Magic: Master of Metal #1

Magic: Master of Metal #1

BOOM! Studios 2021

Written by Mairghread Scott

Illustrated by French Carlomagno, Jorge Coelho, Jacques Salomon

Coloured by Francesco Sagala

Lettered by Ed Dukeshire

When the fate of the Multiverse is at stake, what game will the scheming Master of Metal play?

Tezzeret of Esper, the cruel artificer now free from his former master Nicol Bolas, the God-Pharaoh of Amonkhet, has traveled across the Multiverse seeking the answer to a question only he knows. Once he finds it, he will manipulate anyone necessary and do whatever it takes to claim his prize... but to what end?

What a great issue this is. After the shocking reveal in Magic’s latest issue we are finally getting to see how everything with Marit Lage got its start. I am incredibly impressed with the way that we see this playing out and how Tezzeret went to painstaking lengths to get this whole show started. The patience this man displays and his understanding of his place in not only the world but in the grand scheme of things is amazing to witness. So self-aware and so sure of what he’s doing and what he’s willing to sacrifice to see his machinations move forward and take shape, come to fruition it’s just a piece of art in and of itself.

I am a huge fan of the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that permeates all the stories that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a magnificent job in establishing their personalities. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages introducing and revealing the story we’re pulled into this with this awe and wonder at how someone could be so cold and calculating.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge, grow and strengthen. I am also liking the way that we see the layers within the story open up new avenues to be explored and how some of those got explored in the main series. This adds so much depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

While there are three art teams you’d be hard pressed to tell how all of these come across. It's all beautifully rendered. How we see backgrounds being utilised to enhance and expand the moments as well as how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope of the story. The linework is clean, crisp and sharp and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work is so well conceived. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show some remarkably talented sets of eyes for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights it also helps that it ties all three segments together the way that it does.

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This is an utterly fabulous issue and while we saw the outcome of his machinations here we get to see them set in motion. If you haven’t been reading the main series then read this then the main arc and you’ll see how wonderfully it all fits together. I also love that we're in no way any closer to understanding his motivations makes me incredibly happy and eager to see more. This has some exceptionally strong writing and interesting characterisation alongside these beautifully rendered interiors.