And for his next trick...

The Moonstones.

"We live in a world of science and logic..."

So begins the Millar/Coipel creation that is The Magic Order #1. 

In simplest terms, The Magic Order is a six-issue comic book series about our planet and the families of magic practitioners who protect us from supernatural threats. But, if the first issue is any indication, there will be less fighting large extra-dimensional threatens and more magician on magician violence and treachery.

When I first heard about this book, I was in. Mark Millar cobbles together interesting stories that I wouldn't think of in a million years that are more hit than miss with me. Add to that equation the awesome art style of one of my favorite artists Olivier Coipel and I was reading this.

The book is about magic families in a mafia-esque struggle for power. These people all share a bond because they all have magic that the rest of the world doesn't possess but they also have problems in their lives and friction between the different groups. Friction that has led to a murder by a man by his magician possessed small child in the most disturbing way. Two shadowy figures float away from the scene with ominous remark "First wizard down."

The creepy dude is to the right of Albany.

After this we get introduced to our first family, the Moonstones. I'm unsure how we are going to meet everyone else in these six issues but the Moonstones are shown in quick flashes. We have Cordelia who is a party magician who has gotten arrested and looks like the black sheep/familial disappointment. Then we have Leonard Moonstone, a stage magician and his son, Regan, who seem to be the most involved with the actual larger magician lifestyle. Finally, we have Gabriel Moonstone who has walked away from the magical world to live a mundane life with his wife Louise after the death of his child. If the cover is any indication, they will slowly be pushed back together and towards action after the murder of Big Eddie Lisowkski by those two shadowy figures. One of those figures actually ends up at the funeral in the company of a dark group led by the ominous Madame Albany. He is a shapeshifter and transforms into the murdered corpse form of Big Eddie angering Regan before this group leaves.

We end the book with the other murdering magician from the beginning of the book killing three people, including a magician. Did I say kill? I meant ERASING THEM FROM REALITY with a wave of a wand. 

This series has piqued my interests and has me all in so that I can get some answers to the questions it has raised. Coipel's art is realistic and vibrant and has already given us a peek into this other world of wizards and families and strange creatures. Millar has started us on a journey that I'm highly interested in going on. Combine that with the augmented reality stuff that they are doing with the covers in conjunction with Netflix and Facebook and this is a true multiple media adventure that will more than likely pay off big at the end of it's six issue run.

I'm in for the ride with Cordelia.

Sean Fields is an aspiring writer and has been in the education field for more than a decade. He works mostly with teenagers nowadays which both keeps him well informed on pop culture and makes his hair turn grayer daily. He has a few blogs but is currently focused on this one and this other one. You can also find him on Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram, if you want to be entertained or infuriated.