Summary: Rowan Black is a detective with the Portsmouth PD… and a witch, two aspects of her life she has struggled to keep separate. Now someone is targeting Rowan, someone who knows her secrets and means to expose her… or worse.

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Black Magick, vol. 1, by Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott 7.75

‘Black Magick is a continuing series that follows Rowan Black, a police officer who is secretly part of a coven of witches – and has been for centuries. But someone knows her true identity and sends a spellbound young man to confront her – ending in his self-inflicted death.

His name: Rowan White.

Now Rowan not only has to find out who is behind this attempt on her life, but she also needs to dodge the suspicions of her colleagues and the Internal Affairs Bureau. But little does she know that there are dark forces converging on her – and that they are legion.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I picked this book up. I’m no great fan of magic-related entertainment; since I’m not a believer it usually leaves completely cold. Let’s just say that comics revolving around Dr. Strange or Doctor Fate bored me stiff.

But I found ‘Black Magick’ a rather enjoyable read. Part of the reason may be that it’s less focused on the occult and more on character development, as it introduces us to all its players and sets the stage. And Rucka does this admirably well, making Rowan familiar to us.

Unfortunately, he also had a predilection for punching the events up, instead of making them feel real-world (well, it’s a comic, I suppose…). But it left me wondering. For instance, if the baddies had wanted to kill Ro, why do it so openly instead of catching her by surprise?

Um… because it’s more exciting?

Uh huh.

Still, it reads well.

And Scott’s art is absolutely terrific. It looks like elaborate pencil drawings, complete with shading and some contouring. Maybe it was done on a computer, but I can’t tell. Either way, this style saves her time on inking and colouring and it looks amazing to boot. I’m a total fan.

I’m totally going to seek out Scott’s other works.

Absolutely.

Nota bene: This first batch of ‘Black Magick’ ran from October 2015 to February 2016. For some reason, it has been on hiatus since April 2016 and is set to return in April 2017. Well, as far as I’m concerned its comeback isn’t going to be too soon; so far, this is one pretty remarkable series.