Is it ever honestly a good idea to journey back to the very roots of an already established franchise?  Read on to find out

The official description from Aspen:

Explore the breathtaking world of Charismagic by journeying back to its ancient origins!

Orlana, spoken of in hush tones as the “Death Princess”, rules over all who oppose her reign. Not by force, but through the most dangerous of all magical powers — the ability to control minds! Under the Death Princess’ shadow of dominance and fear, the humans of Earth find themselves at risk of their civilization falling completely under her rule forever! Until Kon, a young but powerful wizard finds himself on an unimaginable quest to break Orlana’s curse on humanity, and set free those she wishes to forever hold under her spell!

The origins of the Death Princess are quite interesting, as the book opens with a peculiar but intriguing premise.  We have a little girl born with heightened magical skills, literally to the point where she can mind control her entire village into submission.  I honestly thought we were going to get to see some serious play from that but sadly the creative team was lost in a proverbial fever pitch to get to the final page.

The series writer starts his saga off with a strong beginning portion that’s chock-full of inner-dialogue and even some solid action, but ultimately Vince Hernandez delivers a barely passable script.  The author seemingly abandons the stronger elements of his story to cut straight to some light character moments that are stuffed with overly corny bits of dialogue.  Beyond that the narrative feels very rushed as many of the first meetings among our primary cast members come off as utterly forced.

Emilio Lopez is the saving grace of this first issue.  His unique art style imbues a sophisticated and controlled vision that elevates every corner of this story to new and bold heights.  Any missteps the writer takes are softened by the brilliantly placed pencil strokes that give more than enough room for error.  The end result is an experience that allows the reader to ignore the clunkier moments as they embrace the pretty pictures.

Charismagic: The Death Princess #1 is plagued by a lackluster script that’s ultimately redeemed by the art.  Recommended.

3/5