The Orichalcum, which is said to contain super-powerful spells dating back to the days of Atlantis. Albany’s own father gave it to Leonard instead of her, because he feared that she would misuse it. Madam Albany has resented this slight for years, and is now plotting to kill off the rest of The Order to gain possession of the book, for some unholy purpose. But despite their certainty of her involvement, the wizards can’t attack her without proof, so they set out to investigate.

Over the course of this issue three more wizards are murdered, and all in very creative ways using magic. And that’s what I don’t want to spoil, it’s some clever writing on Millar’s part. I guess one complaint I could make is that all of the murdered characters were just introduced in this issue. So we’re not really given much chance to know them or become familiar with them, it’s just like, here’s he is, now he’s dead. And that’s that. So while the death’s are shocking, they don’t have any real emotional punch, as the reader has no reason to be attached to this characters at this point. Hopefully, this will be rectified in future issues, especially as it seems that the Moonstone family are meant to be the focus of the series.

And once again it’s all beautifully illustrated by Oliver Coipel, whose style fits the tone of the series perfectly.

Believe the hype. The Magic Order is a hit. Chacebook rating: 5 STARS

AVAILABLE ON COMIXOLOGY