Black Mask Studios 2016
Created & Written by Katy Rex & Fabian Lelay
Illustrated by Fabian Lelay
Coloured by Mara Jayne Carpenter
Flats by Elizabeth Kramer
Lettered by Taylor Esposito
The next installment of your new favorite angry magical girl series follows our gang of teen delinquents as they realize they've had absolutely no preparation to live in the real world. Blindsided by their betrayal by Matsdotter Academy and stranded in unbelievable new circumstances, the girls discover the depths of corruption reach even the little shops on Jade Street.
So last issue we were introduced to the girls and this issue we pick up where we left off with them facing a magical junkie. I really like these girls they think cause they’ve been to school and they are magical they’ve got the upper hand but really have no idea who things work outside of school or in the mundane world. Something they are going to have to learn and soon, not to mention some attitude adjustments there are some hotheads on this team after all.
The restaurant's owner Magpie is a nice woman and she’s helping the girls out but she knows a lot more about what’s going on around here than she’s letting on. Case in point the girls walk in on her having a discussion with a little guy with an attitude. Seems like he’s part of a gang or something where Magpie is paying extortion for protection. Yeah seems like sometimes the real and the magical world do collide in some very real ways. It’s interesting though because the girls really are out their element and if they’d taken the time to listen to Magpie instead of assuming and jumping into action like they did well things might have played out a little differently.
Though if they had stopped to think then meeting Wing would have gone a whole lot differently. I like this issue because while yes there’s action and that action speaks volumes for some characterisation we also get a lot of backstory here about what’s going on on Jade Street. With Wing and Magpie it seems the girls are now making friends out of regular folk and are forgetting all about going back to school to learn about how things are in the real world. Of course with what we learn it seems they’ll have to go back at some point since all points seem to point to the school being involved in what’s happening here.
The interior artwork here is alright. It’s got a Manga vibe to it that I like. The page layouts using angles and perspective are well done. I’d like to see more use of backgrounds though, they seem to be a lost art these days and they really do wonders in fleshing out scenes and bringing us the bigger picture.
There’s a great concept, premise and execution going on with the story going on here. It’s familiar and yet new and fresh which is nice to see. Honestly it’s almost like a concept you’d see on that old ABC Family channel (or whatever it’s called these days). This is a cute romp and there are a few lessons that can be gleaned from this already but we’ll see how things play out and how the girls grow and evolve as the story moves forward.