Shadow Mage #1-4

Issue two has no inkers credit, issue three was inked by Rick Bryant and issue four by Bryant and Gonzalo Mayo

SUMMARY

Issue one starts with Adam Carthalion (wow, a Carthalion whose name doesn’t start with a J!) having gathered his army to fight the evil planeswalker Ravidel. For some reason he has brought his infant son Jared (Ah, all is right in the world again), but once battle is joined he tells his spellsquire Ezer to get him to safety. Unfortunately Ravidel casts Syphon Soul, which mortally wounds Adam. makes Ezer look old and withered and Jared… eh… loses his hair and has a crescent moon mark appear on his cheek... (Ezer actually says Jared is “a freak” now, but that seems a bit harsh judging by the art). When they get to House Scarlet in the city of Arathoxia, which Adam was the head of, they are send away by the vizier who claims not to recognize them. The two are forced to live in the slums of the city from now on.

Look at that freak baby!

Homelands #1

HOMELANDS #1

Please ignore the terrible cover, there's Rebecca Guay art on the inside!

SUMMARY 

On the world of Ulgrotha, a war is being fought between the Tolgath (“upstart planeswalkers starving for knowledge”) and the Ancients (“jealous wizards, quick and cruel to defend against any trespass into “their” mysteries”.) One of the Tolgath, Ravi, is overcome by the chaos and the fighting and rings the Apocalypse Chime, which destroys pretty much everything on the plane: creatures, artifacts, planeswalkers, even the mana lines of the plane itself. Only through one dimensional rift mana still enters Ulgrotha. Ravi survives, as she had locked herself into a special vault. Unfortunately for her, it doesn’t open from the inside…

Serra Angel #1

Serra Angel #1

 

I like how Douglas Shuler gets credit for creating Serra Angel.

SUMMARY

A guy called Aldon is kicked out of his castle by a guy called Dreygar. He takes refuges in a little shack, and uses an amulet to summon a Sengir Vampire, a Frozen Shade and a Bog Wraith, and a vail of earth from his homeland to summon a Serra Angel. The black creatures try to goad him into retaking his castle, but the Serra tries to get him to forget his old home and focus on peacefully building a new life instead. In the end Dreygar himself gets Aldon to fight him by employing a seductive Fallen Angel. Battle is joined and Aldon gets his castle back. His angel perishes in battle against the Fallen Angel though.