With the tagline ‘What if the X-Men existed in the world of Harry Potter?,’ Deadly Living gives itself some pretty big shoes to fill. Mikey Zee gives his thoughts in this spoiler-free review of the book by Marcus Jimenez, Gavin Guidry, Addison Duke, Taylor Esposito, and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
(Disclosure: I backed this book on Kickstarter with my own dollars, and then CXF reached out to the publisher because I wanted to write about it.)
Fresh new indie comics publisher on the block Dauntless Stories, whose website opened for preorders yesterday, has an intriguing pitch: the website says they are not just a comics publisher, but a stories publisher. Deadly Living is the first of what they term ‘graphic novellas.’ These 50-96 page stories will exist alongside shorter serialized storytelling, prose pieces, and more. When I backed this book on Kickstarter, I did so purely because I saw it shared around Twitter, and I was hooked by the tagline: ‘What if the X-Men existed in the world of Harry Potter?’ I put up the money to back it, and went along my merry way until the finished product made its way into my inbox.
Deadly Living starts with a political rally that ends up getting interrupted by some people with abilities who just want to see the world burn. It’s a setup that introduces the trio of heroes, their powers and the societal conflict pretty efficiently. Things really begin to pick up, and veer even into some cool urban fantasy and horror territory, when the real foil to our heroes is introduced. (Can I just say: I’m always down for a corrupting force in a story like this, and the visuals from Guidry & Duke more than do the creepiness of the antagonist’s powers justice.)
The awkward and sometimes sarcastic banter between the group as they take on the supernatural and bizarre challenges in the world of Deadly Living feels very relatable in a refreshing way. The characters are clearly people bound by circumstance, trying to make the best of a bad situation. This isn’t the cumbersome, genre-savvy snark we see so often when it comes to media starring young adults, or that has unfortunately become the hallmark of the MCU. I’m so glad to see a comic where the characters can just interact like normal people do, with all their faults and awkwardness. There’s a certain genuineness to it that feels right.
That being said, the heroes get nameplates and explanations after we’ve already seen them in action, and it does feel like the story would’ve been better-served if it had been done in dialogue. Also–and maybe this is partially due to the abbreviated format–despite the fun chatter, it never really feels like we get to know these characters as people past the brief description on the nameplates. We only see these characters in the context of their powers, which leaves them feeling a bit one-note. It’s unfortunate when the fire-user’s main personality trait is “loyal hothead,” and it’s doubly unfortunate because I would’ve loved to get to know everyone a bit more!
As the mystery of the supernatural threat unfolds, the comic starts to lean a bit more into just straight-up weird visuals and situations. That’s where it shines the most. The surreal and urban horror elements are rendered and paced in a way that was just so cool, and made me think of Remedy Games’ Control. The big question I had in my head the whole time I was reading was how X-Men vs how Harry Potter/The Magicians Deadly Living was, and while that eventually gets answered, I can’t help but feel the story would’ve been better served if we had more of that information upfront.
When the wool is properly torn away from our eyes as readers, there is some genuinely cool stuff happening here that I did not expect! I didn’t know I needed to read about a magical training montage so badly! Also, when the action kicks into high gear at the book’s climax, the art is absolutely beautiful. Guidry’s pencils and inks, which have a lovely Phil Noto-esque starkness in slower moments, absolutely sing when showcasing the weird ways some of the magic works, and Duke’s colors are great at making things feel impactful.
Overall, the book had a lot of ground to cover in not a lot of pages, and it’s a solid first showing for a new creative team and publisher. I hope future books from this team and publisher give themselves a little bit more space to breathe, because there’s a lot to like here. I know this is intended as a standalone book but if there’s ever a Deadly Living: Book 2, I’d pick it up in a heartbeat.
Mikey is a writer, graphic artist, and tabletop roleplaying designer based out of Columbus, Ohio. In his free time, he watches wrestling and indulges in horror media. Find him on Twitter @quantumdotdot.
