There were a lot of things that I enjoyed about the first issue of Star Mage, but unfortunately none of those aspects translate over into the second installment except for the great art… which is by a different artist. A good majority of this issue is spent with Arylos explaining to Darien all about Darien’s father and a history of La’atzu, their galaxy. Honestly, it’s pretty daunting to read through all of the backstory through Damien’s father’s past. I feel like some of my favorite writers are able to take a world they have in their head and seamlessly translate it to the page and in turn to the reader. This book, to me at least, doesn’t do a good job of making the world relatable or all that memorable…the explanations and dialogues are bogged down by ridiculous names that I wouldn’t even attempt to pronunciate. A good example of this is “The Xul Sarrum is more powerful than ever. He even has his Bel Etu mages attacking Babu Balgaldingir!”

Other than getting the explanation about Darien’s place in the universe and some info on his father, not a lot happens. Darien shows off his mage skills by protecting his and Arylos’s spaceship from their enemies the Bel Etu. This point was probably the most interesting part of the whole book, even though there wasn’t much action and there didn’t feel like there was much risk. This can be attested to the fact that Darien has natural skill for being a mage, but it still overall fell flat for me.

Due to the lackadaisical nature of the rest of the book, the ending which would normally yield a great cliffhanger due to the circumstances left me feeling apathetic towards our two protagonists. I obviously very much enjoyed the first issue, but if the series continues along this path I might not be following it for much longer. I can only really praise this book if you’re a huge sci-fi fan and don’t mind reading long-winded character and world descriptions. Also, the art is great and really is the saving factor for this issue in my opinion.

Score: 2/5

Writer: JC De La Torre Artist: Franco Cespedes Publisher: IDW Publishing Price: $3.99 Release Date: 5/21/14 Format: Mini-Series, Print/Digital