Black Magick 1: Awakening. Greg Rucka (Writer), Nicola Scott (Art), Chiara Arena (Colour Assists), Jodi Wynne (Letters). Image Comics (2016)

Very enjoyable and engaging set up with a very strong idea and a smart execution. Rowan Black is a police officer in Portsmouth and when she is called to a crime where a hostage taker demand to meet her she finds that he knows far more about her than he should. This is the start of the unravelling of her balance between her two lives, one aspect is brutally intruding into the the other. Rowan Black is a witch, the type that deals with actual magick. Her current situation is just the latest in a long line of public lives that have hidden the real, enduring, private one. She is the object of dangerous interest to serious forces and the events taking place at Portsmouth have attracted their attention. The balance that Rowan Black is under attack from mortal and supernatural forces who wish her harm.
Greg Rucka solves the problems of a set up with graceful confidence and a sharp eye for telling detail, the opening sequence introduces the central idea with wit and the transitions are seamless and effective. The hostage taker kicks off the story with force and very neatly and naturally ties the twin aspects of Rowan Black's life together. The ripples from that event, the obvious and the hidden aspects are carefully revealed and create a gripping and increasingly tense narrative that pulls the reader deeper and deeper into the story.
Greg Rucka proves the essential context details about Rowan Black's real life in a natural way as the need for them emerges from the unfolding events. There is never an abrupt info dump for the reader, the information surfaces through credible action and reaction. The cast are equally credible and natural, they are establish with wonderful economy and then allowed the space to develop and emerge in their own right. Rowan Black is a first among equals, the supporting cast are all strong and vital, this makes the action forceful and consequential. It also gives the supernatural aspects a solid and convincing context, they have an equal footing with the ordinary and they cross each other without breaking the story.
Nicola Scot's art is a pleasure to read, its confidence matches the writing and it captures and brings out every nuance and detail. The cast are memorable for being utterly natural looking, including the deeply unnatural cast members. Rowan Black looks, moves and dresses like a human female adult who has a dangerous job to do. Even standing in her underwear she manages to look composed rather than exposed, she is never undermined by the art.This is critical to the success of the story, Rowan Black has to be a credibly tough opponent for the forces ranging against her to capture and exploit the tension of the coming conflict. Nicola Scott creates a nicely detailed and weighty physical context for the action, this anchors the action when it arrives and when it does it is delivered with tremendous force and impact.
The colour scheme is great, the black, white and gray tones have small explosions of colour at critical moments, they serve nicely to show the layers of the story as they break through to each other under stress and pressure. Jodi Wynne's letters are quiet and natural, they are unobtrusive, changing as the need arises to emphasize a different detail of the story, the transitions are so much part of the context they are not noticeable while being very effective.
Black Magick: Awakening has set up an intriguing story, a serious conflict with a deeply engaging lead charachter and worthy opponents, the possibilities are enticing.

Lazarus Volume 1. Family. Greg Rucka (Writer), Michael Lark (with Stefano Gaudiano & Brian Level) Art & Letters, Santi Arcas (Colours). Image Comics (2013)(

Very engaging and enjoyable dysopian science fiction. The world is strictly divided between the Families who control the wealth and resources and those who work for them and the Waste, the rest of humanity. Conflict is epidemic between Families and between Families and Waste, each Family has a super soldier, their Lazarus who protects them and fights for them. Enhanced to recover from fatal wounds, the Lazarus is the sword and shield of the family and Forever is the Lazarus for the Family Carlyle. When a conflict develops between the Carlyle and Moray families Forever is sent on a mission to manage it. The roots of the conflict lie within the Carlyle family and Forever has bigger problems than she realises. The story moves fast, the action is terrific and the plot neatly and sharply drawn.
Greg Ruck does something quite amazing, he takes and tells a fairly common story idea very well and then reveals the bleak cold heart at the centre of it and makes the whole story move to a different level. The context is nicely set up, it really is the Godfather writ large in a devastated world world. There are gangs who run things, and layers within those gangs, the small related group who run things and employees and then there is everyone else. Some a gangs themselves others are just the prey the gangs oppress for profit and fun. Conflict is completely inherent in this context, conflict between the gangs and the prey, conflict within the gangs between the inner and outer circles and most importantly, conflict within the inner circle.
Greg Rucka takes this context and uses it very well within its own terms. The cast are well developed and the cross currents between them credible and forceful. The work of the Lazarus as the final enforcer for the family and their necessarily ambiguous stature within the inner circle is very well detailed. Greg Rucka lulls the reader into a slight sense of familiarity and then reveals that there are dangerous depths that should have been seen and they give the story a bitter context that subtly alters everything that has gone before.
Michael Lark's art is a pleasure, the cast move and respond with force and vigour, the non-enhanced cast move naturally. The Carlyle family members all have a constant element on tension that arises directly from their context, they are all constantly moving on the edge of conflict as the pressures and demands of their position pull on them. They all have to manage their relationships with Forever carefully and with each other even more carefully. The only calm presence is the father and leader of the Carlyle family, a man very comfortable with using and keeping violent power. The fight scenes are stunning, Forever is a hand-to-hand fighter so the action is always up close and personal. The Lazarus effect is using sparingly and effectively to underscore the action rather than deflate.
Santi Artcas colours capture and express the emotional tones of the story with subtle grace, they give depth to the cast and the context, the mostly muted tones echo the general devastation and the desert colours are wonderful. A great story really well told by very talented creators.