Magdalena #1
Writers: Tini Howard & Ryan Cady
Artist: Christian DiBari
Colorist: Mike Spicer
Letterer: Troy Peteri
Design: Vincent Valentine
Publisher: Image
A Review by Christoph Staffl
The new Magdalena series by Image is the fourth incarnation of the character and its surrounding universe. I didn’t know this until I got to the last pages of the comic, where you can find a brief history of the character. For example, her first introduction was in the comic book series The Darkness. Furthermore, in the back of the book, you will find letters from the creators. They provide some insight on the process, the creation of this comic and what it means to them. In addition to that you find the Twitter handles of the writers and artists on the creators-page. All those things add to a very personal feeling to the book. I really liked the idea of giving them a platform where they can offer their thoughts and how to get in touch with them. This way you will be more invested in the book and most likely pick up the next one, because you want to give them a real shot – at least that is the case for me.
But let’s talk about the story. In the introduction, where the reader gets a very brief history of what is going on, there is this really cool phrase: “With the blood of the Magdalene in their veins, and the blood of Christ as their weapon, they suffer no demon or beast to live.” This sums it up pretty good. Basically every generation has their own incarnation of Magdalena – though I am not exactly sure if it has to be a descendent from the original Mary Magdalene or if this is just a legend and every new generation has their chosen one. Nevertheless, the Magdalena of each generation has the task to fight evil. Mostly on form of demons or incarnations of Beelzebub himself. Their weapon, as teased in the quote above, is the “spear of destiny” (yes, this is the very spear Jesus himself was stabbed with after he got crucified to check if he is really dead and double yes, it is the same weapon the “Legends of tomorrow” are after in their very own TV series right now – who wants a crossover? Please raise your hands! Make that happen. Like, right now!).
The spear gives their bearer various abilities like strength, a healing factor and a few others. Our current incarnation of Magdalene, Patience, has two main problems: the first one is quite simple: find the demon who escaped a while ago and kill him. The second one is quite challenging because she has to find her successor and train her. The interesting part is that Patience struggles with her believes and therefore the spear doesn’t work as well as it should. We also get some bits and peaces of how this happened (the Vatican plays a role), but nothing quite substantial – it is just enough to get hooked to the character. In the following events we also learn of Patience successor: Maya. She is a kind of a rebel and very sure of herself.
I will leave it at that, because I don’t want to spoil the story for you. It is really fun to follow the characters and their adventure without too much knowledge. The story is promising and the characters with their dialogues and relationships relatable. The artwork is a very good as well. The design of the demons and especially the incarnation of Beelzebub is nothing new, but looks fantastic. The overall atmosphere is dark and gritty, but there are light sequences as well, especially as we get to know Maya in her everyday live. I also have to mention the lettering. It certainly adds to the experience. Each creature has its own speech bubbles design and color.
The Verdict
Buy it! I didn’t know of the character Magdalena before, but I most certainly am thankful for it. I like religious stories which have a certain twist to them. I am looking forward to the next issue and how Maya and Patience get along.
