The Magic Order, Vol. 4

The Magic Order #4

by Mark Millar (Writer), Dike Ruan (Illustrator), Giovanna Niro (Colorist)

The Magic Order is in turmoil after Cordelia Moonstone was forced to expel her brother from the group and now there are whispers of discontent among the other wizards. They're tired of the rules they've all been living under for centuries, and now a coup is brewing with old friends becoming the greatest threat so far.

Collecting all six issues of the smash-hit third volume and coming in 2024 as a Netflix live-action series.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Comic Book, Magic

176 pages, Paperback

First published September 12, 2023

About the author

Mark Millar is the New York Times best-selling writer of Wanted, the Kick-Ass series, The Secret Service, Jupiter’s Legacy, Jupiter’s Circle, Nemesis, Superior, Super Crooks, American Jesus, MPH, Starlight, and Chrononauts. Wanted, Kick-Ass, Kick-Ass 2, and The Secret Service (as Kingsman: The Secret Service) have been adapted into feature films, and Nemesis, Superior, Starlight, War Heroes, Jupiter’s Legacy and Chrononauts are in development at major studios.

His DC Comics work includes the seminal Superman: Red Son, and at Marvel Comics he created The Ultimates – selected by Time magazine as the comic book of the decade, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, and Civil War – the industry’s biggest-selling superhero series in almost two decades.

Mark has been an Executive Producer on all his movie adaptations and is currently creative consultant to Fox Studios on their Marvel slate of movies.

Reviews

[Jayson · Rating 3 out of 5]

(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: Bloody but bland, visits fantasyland, series fabric unspun/reset (back to square one): a seppuku but so poorly planned.

*Progress updates: Preamble ◦ Issues #1-2 ◦ Issues #3-4 ◦ Issues #5-6

[Alexander Peterhans · Rating 3 out of 5]

So volume/arc 3 of this series was pretty much a lot of setup for this book, and did it deliver? Eh, kind of. There is an actual central plot here, and some loose threads from the previous volume are tied up within that plot.

First off, a lot of characters are killed off, and it doesn't really land. Firstly, there are so many characters in The Magic Order that I can barely remember them all, so when they die, it's more of an "okay" than an "oh no!". Secondly, most of these characters are dying again, so that saps most of the shock.

The baddie is an old baddie, and she isn't explored at all. Her motivations are really boring and kind of stupid, which is a shame, because I get the feeling that Millar likes writing villains a lot more.

I was a big fan of the art in volume 3 (most people don't seem to have liked it), and we have a new artist for this book - not a big fan, it comes across as a bit generic to me.

Basically, all of this is a reset of The Magic Order for the next arc, so lets see what happens, death doesn't seem to stick in this world.

(Thanks to Dark Horse Books for providing me with an ARC through Edelweiss)

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

OMG! Mark Millar has only one plot for this entire series: one faction of the Magic Order tries to kill off the other members in order to take control of the secret society. That's it. Over and over.

This time its a cabal of greedy magicians who -- in addition to protecting the world from magical threats -- want to be able to use their magic for personal monetary gain, a taboo under the current rules. Cue the bloodbath. But having killed off so many people in the previous volumes, whose deaths are we left to care about?

I liked the first volume of this series so much, but I guess Mark Millar did too because all he seems to want to do is keep rewriting it.

[Marpapad · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5]

[Matthew Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 stars. I enjoyed the magic in this volume the most of any of the other volumes, but I think what this volume does best is dive into the lore of The Magic Order. Very solid stuff though a tad bit flooded with plot points at times.

[Frédéric · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hope you're not particularly attached to the characters, because you're going to be sorry. Millar decimates his cast with gusto and has a lot of fun. The man is creative.

I won’t lie, this isn't the script of the year. It's brutal in a bratty, toy-boxing kind of way. The characters have no personality, the villain is all mwah ah ah, the resolution is rather corny... but it was great fun. I got hooked to the action and read the whole tpb in one go to find out what that crazy Scotsman was up to.

That slick bastard’s good.

Add to that the excellent graphics by Dike Ruan and Giovanna Niro, and you're on your way to a relaxing evening.

[Ayo Odun · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at issue 3 or 4

One Goddamn star and only because the artist's work is phenomenal.

Truly miserable hack garbage. Wasted potential wasted artists. Terrible story awful characters shit ass dialogue. Every body talks like a 15 year old boy who just learned what swear words are even the magical creatures from parallel dimensions. Also the R slur was so fvking unnecessary like my God Miller you are a grown ass man leave that shit to 4chan poisoned 18 year olds.

Truly a series that just gets worse with every instalment. The twists and reveals make no sense or actively contradict what little established character/lore we had. Every character is a murderous scumbag even the 9 year old girl who gets brutally ripped apart on screen. Why should the audience care about these miserable flesh sacks???
Everybody dies so unceremoniously and in contrived ways. No loyalty nothing holding these people together.

