Advance Review: Smoke and Mirrors #1
Mar 20, 2012 by     Comments Off on Advance Review: Smoke and Mirrors #1    Posted In: Reviews

IDW LogoThe world of Smoke and Mirrors by Mike Costa and Ryan Browne is one where magical spells and incantations are as commonplace as ipods and refrigerators are in our world. The concept is that magick has been privatized and commodified by visionary entrepreneurs such as the Steve Jobs-ian character (Mr. Caroll) in its opening scene. Like any good first issue of a series, the status quo in this comic is reversed when a teen-aged boy (Ethan) stumbles upon an illusionist in a shady part of town. How can this man perform apparent feats such as telepathy and making things disappear without the use of incantations or spells?
Smoke-and-Mirrors-1-fiona-variant-coverHaving dabbled in stage magic for a short time, one of the first things that struck me was the accurate portrayal of the illusions performed within the book. Not only does the action depict illusions, it strives to perform them for the reader and does manage to succeed at this. In fact John Armstrong appears in the credits as “Illusions”. Kudos to whoever is responsible for bringing in a consultant* to pull off the concept. This is the book’s strength. The story strives to not show events but rather have you experience them. The same is true for the first scene in the story which is a bunch of exposition and world-building disguised as a business presentation at magick’s most important corporate supervisor, Trade Circle.

Unfortunately, for the most part I couldn’t buy into the premise. Not because it is inherently weak but because the execution is lacking. The dialog especially tends to be dry and transparent. I can forgive the exposition in the first scene because its packaged in a clever device. But when a scene involving tensions between Ethan and his blind mother comes across stale because its weighed down with techno-magick talk, you’re bound to lose your audience. This key scene needed to focus on the family dynamics to humanize the story but it ended up being a mostly fumbled opportunity. I have to also criticized Ethan’s portrayal who comes across like a canned character, victim of adolescent tropes. There is also a sub-plot involving Ethan stealing a Trade Circle magical artifact which obviously has powers beyond what is commonly known. I can’t judge that story thread yet because there’s really not enough there to know how it will pan out but will say that most of the plot here somehow reads as overly convenient. I guess it’s hard to enjoy the puppet show because I can see the strings.

On the side of the visuals we are offered an inconsistent amalgam of good things and bad things. Expressive character portrayals but with unimaginative designs. I could say the same of the sets. Their execution is decent but they are too stereotypical to be anything memorable. I want to like parts of the artwork but mostly I find it average.

Smoke and Mirrors is a good pitch but the batter doesn’t connect well and issue #1 ends up being a foul ball.

Story: 5.5/10
Art: 5/10
Parental concern: All ages

Smoke and Mirrors #1 is in stores March 21st

*There is a Jon Armstrong operating as a close up magician, but I’m not sure if it’s the same guy.

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