After years of living in the books of Skulduggery Pleasant, Bad Magic finally allows fans to see this magic infused world through the eyes of it's author, and what a picture this graphic novel paints. Bought to life by artists P.J.Holden and colourist Matt Soffe we finally get to see Derek Landy's long time hero's in full colour, their words turned to voices by letterer Rob Jones in a classic comic book style crafted by designer Pye Parr.
From the blurb;
'A small town in the middle of Ireland, a string of unexplained deaths and a monster on the loose. Better call the experts.
'When Skulduggery Pleasant and Valkyrie Cain drive into Termoncara, they discover a town with a dark past and a people haunted by darker secrets. There is a creature stalking the streets - a creature who delights in cruelty, who feeds off the little hatreds, who grows stronger with every drop of blood spilled.'
Landy leans into his history as a comic book writer for Marvel to bring this classic Skulduggery Tale to life in Graphic Novel form. With the freedom given by the artists renderings Landy crafts his most monstrous creatures yet, allowing the artists to bring the fear factor to this tale through their harrowing renderings, while keeping it comic book style bright with colour.
With the images telling a lot of the tale Landy has the freedom to focus into his characters speech, a strength for this comedic author, and Bad Magic is full of classic Skulduggery banter that keeps this story filled with passion as well as comic relief.
Over the years fans of the series will have learned to appreciate the stand alone Skulduggery tales for their punchy story lines, and for the freedom they provide our main characters to kick ass, and they will not be disappointed by Bad Magic. As Graphic Novel the tale is shorter than any Skulduggery story before it, but that doesn't stop Landy from crafting a fantastic cast and from exploring a new aspect of his broad magic system.
Bad Magic will grip readers and leave them eager for more. We can only hope that Landy has more Skulduggery graphic novels in his sights for the future, because this is a new side branch every fan can get on board with.
We give Bad Magic Five Stars
ISBN - 978-0-00-858578-5 Cover Price - £14.99 First published in the United Kingdom by HarperCollins Children's Books in 2023
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