Mage: The Hero Discovered by Matt Wagner

Ask any comic book geek to make a top ten list of the greatest comics of all time. You’ll get the inevitable “Dark Knight Returns”, “Watchmen”, “Maus”, “Sandman”, but somewhere in there, Matt Wagner’s Mage will make an appearance. From its somewhat clumsy beginnings to its amazing conclusion, Mage is a loveable shaggy dog of a story that has earned its place in the pantheon of great tales.

Kevin Matchstick was an ordinary man who wanted nothing more than to mind his own business. During a stroll one night (under the influence?) Kevin stumbles upon a rather eccentric homeless man, and they engage in a brief philosophical debate over happiness. The man hints that Kevin’s life may be destined for something greater, and then he disappears, leaving Kevin flustered and confused. Soon after, Kevin finds himself breaking up a mugging. The assailant is a mystical creature in disguise: a grackleflint. Kevin dispatches of him and calls for help from the police. When he returns home, the homeless man is there waiting for him. He introduces himself as Mirth, and becomes a bit of a spirit guide for Kevin the reluctant hero. Kevin finds himself in the middle of a great war. Under the guidance of their father the Umbra Sprite, the five grackleflint brothers are hunting down the Fisher King, the being who represents the force of light in the universe. It’s up to Kevin to stop them from reaching their goal. He’s joined in battle by Edsel, a young lady wielding a mystical baseball bat, and Sean, a ghost of a recently departed public defender.

The Umbra Sprite throws everything he can at Kevin: ogres, dragons, and demonic armies of little RedCaps. Ultimately, Kevin must infiltrate the Umbra Sprite’s lair at the Styx Casino and bring it down to finish the war. As he approaches his final destination, Kevin’s friends disappear one by one, until he is left to face the challenge alone with the knowledge that he is the reincarnation of Arthur Pendragon, legendary king of England.

Matt Wagner makes deft use of mythology and Gods in his retelling of the eternal story of the Pendragon. It’s amazing to see the correlations he draws in our modern society. While the first few chapters tend to labor under the weight of the massive epic to come, once Wagner gets up to speed, it’s a sight to behold, a gauntlet laid down for future generations of storytellers. The second installment of this epic, Mage: The Hero Defined was finished ten years after the completion of The Hero Discovered. Fans anxiously hope that the conclusion, Mage: The Hero Denied, doesn’t take another ten years.