In a post apocalyptic world, a woman with a mystical gauntlet fights off relentless demons – and suddenly encounters other humans for the first time since everything went literally to Hell.

This is one heck of an opening chapter for Malice + Magic. It drops you into the phenomenal action immediately, with some jaw dropping, Manga-esque action sequences that feel incredibly detailed and dynamic.

Though the art is genuinely incredible at times, there’s a bit of an issue with storytelling clarity; the reader is asked to interpret what’s happening a little too much from visual cues and it can be a little too difficult to truly work out what’s going on in some scenes.

The two main characters look a little too similar from a distance too, so there’s the odd problem where it’s uncertain who’s spoken (and who’s who between them!).

That said, a post-chapter afterword section does feature a bit of insight into the world building and some of the influences and intentions behind the story.

Malice + Magic is an incredibly fast paced and exciting read; as the action never suffers from the aforementioned lack of clarity, it’s genuinely brilliant when demon ass is being kicked – I just wish there was a little more breathing room afforded to the quieter moments.

Writer CM Edwards and artist Jhomar Soriano have crafted a really intriguing, brutal and impressively detailed world here, however – and despite the few problems I had along the way, I still found Malice + Magic to be a fantastic read, especially from a visual point of view.

You can buy Malice + Magic from GlobalComix here.

Many thanks to CM Edwards for providing me with a copy of Malice + Magic for review purposes.