The Magicians #1
Created by Lev Grossman
Written by Lilah Sturges
Art by Pius Bak
Colors by Gabriel Cassata
Letters by Mike Fiorentino
Covers by Qistina Khalidah, Alexa Sharpe
Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: November 6, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99

Lev Grossman made my year when he wrote The Magicians. But he made my millennium when he continued the series and made it a trilogy. Syfy went a step further and turned it into a (not so accurate) television series that is still ongoing. And a few months ago I reviewed The Magicians: Alice’s Story. I therefore felt that I should alert any and all fans of the franchise to The Magicians #1, the first comic in a five-part mini-series.

The Magicians: Alice’s Story
Based on the novel The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Hardcover
Written by Lilah Sturges
Art by Pius Bak
Colors by Dan Jackson
Letters by Mike Fiorentino
Cover by Scott Newman
Publisher: Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: July 16, 2019

Before I dive into the review of The Magicians: Alice’s Story, I would like to give you a bit of the history of the source material. I was a store manager for a Waldenbooks, but little did I realize how close to the end that company was. In those days we got ARCs (advance reader copies) of virtually everything and let me tell you, that is no small perk. So when an ARC came in that was touted as an adult Harry Potter-esque book about a magical college, I was intrigued. I have some vague memories of starting it during a lunch break and being swept away by the realism of it all. Lev Grossman‘s book grabbed me by the throat and refused to let go. The book became a trilogy, then later a SyFy series that is spectacular in its own way. So yeah, this graphic novel only adds one more dimension to an already breathtaking franchise. Allow me to elaborate!

Jim Henson’s The StoryTeller: Sirens #1
Written by Bartosz Sztybor
Art by Jakub Rebelka
Letters by Jim Campbell
Cover by Cory Godbey
Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: April 3, 2019
Cover Price: $3.99

I honestly have not paid too much attention to the comics involving The Jim Henson Company. I guess I always associated them with the Muppets and therefore failed to engage with them. How wrong I was.

Jim Henson’s The StoryTeller: Sirens #1 is produced by Archaia Entertainment and is actually related to the television series of the same name from the eighties. I actually do not remember the show but I was seventeen when it started so that probably explains it; I was always busy back then.

Persephone HC
Story and Art by Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky
Letters by Deron Bennett
Translated by Edward Gavvin
Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: May 16, 2018
Cover Price: $19.99

I have yet to read Persephone but just flipping through it I am struck by the amalgamation of so many different styles blended into one unique, yet disturbing, tale.

This contemporary re-imagining by Loïc Locatelli-Kournwsky has been translated into English from its original French.

Jane
Written by Aline Brosh McKenna
Art by Ramon K. Perez
Archaia Entertainment
Boom! Studios
Release Date: September 13, 2017
Cover Price: $24.99

I’m a bit late to this party, friends. But I can tell you that it was worth waiting for, without any reservations. Jane is inspired by the classic Jane Eyre but this graphic novel is a work of art unto itself. I have no idea why I waited so long to pick it up but I would literally kick myself if I could, no pun intended.