Magnus #4 is comic written by Devin Arscott and Frederick Littles with illustrations by Bruno Abdias and colors by King Bola. Magnus has a sit down with his father and learns about what’s coming. This is superhero comic with different worlds, sordid pasts, shocking revelations, and family fights. The leading man for this issue is Magnus Jakuta, a college student who has recently discovered his latent abilities and is now being hunted by beings from another world. He is accompanied on this journey by his parents; one of whom he has just met. This is a family-oriented issue so while some of the characters from past installments make an appearance they don’t play too prominent of a role. The story begins in the hospital as Magnus recovers from the fight and this is where he gets a bit more information as to what is going on. This story takes place on our earth but there is another universe that crosses over and that is where these otherworldly beings come from. The action here is light and purely physical. The pacing is steady as this is mostly conversational but without wordy pages. The intensity gets high at certain moments but it is at a medium level throughout. The tone is serious but not overly so. The dialogue has a royal air to it and the text bubbles are occasionally thick. This is an issue that is calmer and more expository than previous entries which seems to point towards big things on the horizon.

            The art here is very detailed with some smoothness and excellent shading. The coloring here is nice and varied on the characters and set pieces but elsewhere it seems a bit drab. The scenery is either cloudy or starry night skies. The main location for this story is Magnus’s father’s mansion and it looks grand from the outside and expensive on the inside. This comic does a great job at having the backgrounds feature parts of the scene in them. The expression level here is slightly above-average as these characters generally show what they are feeling. The range of emotions goes from sadness to rage and sometimes the rest of the body is used to show emotion. The faces here have a high of detail from the smaller features to even the way light hits them so every look is accentuated. The powers on display are bright and stand out against the rest of the art. The violence is physical with some blood but nothing too crazy. The action scenes are short with clear flow.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural and superhero stories starring a black family with royal infighting and decades old beef with some good-looking art and looming conflict then this is for you.

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

PG-13. Violence, some blood.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“It’s clear that they won’t stop until we’re dead.”

 

Physical Link: https://wiseacre.us/buy-comics/ols/products/magnus—issue-4-standard-print

Digital Link: https://wiseacre.us/buy-comics/ols/products/magnus—issue-4-digital

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/akoma/magnus-issue-4-the-epic-intergalactic-saga-continues/description

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

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 20

Violent Pages: 3, for 15% 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 – 2

“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 – 2

“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 – 1

“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.”