Ascender Volume 3: The Digital Mage
The Ascender series, Issues 11 - 14
Jeff Lemire, illustrations by Dustin Nguyen
Image Comics
Fiction, Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: On the run from Mother's minions, young Mila and the illegal robot dog Bandit, along with her reluctant guardian Telsa and her companion, run into another old friend of Mila's father Andy: the robot Driller, protected by the mage Mizard the wizard after the great Descender robots removed mechanical beings from the galaxy and opened the way for magic's return (and Mother's rise.) Together, they find their way to a hidden fortress where the map in Bandit's scrambled brain might be unlocked... but what will they find?
Meanwhile, Andy - lost and presumed dead by his daughter Mila - has managed to not only survive, but rescue his former lover and Mila's mom, the half-robotic woman Effie. Freed of Mother's vampiric influences, she joins forces with Andy to find their way back to Mila and Bandit... but can they escape Mother's ever-watchful eyes?
Mother has suffered a cruel turn of fate: her prodigal sister, from whom Mother stole her powers and position, has returned, forcing the woman to act as a puppet running the galactic empire of magic and terror she built with her stolen abilities. But Mother didn't claw her way up from humiliation and drudgery just to end up, once again, on her knees before an arrogant witch...
REVIEW: This maintains the pacing and style of the previous two Ascender volumes (which are themselves continuations of Lemire's Descender series, chronicling the end of the robot era.) Separated from her father, Mila finds herself torn, both excited to finally fly into space and scared of a future without her family, a situation that becomes all the stranger when Mizard informs her that she is herself a fledgling mage. Her journey with Telsa brings them into contact not only with Driller, but another character from the original Descender series, who has undergone a radical transformation. Meanwhile, Mother's fortunes have taken a bad turn, but the new secret ruler of the galaxy is even crueler than she was. All paths seem to be converging toward the twin (possibly entwined) secrets of where the robots were taken and the hidden source of the galaxy's magic. The trajectory almost feels like it could wrap up in the next volume or two, unless some dramatic new plot twist draws it out as long as the original Descender series (six volumes.) In any event, I'm still enjoying this story, an interesting and action-filled blend of magic and rockets, and will happily read on.
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