Thanks to CBR posting the full issue of Image Comics Rise of the Magi #0 on their site, I finally got to read it. That was one of those I missed on FCBD (Free Comic Book Day) as I was keeping in the store’s limit of 5 per customer. Rise of the Magi is written by Marc Silvestri and drawn by Sumeyye Kesgin in a fantasy styled universe. In a weird way it feels like a bare bones 80’s movie and a bland fantasy universe. The main character Asa is likable enough but filled with some powerful cliches in his characterization. I could see his rebellious spells hit from a mile away as to how this story was going to operate. He wants to be like his brother Raye in the Spell Guard; the elite army in this universe and his Dad thinks he should accept his place in life as a carpet repair worker like him. Mischief ensues, craziness happens, and his journey begins. 

Rise of the Magi never bored me but just didn’t engage me in the premise. I will say though, Kesgin’s art was nice and that helped a lot in this. Despite the story not catching my attention, Kesgin has such an engaging art style that I couldn’t help but keep reading. The art in Rise of the Magi saved this book for me and the coloring by Jasen Smith helped too, bright and energetic colors that fit such a fantastical premise. While Silvestri’s story didn’t do much for me, I have to say the last couple pages sparked a little life for me in Rise of the Magi but not enough to make me want more. Now that being said if I’m in the mood I may do a review of that as I’m not wholly against the idea of reading more of Rise of the Magi. Could be that this preview wasn’t the best foot forward, I’ll be happy to admit then that there was more to Rise of the Magi than the preview let on.

Rise of the Magi #0 is an odd book for me, if you want to read it for yourself though and see what you think, take a wander over to CBR at the link here. Let me know if you agree or disagree with me on this one. I’m hoping to catch more of these books as they pop up online, seems like more and more of them are. FCBD had many books released and I’m hoping Comixology gets more of them up as well as the days go on as I’d like to read the ones I managed to miss. This has been a fun series of articles to do and I still got a few in my own haul I haven’t done yet. Thanks for reading!