So there’s this comic book that I’ve been seeing making the rounds on the internet for a while now called Excellence: The Comic. After seeing a couple of panels of it, I decided to check it out and see if it lives up to its namesake or if ti’s going to be one of those comics with a preachy narrative and no substance to back it up.
To give you a brief hypnosis:
Spencer Dales was born into a world of magic. His father belongs to the Aegis, a secret society of black magicians ordered by their unseen masters to better the lives of others—those with greater potential—but never themselves. Now it’s time for Spencer to follow in his father’s footsteps, but all he sees is a broken system in need of someone with the wand and the will to change it. But in this fight for a better future, who will stand beside him? KHARY RANDOLPH (We Are Robin, Noble, Black, TECH JACKET) and BRANDON THOMAS (HORIZON, The Many Adventures of Miranda Mercury, Noble, Voltron) ignite a generational war in this action-fantasy series, made entirely by creators of color, and committed to one truth above all others—Excellence is Real.
I read the first issues and it’s pretty good. I like the art-style, direction of the comic and the story itself is rather interesting. The concept of an hidden society of wizards isn’t anything new, but the unique twist here is that it’s based in New York, in a neighborhood that I would assume to be predominantly African American, so because of that all the members in that society are black people as a result. This might change in the future but that’s the impression I got in this first issue.
The story follows Spencer Dales, who was born into a world of magic. His father belongs to the Aegis, a secret society of black magicians ordered by their unseen masters to better the lives of others those with greater potential but never themselves.
I won’t lie, when I saw the title and a black protagonist, I was kinda hesitate to pick it up, mainly thinking it’s going to be a preachy comic book with no substance to make the story and its character stand out. I’m all for supporting black characters in fiction, but I still have a standard that I uphold for all types of geek media so I won’t treat this any differently. Glad I decided to check it out though as it’s actually good. It has potential if handled correctly, as long as the focus remains about telling a unique story from a perspective we have’t seen in comic media. That’s all I ask. Oh and cool fights too, that always a plus.
It’s interesting that these wizards have to help others with their magic but are absolutely forbidden to help themselves or anyone in their immediate circle. The first issues was more focused on Spencer being a late bloomer in the house of Dale, something that’s apparently not normal for wizards as the age for magic activation is 5 years old. What I liked about this comic that caught me off guard was how they characters talked. It felt grounded. They talked like how New Yorkers would 2019 so it’s kinda a neat part of Excellence: The Comic.
With the comic being based on wizards, you know that the powers and moves are going to be insane. The trials that Spencer took showed us a glimpse of that. Now the story already been set up that Spencer will have to uncover a deep secret about this Aegis and why they have this strict rule in the first place so I’m interested to see how they play it out.
Overall, I would recommend people checking it out, especially if you’re into wizards living in secrecy during modern times. You can check out Excellence: The Comic here!
