Black Magic

After their stellar run on Wonder Woman, writer Greg Rucka and artist Nicola Scott return to the world of Detective Rowan Black with a revealing coming-of-age story. Some family legacies are easier to bear than others, and in issue #6, Rowan’s 13th birthday party is capped off by the day’s actual main event — her awakening ceremony. It’s been more than a year since issue #5, and it was a good decision to use this flashback issue to reacquaint readers with the characters by exploring a critical period in Rowan’s history. The happy-go-lucky preteen we meet at the start of the issue is a “typical” kid enjoying her life. This naive young Rowan is quite the contrasting figure to the 33-year-old with the prevailing sense of melancholy we’ve known so far. Although her mother and grandmother adore her and have raised her in the traditions of their religion, Rowan cannot fathom the impact of the line she will cross at her awakening ceremony. Rucka deftly structured the issue as a “before and

END OF STORY ARC Book One: “Awakening” Conclusion Trial by divination.

MATURE READERS “AWAKENING,” Part Four A stranger arrives in Portsmouth.

BOOK 1: AWAKENING (Part 3 of 5) The threat begins to reveal itself. Rowan casts twice.

Greg Rucka and Nicola Scott’s “Black Magick” #4 opens with a standard police procedural scene: the autopsy. Rucka’s salty dialogue draws the reader in, and Scott pulls off a tricky overhead shot with deft use of perspective and shading. Her background details also make the scene even more three-dimensional, especially the pattern on the floor and the draping of clothing. Scott and Arena’s unusual, sparing use of color is still a success in directing the reader’s attention to objects touched by magick, but — even without the color cue — Rowan’s reaction to the discovery of three stones inside Bruce Dunridge’s stomach is reason enough to take notice. Rowan’s partner on the force, Detective Morgan Chaffey, is still a flat character. He seems like a good man and a good officer, but there’s not much else to him besides his folksy manner and periodic “Are you sure you’re okay?” cluck-clucking over Rowan’s mental wellbeing. Rowan doesn’t seem to have family members nearby, and so Morgan pr