Online streaming service, Netflix, which has produced numerous series based on comic books, has released the trailer of their first ever comic book, titled The Magic Order. Written by Mark Millar (Kick-Ass, Wolverine: Old Man Logan, Civil War) and illustrated by Marvel’s artist Olivier Coipel (Thor, Avengers), the book will be available in comic shops from 13 June.
Published by Image Comics, The Magic Order is the first franchise created by Millar since Netflix acquired his entertainment company Millarworld. As the trailer goes, the comic book blends magic and the mob with five generations of magicians who are tasked with secretly protecting our world from evil forces. They live among us as neighbours, friends, and co-workers during day, but by night they are the sorcerers, magicians, and wizards that protect us from the forces of darkness — unless the darkness gets them first. They must battle the forces who are taking them up one-by-one.
There will be no second printing of the series if it sells out, according to the creator. This decision mirrors with similar fate of an issue of Hit-Girl, another series by him published at Image. Digital issues of The Magic Order will be available for the same price as the printed issues.
Millar wrote, “We want to get back to that crazy, exciting time where a first printing really meant something too and create a real collectibility here with no second printing. We love the idea of making this genuinely sought after. So after inventory on the first and only print run is depleted, there will be no additional printings. That said, we’re very, very sure this is going to sell out.” (Comicbook)
Millar has also noted on Twitter that the first issue has received more than 140,000 orders — a substantial number for an industry where top-selling issues each month typically get between 100,000 and 200,000 orders.
“The Magic Order is a book for the kids who enjoyed something like Harry Potter or that kind of genre growing up now having something that appeals to their adult sensibilities. Tonally, it’s actually closer to The Sopranos in that it’s about a patriarch in an underworld family and his concerns about his children. King Lear is the basic structure, if that doesn’t sound too pompous, but with magic wands. And it’s dirty. It opens with a shagging scene, so you immediately know this isn’t Hogwarts,” he added.