I held out because I loved the artists but I'm genuinely shocked how MM manages to bamboozle great artists to pen his underbaked edgelord trash.

This isn't deep or grimdark and as someone who loves darker toned stories this is just juvenile rubbish. This is what my secondary school self thought was the height of "dark" writing. Honestly I give GRRM a lot of crap because I think he does Too Much ® but never again because at least GRRM can actually write and construct a dark story worth a damn.

This is the first time in years I truly hate a book and wish I could have my time back.

This is a further reminder why I don't touch any Mark Miller excrement masquerading as "writing" with a ten thousand meter stick.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Magic Order series is really up and down in terms of quality. This fourth volume blasts off by killing basically all the magicians we're familiar with from previous volumes - no preamble, no introduction, nothing but murder. It's a bit overwhelming and in no way lands like it should.

Turns out Albany's back and she's teamed up with all the magicians who have been chafing at the rule against making money. Maybe...maybe that's not a really strong reason for murdering everyone else? Sheesh. Cordelia is zapped to the magic kingdom that Edgar (man in the castle in the painting) is from. To get back to our world, she has to duel her long lost brother (I feel like she has a lot of those?). Ultimately, Edgar's whole deal plays a big part in the bombastic conclusion, but aside from one issue of dense backstory, very little of it makes sense.

The art, of course, is still fantastic. And the pacing is relentless. So it's not truly terrible, just nearly impossible to follow. Maybe if I read all the Magic Order volumes back to back...?

[Sean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Millar is back with his magical mafia book and its another really good read. After the bold actions taken by Magical Order leader, Cordelia Moonstone last volume, the affects are huge. The book is so satisfying because nothing and no one is safe. Here we spend quite a bit of time in a fantasy realm that was probably too much time but the resolution to the story is worth it. Once again, Cordelia is the real deal and a fantastic character. The art this volume is handled by Dike Ruan who did a phenomenal job. Overall, another super solid book in a very good series.

[Ms. Woc Reader · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a convoluted mess! This is a series that goes up and down in terms of quality with some volumes being better than others. Volume 3 was really good. This vol had way too much going on. It was confusing, rewrites seemed to be happening, we went from villain to villain into a larger villain plot that made no sense.

[iamjacsmusings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plot threads from Vol. 3 play out here but it's all got a little repetitive by this point.

The series has lost its... Magic.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little confusing. I need Coles notes for this one!

[Roman Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art by Dike Ruan is excellent, the story not so much. There was all this buildup for Madame Albany to be the overarching villain for Cordelia and the remaining Magic Order. And it all came to nothing in this volume, as Albany willingly kills herself to make way for Edgar as the final antagonist. It’s clear Millar resurrected her and revealed her in Vol. 3 just to have a shocking twist, nothing more. He brought the character back only to get tired of playing with her, and decided to kill her again for an additional subversive twist. Millar has Albany say “I liked being dead; I also like fucking people over.” And that’s the moment I checked out of the book.

There’s interesting ideas, the world of Kolthur could have been a series unto itself if Millar fleshed it out more or bothered to flesh out Perditus the Wizard King. But ultimately this was a waste of potential, same as the previous three volumes of this series. I’m sure just like with Kingsman and Kick-Ass, the inevitable movie adaptation or tv series will be better than this.

[Mariano · Rating 3 out of 5]

El arco más TV treatment de todos. Buen momento para dejar de leer la serie. Es divertido y ágil de leer, pero es una colección de "what a twist!" sin ningún tipo de peso narrativo. Pasa de todo y es lo mismo que si no pasara nada. Por un momento se siente como si esto en realidad iban a ser dos volúmenes y decidieron apretarlo en uno. El trabajo de Ruan es muy bueno, eso sí. Es lo que salva a esto de un -2

Está bien que el chiste de Millar siempre es "oh sorpresa!" pero eso tiene sentido cuando hay algún peso narrativo detrás (como en el primer tomo). Si la única razón por la que pasan cosas es para avanzar el plot y llegar al final pero para los personajes es todo lo mismo, entonces es igual que leer un resumen de Wikipedia.

Una pena porque realmente empezó siendo una serie muy entretenida, pero de terminó convirtiendo en la clasica millareada.

