Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: JC De La Torre
Artist: Ray Dillon
Release Date: 16th April 2014

Darien Connors, or Astroboy to the school bullies, is a smart 14 year old lad with a passion for science. No wonder, his Dad is an astronaut with the heroic opportunity to pilot the first manned mission to Mars. Darien also has an awesome sounding birth right which has been kept a secret from him; he is a Star Mage. A kind of sci-fi Harry Potter.

It’s a nice opener for the series and one that will grab the attention of the younger crowd. Darien has all the nasty problems as any boy his age; namely school and all the challenges that goes along with it for a short, smart, skinny kid. There are girls and bullies and, of course, the onset of star mage powers.

The dialogue is fun and the issue manages to cover the events of 2 years without ever feeling rushed. There onto a winner with Arylos, the Third Scepter, Et Lu Necromancer Star Mage of the Sarru Kishpu. He is a serious chap who will need to get young Darien up to speed on how to be a Star Mage. Anyone who uses the word, Stars! as a curse word is a character for sure.

The art is a joy to look at. The level of detail is immense and easily captures the sense of scale and awe of space shuttles and the busyness of school. Character expression is exaggerated and always recognisable. This adds so much to the Arylos character mentioned earlier; this guy emotes! The colours are so bold that they glow under some superb lighting.

The comparisons with Harry Potter are obvious but Darien even has the poster on his bedroom wall. It’s refreshing to see a story aimed directly at the younger generation. This could be a lot of fun.

Rating: 4/5.

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The writer of this piece was: James McQueen
You can also find James on Twitter.