Writer: Joe Rechtman
Artists: Reilly Brown & Tony Kordos
Colorist: Jim Charalampidis
Letterer: Taylor Esposito
Publisher: Titan Comics
Price: $17.99
Release Date: December 18, 2024
After a technological singularity sends the continents crashing together, factories pollute the air, and Humans live in medieval villages or Old West towns. People seek aid from alchemists instead of doctors. How do the wizards get along with their unmagical neighbors? How do they spend their days on this dramatically altered Earth? And what of those who seek the knowledge of ages past? Let’s grab our spell books, leap into Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult TP, and find out!
Stories
In “Heist on the High Seas,” a down-on-his-luck wizard gets an offer he can’t refuse. After getting tossed out of the pub, a wizard cloaked in shadow wants Archmagus Crowley to steal a cursed chest. He will pay its weight in gold if Crowley steals it from the wizards aboard a storm-tossed ship.
“A Burning in the Bramble,” the second story in Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult TP, introduces Mystic Willow. While factories fill the air with smoke, Willow enjoys the solitude of her cabin in the woods. She incites her fellow wizards’ ire when she heals a traveler's broken ankle. The wizards discourage people from traveling through their enchanted forest. But their anger pales compared to the villagers when they suspect Willow of abducting a young girl.
In “The Wolf and the Egg,” Magus Alizam guards a giant egg. One evening, Magus Wazir arrives. Magus Wazir's superpower is helping the lost. He wonders why his magic led him to Alizam. As the guardian explains why he protects the egg, Magus Wazir realizes people can get lost while knowing where they are.
“The Alchemist’s Apprentice” transports a wizard from a snowstorm to a shop. Magus Devon offers to sell the wizard whatever she needs. The woman spots a pair of snowshoes but lacks money. Magus Devon offers to give the woman the snowshoes in return for a story. So, her customer tells about a young alchemist whose foul-tempered master starts being nice to everyone.
In “The Wagon Of Woe," students fight while walking to school. Enchanter Orbis appears and orders them to stop. Enchanter Artis arrives to protect the children when Orbis uses magic to force them inside his wagon. In his fifth and final story, Joe Rechtman explains the mystery underlying his tale about Mystic Willow. He also hints at the significance of Archmagus Crowley’s maritime mission to bring Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult TP to a satisfying and enjoyable conclusion.
Art
Reilly Brown handles the art for "Heist on the High Seas." Then, Reilly tackles the pencils while Tony Kordos assumes inking duties for the next four adventures. The artists conjure a verdant world filled with medieval villages, while nearby factories suggest an encroaching Industrial Age. The exception is the desert-bound “The Wolf and the Egg.” Decaying metal buildings cluster around an abandoned oil rig near an Old West town. Magus Alizam battles a giant serpent amid towering wind turbines.
Wizards come in all shapes and sizes in Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult TP. “A Burning in the Bramble” shows the most diversity, as the purple-haired Human woman plays a magical roleplaying game with a purple fox, a bear, and a man with a red and gray mushroom head. Jim Charalampidis lavishes a loaded palette of bright and varied colors on wizards as they wield crookneck staffs, flaming swords, crystal balls, and fireworks.
Perhaps the most endearing wizard is Magus Wazir, who wears a brown hood, green cape and shoes, a mauve coat, and gray slacks. The diminutive wizard evokes He-Man's friend Orko or a medieval Jawa. His magic bell glows yellow-green when casting visions and transports him through green portals.
Taylor Esposito casts the narrator’s small lowercase italicized words onto creased yellow parchment scraps. Magicians' familiars speak minute lowercase dialogue. Humans speak uppercase words into dialogue balloons. The words grow bold for intonation and giant size for volume. Colorful sound effects enhance spells, destruction, and battles between bespelled game pieces, while a triangle in a dialogue balloon often symbolizes a wizard’s spell. Thanks to Titan Comics for providing a copy for review.
Final Thoughts
Magicians prove as varied as their powers in Forgotten Runes Wizard’s Cult TP. Perhaps the most unique is Enchanter Orbis. He drives his colorful, snail-powered wagon through the forests, towns, and fields. While danger threatens the water supply flowing through the grand aqueduct of Rabbit Falls, smoking power plants choke Earth’s atmosphere. Yet a wizard's quest for power and public distrust of magicians hint at an oncoming storm threatening the Runíc Supercontínent in this whimsical and lighthearted collection.
Rating 9.2/10
To look inside see my preview of Forgotten Runes Wizard's Cult TP.
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