[Will Robinson Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars in my opinion! Is it me or did Corndelia come across a bit of a Mary Sue in this volume. Mark Millar continues to work his magic on this volume of Magic Order, which I will continue to declare would have been the greatest Constatine pitch to DC comics ever. This book goes in a quirky direction with the whole wizard who is a writer who creates a fantasy world but uses magic to go into fantasy world and becomes a threat to our world. LOL. There is a lot of world-hopping in this series. The artwork and coloring were still decent although I still miss Stuart Immonen on illustration duty. Dike Ruan does a sort of Immonen-style imitation. I love all the factions and world-building Millar brings to this universe, but the series takes a bit of a quality dip with to many shock value deaths and just out of nowhere power increases. I don't want to spoil it but a lot of main characters we were introduced to in early volumes die in this book. We are introduced to a new Moonstone family member who Millar builds up enough only to have our main heroine annihilate him with ease. Those used to Mark Millar's writing will see these frantic action set pieces as a bit overtop or what I call Millarisms. I am usually not a fan of the zany violence Mark throws in his stories at times because whether because pacing or narrative issues they can take one out of the story. Now this is a universe of magic so anything is possible but it is hard to get a grasp of the power levels or limitations with the magic in this series. Hopefully Millar is going to explain the power levels or wizard grades in detail in the future. All in All, this is still a fun series and it is a unique take on a contempary fantasy. Here are few magic & fantasy graphic novels I'd recommend for those who are enjoying this series: The Demon: Hell Is Earth, Shadowpact, Volume 1: The Pentacle Plot, Demon Knights, Volume 1: Seven Against the Dark, Justice League Dark, Volume 1: The Last Age of Magic, Swamp Thing by Scott Snyder, Birthright, Vol. 1: Homecoming, & Middlewest, Book One.

[Frey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh non. Ca avait tout pour me plaire, vraiment. Dommage que le pulp soit là pour le pulp. On passe 4 tomes à suivre les mêmes histoires, juste avec des méchants vaguement différents, tous les personnages ou quasi meurent d’une façon particulièrement descriptive et horrible pour être final sauvés par le même personnage à frange qui résout tout en coulisse et deux moulinets de bras. Genre on a le temps de s’intéresser à personne, ni se saisir les enjeux, j’ai plus de sympathie pour les faits divers de Ouest France. Et ok, le premier on est emporté, en mode « olala, gros enjeux », au deuxième on se dit « bah euh ok… » puis au 3e « oh nooooooooooooon, le même personnage qui est censément important meuuuuuuuuuuuuurt, oh noooooon, je me sens vraiiiiment ultraaaaa concernéeeeee !! », et au 4e « j’espère qu’il va rester mort cette fois, quelle daube ». Je pense que ç’aurait eu plus d’impact sur une série sur plus long terme ou télévisée (après tout, c’est Netflix qui gère le truc). Les 4 dessinateurs font vraiment un bon boulot cela dit, styles très différents mais lisibles et jolis, dommage que certains personnages changent de couleur de peau entre deux tomes.

[Camilo Guerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

¨Me gusta estar muerta ¨

SPOILERS

Las cosas terminaban mal el tomo pasado, y pues en los dos primeros números de esta saga....SE VA TODO A LA MIERDA. Los amigos que conocimos en números anteriores se dan la vuelta y hacen un golpe de estado, y no se detienen ante nada. Lo sentimos Cordelia.

LO BUENO: No hay cariño por nadie, Millar se pone asesino y se carga a mucho del Cast, entre principales y secundarios , con muertes poderosas, mágicas y épicas !!!, además de crecer en su mundo, y lo hace a un ritmo rápido, siendo 06 números que se leen en una sentada, con un arte de Dike Ruan al cuál no conocía pero...pero...el tipo esta al nivel de Olivier Coipel y Stuart Immonem que hicierón los dos primeros tomos y eso es mucho decir ( la pelea contra el Rey Mago !!! ).

LO MALO: Millar, tienes siete números, y aparte de la pelea contra el Rey Mago, podrías detenerte un poco mas en los duelos, mas allá de solo rayos mágicos...la pelea del Puente de Brooklyn pudo ser mas épica y con un par de paginas llenas de detalles y carnaza, pero no, eso es una pagina y sigamos...

[RunningRed NightBringer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another book entry that's crap due to Amazon's crappy oversight and not allowing anyone with more than half a brain edit the entries. This is the fourth series, not the third.
And Netflix series? Yeah, they've been promising that for five years. Instead they did Jupiter's Legacy, which was piss poor, and Super Crooks, which was actually pretty fucking decent.

I'd bought the prior volumes as individual issues but fell behind in 2023 so just got the collected trade.

This is volume four in the long running series, you might want to check out Volume 1 first.
Basically magic is real and The Magic Order protects the world from supernatural threats and maintain the masquerade with a sense of duty and honor while also dealing with magicians who think they should be able to use their power to make their lives more comfortable and profitable.

It's a pretty decent series with good writing and art. My only problem is it's got a lot of characters who blur into the background it's hard to keep track or care about them.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

What starts off as a bloody coup (and an excuse for Millar to off magicians in a variety of unpleasant ways) turns into a 'jaunt' through a fantasy world and a cross-world battle between the resistance and a mind-restored master magician. If the series has ever felt light on actual magic, this volume should pull you back in - it's mostly action sequences with a bit of politics and history thrown in. It clears the decks of a lot of secondary (and even some primary) characters with enough plot to make it coherent, even if some of it feels like it's cribbed from other authors. It's fine, although if you're squeamish you might want to give it a miss - some of the violence is more graphic than necessary, but then that's kind of to be expected with Mark Millar nowadays.

