[ARC REVIEW] Black Magick: Awakening Volume 1 by Greg Rucka

Title:  Black Magick: Awakening Volume 1


Author:  Greg Rucka


Artist:  Nicola Scott

Genre:  Mystery / Fantasy / Thriller / Crime

Year Published:  2016

Year Read: 5/30/2016

Series:  Black Magick #1

Publisher:  Image Comics


Source: eARC (NetGalley)


Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Some Intense Scenes)

I would like to thank NetGalley and Image Comics for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Introduction:

 

Now, I have been reading graphic novels that usually have a mixture of different genres within a story and most of them were pretty well done as it is quite unusual and rare to see two different genres existing in the same story.  So, when I heard so many good things about Greg Rucka’s “Black Magick Volume One: Awakening” graphic novel, I just knew that I had to give this series a try!

What is this story about?

Rowan Black is a detective who works with the Portsmouth PD and she has a secret…she is a WITCH!  Fortunately, Rowan was able to keep her identity as a witch a secret from the police department and from the world at large.  Unfortunately, one night, she comes across a man who held up a restaurant and she had to go inside the restaurant to confront the man.  It turns out that the man knows that Rowan is a witch and he ended up lighting himself on fire!  This event then made Rowan realize that someone knows about her powers and is targeting her and Rowan must find out who this person is before it is too late! 

What I loved about this story:

Greg Rucka’s writing: That thing I mentioned earlier about reading various graphic novels that combine two different genres effortlessly?  Greg Rucka did a great job at combining mystery and magic all into one story and I loved the way that we have a main character in Rowan Black who not only uses her detective skills to solve various cases, but also uses her magic to discover things about the case that would be impossible for the human eye to see.  I really loved the character Rowan herself as she is shown to be a strong female protagonist who uses her magic for good and it was interesting seeing a character who is a witch, but also a detective as that made her into such a unique character!  I also loved the way that the story mixed crime and mystery with magical elements as it made this story interesting to read as I was interested in seeing how the detectives would solve the case while also enjoying the fantasy elements of the story.

Nicola Scott’s artwork:  Nicola Scott’s artwork is seriously beautiful to look at as all the characters look so realistic that I actually thought that these were real people being photographed into the artwork!  I also loved the fact that the colorings in this volume were mostly in black and white as it made the mystery and crime theme of this story truly stand out and I also loved the way that the magical elements in this story such as fire and wisps of magic are the only objects that are colored as it made the artwork much more imaginative.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

The reason why I gave this volume a four star rating was because the story seems to drag on in many places and I found myself getting bored a bit with the story as there were not that many action scenes or any scenes that would keep my interest up and it seems like it was only towards the ending that the action really picks up.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Black Magick Volume One: Awakening” is a pretty interesting volume that introduces the reader to Rowan Black’s world of magic and mystery and I hope to read more of this series in the future to see where it goes next!