Mage: The Hero Discovered

AUTHOR: Wagner, Matt

ARTIST: Matt Wagner (illustrator); Sam Kieth (inker); Jeremy Cox (colorist); Bob Pinaha (letterer)

PUBLISHER: Image Comics

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1982-1984

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 2004

Publication History

Mage: The Hero Discovered originally appeared as a fifteen-issue maxiseries from 1982 to 1984 as one of the first two full-color series published by Comico Comics in the early days of the independent comics boom. From the beginning, it was planned as a finite graphic novel with a definitive beginning, middle, and end. Unsold copies of the first four issues were bound together, ads and all, and sold as Magebook, Volume 1, in 1985. A second Magebook of the next four issues also appeared that year. The entire series was later released by the imprint Starblaze Graphics in three oversized, trade paperback editions from 1986 to 1988.

Matt Wagner co-owned the copyright to Mage with Comico. When Comico went bankrupt in 1990 and sold its assets to another publisher, Wagner’s ownership of his properties came under dispute. This prevented the work from being published for several years. In 1997, the author obtained full rights to Mage. In 2004, a hardcover edition of the entire series was published by Image Comics. This version includes an extra short story that had previously appeared in the pages of Wagner’s Grendel series. A softcover edition followed that same year. A new printing of the Image hardcover was released in 2010.

Plot

Mage: The Hero Discovered is the tale of Kevin Matchstick, a cynical, disaffected youth. In a deserted city alley, he encounters a man named Mirth, who, unbeknownst to Kevin, is the World Mage, a being of great magical power. Shortly thereafter Kevin uncharacteristically helps a homeless man being attacked by a monster called a Grackleflint and later confronts more of these creatures. In each instance, Kevin exhibits previously unknown superstrength and invulnerability.

These events pull Kevin into the eternal struggle of good versus evil and set him on a journey of self-discovery. Mirth says that an evil being, the Umbra Sprite, plans to usher in an age of darkness by finding and sacrificing the Fisher King, an agent of the Light. The Umbra Sprite attempts to destroy Kevin and Mirth, working through the Grackleflints, an escaped convict named Rashem whom he has given deadly powers, and a series of summoned supernatural agents.

In the course of these encounters Kevin meets two companions who join him in his mission: Edsel, a young woman who carries an enchanted green-glowing baseball bat, and Sean Knight, a public defender who is actually a ghost.

After learning his presence is a magical beacon that allows the enemy to find them, Mirth goes into hiding to protect his companions. During his absence, the others discover the enemy’s location. They enter the Styx Casino, unprepared for the resistance they encounter. When Kevin is seriously wounded by the Grackleflint Emil, Edsel summons Mirth for help. Sean sacrifices his ghostly life, giving Mirth time to spirit the others to safety.

Kevin spends a year healing in the Green, the home of pure magic. He returns, only to be found by Rashem. Edsel is fatally wounded in the attack. Kevin grabs Edsel’s baseball bat, which instantly glows bright white in his hands, and kills Rashem. Shocked by these events, he throws the bat away. Edsel whispers Kevin’s destiny in his ear and then dies in his arms.

Mirth reveals that Kevin embodies the power of the Pendragon, the same force that King Arthur possessed. The bat is Excalibur, and Kevin’s touch has ignited its full potential. Kevin reclaims the bat and finally embraces his role as a hero.

Kevin fights many supernatural foes on his way through the Styx. Emil finds the Fisher King, but his attempt to sacrifice him fails, unleashing a burst of light that disfigures the Grackleflint. Emil returns to find the Umbra Sprite drained of power from his struggle against Mirth and Kevin. Enraged by his father’s failure, Emil bludgeons the Umbra Sprite to death. With the Styx collapsing around them, Kevin and Mirth escape.

Characters

•Kevin Matchstick, the main protagonist of the series, is a dark-haired, bearded youth (and a dead ringer for series creator Wagner). His encounter with the World Mage awakens superpowers, and he is reluctantly drawn into a struggle against evil. Directionless and full of self-doubt, he continually questions his role and his destiny.

•Mirth is the World Mage. Youthful, humorous, and spritely, he is a repository of vast power and information. He is guide and mentor to Kevin, starting him on the path of the hero.

•The Umbra Sprite, the main antagonist of the series, is a distant villain who operates from the shadows. Minions, primarily his sons the Grackleflints, carry out his orders. His obsession with his personal war with Mirth distracts him from his goal.

•The Grackleflints are five identical bald, pale-skinned brothers, with deadly poisonous spurs on their elbows. They serve the Umbra Sprite unquestionably, each with a specific power. Stanis can fly; Piet is a shape changer; Radu turns invisible; and Laslo can recognize the true identity of the Fisher King.

•Emil is the fifth Grackleflint, whose power of initiative and free will is “the most dangerous.” He is the only one who questions the actions of the Umbra Sprite, eventually betraying him.

•Edsel is a spunky young black woman who carries Excalibur in the form of an enchanted baseball bat. Fiercely loyal to Kevin, she is, like Mirth, aware of his true identity. Her death is the catalyst for Kevin accepting his role.

•Sean Knight, thin, blond, and bespectacled and one of Kevin’s companions, is a ghost with the powers of intangibility and the ability to inspire fear.

•Rashem, a dreadlocked convict empowered by the Umbra Sprite, is responsible for the death of Edsel.

Artistic Style

Mage: The Hero Discovered is drawn in an open, iconic style. Heavy lines, spotted blacks, and open areas define the characters and the setting. Wagner was a young, relatively untried artist attempting to find his style when the series first appeared. As a result, the early issues are rough, with shaky, inconsistent lines. Sam Kieth, whose line work is smoother and more assured than Wagner’s, became inker with issue 6. Relying less on muddy cross-hatching, Kieth gives the art a more consistently defined look.

