This week finds us in the middle of a good old-fashioned magic hootenanny. The confrontation that started in the last issue spills over into this issue as Mandrake works his way through the illusion of his great magical enemy only to find his other great magical enemy: his ex-wife Narda the Snake Queen. Turns out Narda has been hoarding magical artifacts in an attempt to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! FOR REASONS! I don’t really know those reasons other than possibly the money that comes with being the organization in charge of everything. Of course, if you are the organization in charge of everything money becomes pretty meaningless. Out of the Pulpy-verse titles this one probably still has the most potential. That is helped by the fact that this is only on its second issue so there’s still a lot of potential left in the book and time to fix any many mistakes that might have been made. Not that the book has really made any mistakes but it has yet to really branch out much either. The magic is cool, the concepts are interesting and the potential is endless. This really has the ability to turn into some old school Dr. Strange stuff which is complimented by the exaggerated, surreal artwork. The art could veer off into some very psychedelic territory and not feel out-of-place. The art already kind of feels like some kind of ‘enhanced’ reality, in a good way, so for things to take a reality bending turn would probably help the book out. As much as I like the art it is kind of wasted just portraying regular people doing regular things.

Unfortunately there just isn’t much say about this book. There’s not a whole lot to gush over. The characters are colorful but not particularly unique or interesting. They’re colorful because they are magic people in a magic world. The plot is pretty straightforward but the setting is kind of driving everything else into the passing level. If you like the more magical feel or have invested into the Pulpy-verse then this is a pick-up, if not then you aren’t missing out on anything.

Score: 3/5

King: Mandrake The Magician #2 Writer: Roger Langridge Artist: Jeremy Treece Colorist: Omi Remalante Publisher: King - Dynamite Price: $3.99 Release Date: 6/17/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital