The story starts off 6 months after a horribly devastating event. The very first thing we see is Zatanna trying to save Dr. Psychic. And, all the other professors of Mystik U have fell victim to some living nightmare. In this flash forward you can see the University is in shambles and many of the students and teachers are either incapacitated or dead. There has to be a way to stop this, right?
The comic then switches gears to Chapter 1 The Price of Admission. This tale happens 7 years before The Malevolence. Yes, that very scary opening scene I just described has a name. In this chapter Dr. Psychic is meeting with Zatarra (Zatanna’s dad for the new readers). They’re trying to figure out if Zee possesses Magick. Zatarra assures Dr. Psychic that his daughter has no special abilities.
Dr. Psychic decides to stay for the act. A note for the new readers that aren’t familiar with Zatanna, she and her father are famous magicians. As they are putting on their stage act Zatanna does something she’s always done when she’s perturbed with her dad. She speaks backwards. Except this time what she mutters under her breath actually happens. The bad thing? She said something that was quite normal for a teenager to say, and her father is now being attacked and soon disappears before her eyes. From here Dr. Psychic is fully aware that Zatanna is indeed magickal and immediately takes her to Magik U.
Upon arrival Zatanna is still in her stage costume and is being introduced to this beautiful University. Dr. Psychic works her magic and puts Zatanna in some more comfortable street clothes. She also sets Zatanna up with her personal items in a dorm. The first person to start talking to Zatanna is a character named Pia Morales. Pia is very helpful and explains some of the other student’s backgrounds to Zatanna. This is where other characters are introduced: Sebastian Faust, June Moone (Enchantress), and Davit (Sargon the Sorcerer) to name a few.
After getting settled into her dorm we discover who Zatanna’s roomies are. June Moone and Pia. This is where the next Chapter begins Magickal Hygeine. Here you will learn a bit more about the June Moone/Enchantress dynamic, and you’ll learn a little more about Pia’s powers. While the girls are doing their hygiene routine in the restroom Pia drops an expensive product down the drain and fishes it back out. In doing so she excretes some of her magic which is in the form of slime. The slime has healing powers because she talks about bringing her cat back to life shortly before dropping the product down the sink. That’s actually how she first discovered she had magickal abilities.
Just as the girls are about to call it a day they are informed that they will be split up into teams to do a scavenger hunt. None of them really seem 100% on board but once they find out it’s a 200 year old tradition they cave and take partners. During the hunt you learn a lot more about the University itself. And, this is where we learn a little bit more about Davit and how his powers work. We find out he has a ruby called the Ruby of Life. This is his power source, but it doesn’t seem to be fully under his control yet because it shoots at Enchantress at one point. Luckily Pia is there to heal her with her magic slime.
As the teams are trying to find their items we keep seeing glimpses of a large green monster. This thing looks like it could really cause some damage, and before long we discover a student has died. The next day the professors are all doing their best to contain the monster and protect the students. We keep seeing this huge slime monster pop up and disappear. The professors are baffled by this, they all claim they didn’t make him. So where did he come from? Did he kill the student?
Hope you dug my spoiler-free review of Issue #1. Mysik U can best be described as Hogwarts in the DC Universe. And, a lot of your favorite magic users are either students or professors there. Some things I didn’t go into detail about are the classes. Yes, you do get to see the students learning magick in different class settings. These small details really bring this story to life. I’ve always loved Zatanna and Enchantress so seeing them as roomies at a university together is pretty awesome. I feel like this is a really strong start to a detailed story about magick and monsters.
Review: 8.5/10
Pick up Mystik U at your local comic shop.
