HEXED #1: First Issue Casts a Strong Spell

• Title: Hexed #1
• Writer: Michael Alan Nelson
• Illustrator: Dan Mora
• Colors: Gabriel Cassata
• Publisher: BOOM! Studios
• Release Date: August 13, 2014

[Let me make a clarification here. This is a new series but not totally new characters. There was a four-ssue Hexed series that has been collected into a hardcover. The art for that series was done by Emma Rios that many may know from her work on Pretty Deadly. I was not at all familiar with that series until after I wrote this review. Keep in mind that this review is written by someone that came into the series cold.]

The main character of Hexed is a female thief named Lucifer, who steals magical artifacts so that bad people can’t use them. There you go. Sounds ridiculous on the face of it and one of the characters in the book even points this out.

Doesn’t matter. Hexed #1 is one of the best first issues of a series I have read in some time.

The aforementioned lead character is a smart, strong, confident and independent young woman with a clear sense of honor. I will also describe her as sexy. What makes her sexy? The answer is every word that I used to describe her in the first sentence. That should be and is enough for me.

Let’s run through some of the other main characters in the book:

• Val Brisendine – museum owner that supports Lucifer in her endeavors. A bit older than Lucifer but reflects many of Lucifer’s best qualities.
• Raina, Val’s assistant – her role may be the ‘normal’ person in the book. The one that asks the questions that help us understand what is happening.
• Madame Cymbaline and her brother Yves – supernatural beings fighting a secret war into which I suspect Lucifer is about to be swept. Yves seems completely evil. That said, his sister creeps the heck out of me.
• The Harlot – the so-called Keeper of Secrets. If the Joker and Agatha Harkness were somehow combined in a Star Trek Transporter accident, this would be the result. A mystical being that works with Lucifer but also has her own agenda.

The writing in this book by Michael Alan Nelson is witty and sharp. Most of the primary characters are women (so far) and each is written with her own voice while still strong and smart. The dialogue conveys the relationships between characters without flat out explaining them. We do read some first person narration from Lucifer, but even this is used only when needed and tells us just enough.

Dan Mora’s artwork is crisp and clean with strong backgrounds that complete each scene. Each character is easily distinguishable from the others and the action flows so that it isn’t a chore to follow. In the first ‘scene’, Lucifer’s confidence is easy to see in her facial expression but also in her stance. She commands your attention whenever she is in a panel. Harlot’s madness, Val’s concern, Raina’s confusion are all there in the expressions. You can tell how they feel without reading a word.

Mora’s illustrations get a great boost from Gabriel Cassata’s colors. Scenes with variations between the mystical and the mundane are clearly communicated by the change in palate. Very few muted colors here. When blood appears on the page you don’t have to struggle to find it. Blood does appear, by the way, and in such a way that I can’t recommend this book for kids.

I’ve stated before that mystical books aren’t always my bailiwick. The rules seem arbitrary and frequently the magic answer was there all the time. In this book, I still don’t know the rules but I get that they exist. Magic has a risk and a cost and you feel that the characters are frequently in very real danger. Lucifer’s confidence seems deserved but I suspect that it may be shaken at some point in the future.

I doubt if Lucifer will reach Buffy the Vampire Slayer levels of popularity and perhaps the comparison is a bit unfair at this point, but I get a Buffy kind of vibe when reading this character. She has many of the aspects that made Buffy very popular and like that show, I look forward to seeing each of the characters develop and show us fully who they are and who they will become.  I hope to be along for a long run.