No Spell Lasts Forever #1 is a comic written by Sarah Cooke with art by Aimée Hawley. A woman works as an enforcer for the mob but her weapon of choice is magic. This is a story taking place in the present day with heavy noir influences. Our leading lady is Rosette, a woman who grew up watching the black-and-white classics and now finds herself using her magical prowess for intimidation purposes. Hot on her trail is a detective everyone refers to as “Boss” that is getting closer and closer to discovering who she is. Also included in this cast are some interesting mob types and police officer you’ll squint at. These characters are more fleshed out than you’d think. The plot shows us both sides of the coin as we see the mob and their dealings and the police trying to stop them. The action isn’t too rough though it does get bloody. The pace is a bit slow on purpose as each scene seems to have a specific focus. There are quite a few wordy and word-heavy pages which lend to the pace but the conversations flow well so it won’t bog things down too much. The talking style here is modern except for when we hear Rosette’s thoughts which are extremely introspective in the noir-style. This is a debut comic that does a good job of building its cast of characters and gives us a strong foundation of a story with questions we’ll want to get answered.

            This comic is drawn in a modern style with an overall dark tone and colors that fit the theme. Shadows are also done well here. The majority of this story takes place in dark alleys and inner city areas. The buildings are detailed down to the single brick and even have trash littering the street. A couple of the places we visit are the police station, the residence of a mob boss, and a restaurant. These locations are full of things in the background that make the rooms seem alive. Most backgrounds tend to persist from panel-to-panel. This comic has a dreary atmosphere with the art amplifies by never letting things get too bright. The expression level is decent though our main characters seem to have a stoic disposition. The faces contain a decent amount of detail which would help make the emotions clear so it’s a shame we don’t see that many different looks. The magical effects here stand out as they have a purple glow and imbue both objects and people. The violence here involves both magic and guns with short action scenes and some blood. The outfits are pretty normal by modern standards but Rosette dresses like she’s from a much earlier time.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like noir stories led by women who wield magic and deal with the mob and have a detective attempting to find them this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

PG-13. Blood and death.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I’m afraid your time’s up, darlin’. Shoulda paid the piper.”

 

Physical Link: https://cwsbookstore.com/categories/adult/no-spell-lasts-forever-1/

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nospelllastsforever/no-spell-lasts-forever-1/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

*
*
*
*
*

Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20

Violent Pages: 4, for 20% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 0, for 0% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 3

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 2

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 1

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”