Magic is not always a good thing.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Sam Humphries
Art: Jen Bartel
Color: Nayoung Wilson, Jen Bartel
Letterer: Jodi Wynne
What They Say:
An all-new ongoing series from fan-favorite writer SAM HUMPHRIES (Harley Quinn, Nightwing) and red-hot artist JEN BARTEL! In this neo-noir fantasy, Nina Rodriguez is positive that a secret magic world ruled by ruthless cabals is hiding just beneath the veneer of Los Angeles. The problem: everyone thinks she’s crazy. The bigger problem: she’s not crazy—she’s right. Can she unravel the mystery before the Great Beast catches up with her?
Content: (warning, spoilers)
Nina isn’t your average person. After a magical incident when she was younger, she grew up without either of her parents, living with her sister. Marisa. The magic-addled girl fell into a rut, with all the drinking, pills, and being late to work, Nina is dangerously close to being jobless. Her sister believes her claims of spectral beings are just either pills or trauma, but an incident with a group calling themselves “The Paragons” proves she’s on to something. It’s a confrontation with her extremely angry sister that shows us why Nina’s claims are unbelievable to her sister. This revelation makes Nina’s situation worse, until the magical creature that saved Nina’s family years ago appears again. Magic, however, is not Nina’s friend that night, because instead of taking her away, as she hopes, the magic creature grabs Marisa and disappears. Now, Nina has a quest she’d never have believed. Magic is going to kill her sister, and she’s got to stop it somehow.
In Summary:
This book has some heavy themes. Nina is shown to drink heavily, take pills, and even almost killed herself that way. The magic theme in this story, instead of being portrayed as whimsical and dreamlike, is dark and seemingly of unknown purpose. Nina spends years after the initial encounter with magic believing that it was a concrete thing that would take her away some day, despite being called crazy by others. It’s bitter irony for her then, that when magic does appear and show her sister she isn’t crazy, Marisa is the one who gets taken away. Nina is portrayed as a very human protagonist. She makes a lot of mistakes, has fixated on magic being able to solve her life problems, and doesn’t know where to even go from here. Her belief in magic has seen 3 events, but none could even be described as good. It might not even be a stretch to say her experiences with magic are what led to the drinking and the pills. the dialogue in Blackbird is honestly very believable and quite realistic I’d argue. Despite the supernatural events unfolding, this tale of two struggling sisters feels very well done. Humphries crafts a tale that draws you in and invests you in the characters, and that’s one of the best things you can ask for. It’s a story about Nina, from her perspective, so everything Nina gets into gets focus. The art itself is very pretty. It has this almost ethereal glow about it at times, and it just draws out the colors so nicely. I really do recommend this book. It’s down to earth, but with magical themes. The characters are just so believable, and it really makes you feel for Nina. Buy this book if you see it, you won’t be sorry.
Grade: A
Released By: Image Comics
Release Date: October 3rd 2018
MSRP: $3.99
