Matt Wagner Returns to ‘Mage’ after 18 Years!
John F. Trent
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Matt Wagner will be returning to his Mage property to finish the trilogy he started almost 30 years ago.
The original series, Mage: The Hero Discovered, from Comico Comics debuted in February 1984 and ran through December 1986. After Wagner regained the rights to the series he put out the sequel, Mage: The Hero Defined, in 1997 through Image Comics.
The story follows Kevin Matchstick, a reluctant everyman hero, who discovers he is the reincarnation of the legendary Pendragon. After a shaggy and beguiling wizard bestows this knowledge upon him he also discovers he can wield the mystical weapon, Excalibur.
Wagner talked to Bleeding Cool about his love for this series and what it really means to him:
I feel like MAGE is one of my purest and, well…most magical narratives. I have a fondness for saying that I don’t decide when I’m going to work on MAGE, MAGE decides when it’s going to work on me. And while, sure, that sounds a bit glib…it’s also pretty much true.
The new series Mage: Hero Denied will be 15 issues long, but it will also feature a bridge issue, The Hero Denied #0 connecting “The Hero Defined” to “The Hero Denied.” The 15th issue will also be a double-sized extravaganza.
It will be published monthly in blocks of four. On the fifth month, there won’t be a single issue, but there will be a collected edition. Wagner also told Bleeding Cool, Image will also be releasing Trade Paperback editions of his previous two series.
Probably the most revealing bit of information from Wagner’s sit down with Bleeding Cool is that even after such a long time, he has absolutely no idea how the story will end.
In fact, I have no idea where and how this series will end. During production of the second series, THE HERO DEFINED, I even tossed out the process of doing layouts or thumbnails. I don’t write anything down for MAGE, don’t take any notes.
Mage: The Hero Denied is slated for a summer 2017 debut.
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