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decir que esto es Harry Potter para adultos es quedarse corto, pero realmente eso es lo que es. Quizás ya lo había descrito así antes, pero los anteriores tres volúmenes los leí hace tiempo y tuvo que buscar un resumen para recordar los principales elementos de la trama. En fin, La anterior oveja negra de la familia Moonstone, Cordelia tiene que asegurar su posición de liderazgo dentro de la Orden y lo que se juega es cada vez mayor. En esta ocasión de manera muy vistosa hay un conflicto entre un mundo ficticio creado por un escritor y el mundo real, como La Historia Sin Fin vitaminada. Esta muy bien. Seguiré leyendo.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot just races by. Slow it down a bit, let some of these beats land, and this would be a lot better (and stronger) story. Madame Albany is back and has taken over the Magic Order, ostensibly so that magicians can now make some money, while still helping to protect humanity (what's so wrong with that? why do so many have to die for that?). But, obviously, there's something else going on, involving Edgar Moonstone, the old guy (and dangerous--there've been lots of hints) stuck in the painting in Moonstone Castle. The art isn't bad.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Millar keeps expanding the role of magic in this series, and the cast grow accordingly as characters age, die, gain and lose power, well they live life, just

On a slightly different scale than the rest of us.

I don't like admitting I sometimes lose track of a character and whom they owe their allegiance to, and maybe it is 1) the size of the cast 2) the story is moving so fast and I'm so engrossed in it that I'm not memorizing who is who.

To say the least do not piss off Cordelia Moonstone. Because, in this volume she truly defines the words bad ass.

[Margueuz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quoi ?? Le tome 4 serait meilleur que les 2 et 3 ?

Pas de panique, la conclusion est bien à la hauteur de celle des précédents tomes, c'est-à-dire ultra-prévisible, mal rythmée, avec un beau deus ex machina en prime !
C'est dommage, on sent à mi-lecture que tout aurait pu être différent, le scénario être réellement complexe (répéter le même type de twist pendant 4 tomes, ça fait beaucoup là, non ?), l'univers plus consistant, les personnages moins dispensables, [insérer défaut quelconque, il y a de grandes chances qu'il y soit]...

Bonne lecture !

[Allen Setzer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great wrap up of the previous volumes. Beautiful artwork like usual for the series. I don’t want to give away much but you’ll be missing some characters you wouldn’t expect by the end of this. Mark brought in all the plot nuggets from the series to wrap them into a cohesive story. I was always intrigued, loved the setting and world he created. The characters were well crafted and easy to be invested in. Magic Order is definitely his best comic book series.

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

It seems like Millar had Kill 'Em All by Metallica on repeat while writing this one—and really took that message to heart. Vol. 3 felt like a setup for this book, and while the payoff is decent, it’s definitely my least favorite volume in the series so far. It does shake things up a lot the villains and turncoats' motivations are poor (to me; you may disagree). Still, when the book 5 hits the shelves, you can bet I'll be first in line to grab a copy.

[Colin Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, a book of contrasts. Excellent art by Dike Ruan. The story was a bit of a re-run of a previous lets-murder-everyone plotline and there were a lot of motivations that didn't really make sense. Also a lot of dramatic deaths and none of them really hit hard because the remaining characters didn't seem to be too bothered by them at any point. The resolution of the whole affair seemed familiar and not unexpected.

[Kevin Mullier · Rating 3 out of 5]

Emerging from the lil girls body was a sick panel but apart from that Madame Albany didn't do a whole lot before killing herself which is a shame cause she's a cool bad guy. I wasn't too fussed on the Cordelia in the fantasy world section and it was a little convoluted and easy ending with all the Uncle Edgar stuff

[Mik Cope · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a bit difficult to get back into the world after such a long break, but on the other hand, it meant I was coming at this with fresh eyes. Various plot points were doubtless resolved, but the core story is basically that of a magickal kingdom created by a struggling writer who then develops occult powers to escape into it - and all the power struggles that develop thereafter.

[Edward Correa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Siento que el volumen 4 recupera la grandiosidad de las primeras historias de este título, además de que el arte vuelve a estar a un nivel más "realista", de manera espectacular. Cordelia es una personajazo que me encantará encontrarme en futuros títulos de Millar y compañía.

[The Geeky Viking · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a fan of big-budget urban fantasy than 'The Magic Order' is the series for you. Writer Mark Millar excels at writing these bombastic widescreen tales and he delievers once again with this fourth volume. Really excited to see where this one goes in Volume 5.