Originally colored by Wagner using a mix of techniques, Mage has a more vivid palette than most comics of the era. While the figures are painted in traditional watercolors, the backgrounds are done with a device that allows Wagner to get an airbrush look from Pantone markers. Brilliant color infuses the panels, creating an emotional ambiance rather than a detailed world. The collected edition was digitally recolored by Jeremy Cox. While using Wagner’s work as a template, it lacks the raw immediacy of the original and relies too heavily on digital effects in places.

Wagner’s use of storytelling and layout compensate for his limited technique as a penciller and inker. His dynamic sense of pacing accentuate every scene. His use of expression and body language convey additional information about the characters so that their conversations, of which there were many, never devolve into static talking heads.

Over the course of fifteen issues Wagner’s skills grew before the eyes of the reader. Mirroring the character progression of his protagonist, Wagner discovered his power as an artist and storyteller.

Themes

Wagner has never hidden the fact that Mage: The Hero Discovered is fictionalized autobiography. Kevin Matchstick, an obvious doppelgänger for Wagner, represents the creator’s search for identity. This search, the ability to accept responsibility, and the concomitant recognition of one’s strengths and abilities is the central theme of the series. Time and again, Kevin realizes that not only do actions have consequences, but also does inaction, at times more serious ones.

Kevin’s story is mirrored by Emil, who challenges his father’s rule instead of following blindly. Emil has initiative, something Kevin does not. Without the guidance of a Mage, Emil claims his own power and creates his destiny. He literally “sees the light” when he attempts to kill the Fisher King, leading to the real downfall of the Umbra Sprite.

The penultimate chapter, a long conversation between Kevin and Mirth, is, in many ways, the story’s climax. This is where Kevin embraces his role as a hero. The final chapter, the big fight scene, is anticlimactic unless seen as a denouement to Kevin’s true objective.

Wagner deftly weaves mythic elements, specifically the tales of King Arthur, with the superhero genre to ground his tale in a larger tradition. Kevin is the Arthurian archetype, and Mirth is Merlin. Edsel is the Lady of the Lake, who bears Arthur’s sword, while Sean Knight represents all the knightly companions of the Round Table. This is not a simple retelling of the legends, however. Wagner’s approach is more aligned with the definition of mythology offered by influential psychologist Carl Jung and mythologist Joseph Campbell. Myth is not just a story, but a roadmap; the goal of one’s life journey is to discover the myth one is living. By being aware of these themes, readers can recognize and discover the hero within any life, including their own. Matchstick does not simply accept a destiny—he agrees to take an active role in creating it.

Impact

While many of the most influential comics of the 1980’s dealt with the deconstruction of the superhero genre, Wagner was creating a new vision of the same. Though most of the traditional trappings are absent, Mage: The Hero Discovered is a superhero story. There are no costumes, though like the original Captain Marvel, Kevin wears a lightning bolt on his chest, and, in an obvious tribute to that classic character, he gains his powers after encountering a magician. Kevin possesses superstrength and invulnerability and quickly surrounds himself with a team of superpowered helpers: Mirth is a magician, Sean has ghostly powers, and Edsel wields a magic weapon. They fight villains who also possess enhanced abilities.

Kevin and the others do not have an origin story, though. They are normal people who find themselves in extraordinary circumstances. When Mage first appeared, this narrative construct was an innovation. In subsequent years it has become a common approach to heroic fiction. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003) and Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files (2000- ) are but two of many examples of the genre known as “urban fantasy.” Kevin Matchstick was fighting ogres in a baseball stadium years before this term came into common usage.

This reimagining of the superhero has been necessary to bypass the stereotypical imagery that prevents the genre from reaching a broader audience. The tropes of the superhero, such as capes and tights, have been parodied to such a degree as to obscure the underlying value. Based on the success of the television show Smallville (2001-2011), even Superman, the first superhero, has benefited from this approach. It is difficult to say whether or not Mage had a direct influence on any of the stories that followed, or if Wagner tapped into this trend early. Nevertheless, many of the tropes that define urban fantasy are present in his work.

Mage appeared during the first bloom of small-press publishing that took place as a result of the direct market of the early 1980’s. Wagner had not worked his way up through the ranks of the major publishers, but he intuitively created a major work with no clear precedent. Like his protagonist, Wagner carved his own path, forgoing what had always been the tried and true method of working in the comics industry. His success, and that of many independent creators of that era, became the model for every subsequent generation of comics creators. Mage was an incredibly personal work of interstitial fiction, designed from the beginning to be read as a self-contained graphic novel, well before this became standard practice. Wagner went on to a full-time career in comics, writing and drawing for both major and independent publishers, while always returning to his own properties. A sequel, Mage: the Hero Defined, appeared in 1997. Wagner has promised a third and final installment, called Mage: The Hero Denied.

Further Reading

Barr, Mike W., and Brian Bolland. Camelot 3000 (1982-1985).

Wagner, Matt. Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman: Trinity (2003).

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Mage: The Hero Defined (1997-1999).

Wagner, Matt, and Amy Reeder Hadley. Madame Xanadu (2008-2010).

Wagner, Matt, et al. Grendel (1982- ).

‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. The Sandman Mystery Theatre (1993-1999).

Bibliography

Campbell, Joseph, and Bill Moyers. The Power of Myth. New York: Doubleday, 1988.

Jung, Carl G. Man and His Symbols. New York: Dell, 1964.

Morton, Jennie N. “Of Magicians and Masculinity: Merlin and the Manifestation of the New Man.” Universitas 4, no. 1 (Spring, 2008).