Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Mystik U. #1 (of 3)

   I’m a little mystified by Mystik U., the new Harry Potter – uh, I mean, series where all DC’s magic characters gather at a mysterious school that teaches magic while the students are constantly exposed to terrible danger.

    Of course, DC did this years ago with Books of Magic in 1990, which featured young Tim Hunter, who was Harry-like seven years before the Potter stories started. (Created by Neil Gaiman, who dismissed comparisons between the two characters – Gaiman insisted both he and J.K. Rowling were “drinking from the same well.”)

   This series focuses on the young magician Zatanna as her powers first (tragically) appear, and she’s sent to a special school to learn her skills.

    There she meets other students who exhibit varying magical powers – some for good, some not so much.

   It’s not bad as such things go, though the continuity and where each character fits in the DC Universe may make your head hurt (presumably this is set five or 10 years in the past, but I could be wrong there. DC’s continuity is a thorny beast indeed).

   I mostly enjoyed it – young heroes in school is certainly a worthy story setting – but this one may be drinking a little too freely from the Potter well.

   Maybe if it had focused on Tim Hunter instead.

Grade: B

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